The women’s wing of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH), a social and cultural outfit, has started a campaign to educate Indian Muslim men and women about the issues surrounding the “controversy” about the Muslim personal law in the country. The social outfit has started the awareness campaign with the hope that if people know the “right interpretations” of Quran’s prescribed laws, the current misgivings, malpractices and misuse of Shariah will phase out eventually.
Atiya Siddiqua, heading the JIH’s women wing, said, “During our tours in various states, all our workers emphasised that there is utter misinterpretation and lack of right information on Muslim personal law among men and women alike. Yes, there is misuse, but it is not as widespread as it is being made out to be.”
According to JIH, the Muslim Personal Law Awareness Campaign (MPLAC) that started on 23 April till 7 May was taken to the grassroots level by senior workers of JIH to 23 Indian states. The campaign was conducted around 10,000 local awareness events and 500 public meetings in slum areas. Around two million books were distributed free of cost reaching out to 1.5 million Muslims and 20,000 villages in India.
Clarifying that this campaign is not a reaction to prevailing controversies, Shaista Rafat, state president, Delhi and Haryana, JIH said, “We have been organising such campaigns as part of our four-year term plans. So, this is not the first time that such a campaign has been launched. Yes, the scale is huge this time because we wanted to reach as many people as possible.”