"Muhammedan Law was applied to Muslims in British India as a matter of policy." Examine this statement and point out the reasons which dictated the British to follow this policy. Does Shariat apply to Indian Muslims in cases of crime and evidence?

Question: "Muhammedan Law was applied to Muslims in British India as a matter of policy." Examine this statement and point out the reasons which dictated the British to follow this policy. Does Shariat apply to Indian Muslims in cases of crime and evidence? [BJS 2014]

Find the question and answer of Muslim Law only on Legal Bites. ["Muhammedan Law was applied to Muslims in British India as a matter of policy." Examine this statement and point out the reasons which dictated the British to follow this policy. Does Shariat apply to Indian Muslims in cases of crime and evidence?]

Answer

The Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act was passed in 1937 with the aim to formulate an Islamic law code for Indian Muslims. The British who were at this point in time governing India were trying to ensure that Indians were ruled according to their own cultural norms.

The Partition of India in 1947 not only divided India into two independent domains but also changed the laws applicable to the nation entirely. Before the 1947 partition, the subject matters of inheritance, succession, marriage, divorce, family relationship, and dower were regulated under the guidance of religious laws whose roots existed in age-old customs. Such laws were often subjected to alteration by various legislations due to the underlying ideologies framing such kinds of laws.

The reason behind the promulgation of the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Act, of 1937 was to erase the customary exercises existing with regard to Muslims. Previously, this Act was not applicable in the North-West Frontier Province as they had their own legislation with divergent traits by the name of NWFP Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1935. But as of now, the Act of 1937 extends to the whole of India as has been provided under Section 1(2) of the Act.

When it came to distinguishing between laws made for the Hindus and those for the Muslims, they laid out the statement that “clear proof of usage will outweigh the written text of the law” in the case of Hindus. For Muslims on the other hand, the writings in the Quran would be of foremost importance.

Since 1937 therefore, the Shariat Application Act mandates aspects of Muslim social life such as marriage, divorce, inheritance and family relations. The Act lays out that in matters of a personal dispute, the state shall not interfere.

The Supreme Court has every right to interpret Muslim personal law in a way that satisfies the egalitarian principles of both the Quran and the Indian Constitution.

In the landmark case of Vishwa Lochan Madan v. Union of India, Writ Petition (Civil) No. 386 of 2005. The Supreme Court ruled that fatwas issued by Shariat courts or muftis had no legal sanctity, asserting that the defiance of fatwas will have no civil or criminal consequences.

The court said it would be illegal to impose these religion-based opinions on personal issues on citizens in violation of their fundamental rights.

“Whatever may be the status of fatwa during Mughal or British rule, it has no place in independent India under our constitutional scheme. Any person trying to enforce a fatwa by any method shall be illegal and has to be dealt with in accordance with the law.”

The Bench further noted that though the existence of Dar-ul-Qaza and issuance of fatwas were not per se illegal, it clarified that

“it is not a decree, not binding on the court or the state or the individual. It is not sanctioned under our constitutional scheme.”

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