Deoband for one marriage

By Rasheed Kidwai
April 12: Deoband, the influential seminary, has directed Muslims in India to avoid practising polygamy, an initiative that has won instant approval much like the 2008 advisory that denounced terrorism as a grave sin against Islam.
Responding to a query from a person who wanted to marry again while his first wife was alive, the Deobandi scholars advised him against another marriage.
"It is hard to provide equal justice to two wives in the Indian custom," the Deoband fatwa said, pointing out that although marrying a second time is "allowed" in Islam, it is not encouraged.
"Although Islam permits two wives at the same time, Indian traditions do not allow it," the seminary's verdict said, referring to the particular question.
Deoband's words carry a lot of weight for many Muslims across the world. The Islamic seminary, founded over 150 years ago in a small western Uttar Pradesh town of the same name, trains thousands of imams, muftis and qazis who spread the ideals of Sunni Islam across South Asia, Europe and North America.
Naeem-Ur-Rahman Siddiqui, secretary of the Lucknow-based Islamic Council of India, welcomed Deoband's thrust on social reforms. "There are a lot of myths about Muslims and polygamy that need to be clarified. First, it is not binding on Muslims to marry more than once. Second, the idea of permitting second, third or fourth marriages has certain conditions that need to be fulfilled. Islam prohibits extra-marital relations and views marriage as a social contract," he said.
Naeem, 42, added that the important aspect, as the Deoband fatwa has emphasised, is the idea of ensuring justice and equality when a man chooses to marry for the second time.
"Religious sayings state that if a man fails to impart justice to his wives, he would be tilting, as if unable to stand erect on the day of judgement," Naeem said. "Can you name any top 10 Islamic personality who has married twice or more?"
Bhopal's city qazi, Maulana Mushtaq Nadwi, said Deoband's words put the Islamic view of marriage in a correct perspective. "Islam champions justice and equality in the social sphere, too. If a man does not fulfil his obligations towards his one wife, he will be penalised for that, too. In Indian socio-economic conditions, most Muslims do not practise polygamy in any case," he said.
Echoing these sentiments, the president of the Uttar Pradesh Imam Organisation, Mufti Zulfikar, said that although Islam allows a second marriage on condition that the husband would ensure equal maintenance, "it is difficult to accord the same treatment to both women".
Noted scholar Ghulam Rasool Wastanvi, who had a brief and controversial stint as rector of the Deoband seminary, had explained fatwas as "opinions" based on Islamic Sharia law to an individual's query. "They cannot be generalised," Wastanvi had said.

At last we are seeing some enlightenment among the Muslims.
Thank you Deoband for putting into words what many Muslims are already practicing, i.e single wives.
People just cannot afford multiple marriages unless they have names like Dharmindar and Raj Babbar.
One of the above is not even a Muslim although he went he went through the second marriage.