Qubool hai: These women Qazis are fighting for equality in Muslim weddings

Over the past decade, Muslim women in India have been assured greater civil rights following the Supreme Court of India’s landmark judgment in 2017 against ‘triple talaq’—a custom of instant and irrevocable divorce by Muslim men. It also prompted the Parliament to pass the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019, criminalising the practice. 

However, Noorjehan Safia Niaz and Zakia Soman, founders of the rights-based organisation, Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA), found there was much ground to cover still.

“We saw that despite the law coming into effect, young girls were ending up in abusive households, being abandoned overnight and denied financial security,” says Niaz, “and one of the primary catalysts for these practices were male Qazis, who acted as enablers of oppressive traditions.”

BMMA found that these Qazis, or judicial officers deemed knowledgeable in Islamic law, were solemnising marriages of underage girls, arranging alliances with grooms with a history of polyamory and violence, and acting as facilitators or witnesses to triple talaq.

BMMA members looked for ways to address and reform the practices governing marriages under Islamic law, and in 2017, started training a batch of 13 women from its nationwide network of 1 lakh women to become Qazis. “Instead of seeking validation from existing patriarchal institutions, we decided to create a parallel structure that embodied gender justice,” says Niaz.

Overcoming resistance from inside and out

Initially, they approached senior male Qazis and religious bodies to help formulate a syllabus. But they dismissed BMMA’s initiative as “un-Islamic” and going against the Sharia, a reaction Niaz says, that stemmed from their own inherent biases and skewed interpretations of religious texts. 

“One common objection questioned a woman’s ability to perform in public spaces, including officiating a wedding,” she says. “Soon enough, we realised that these men were citing arbitrary rules that served no other purpose than to keep them in positions of power.

“We also realised that there was no body certifying these men as Qazis; they would study at a madarasa or inherit the role from their fathers,” says Niaz. 

However BMMA members say the Quran does not prohibit women from becoming Qazis; on the contrary, it advocates for justice and fairness—ethos they are trying to reclaim in their judicial and religious duties.

Following this, BMMA instituted Darul Uloom Niswa, a registered NGO that certifies women Qazis and lends legitimacy to their work within both religious and legal frameworks.

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“By registering ourselves, we wanted to become the counterforce to the unregulated and arbitrary system of justice that was pervading leadership in our communities,” says Niaz.

Where faith and law come together

Darul Uloom Niswa’s training programme, a first-of-its-kind in India, spans multiple cities, including Mumbai, Jaipur, and Bhopal. Its curriculum, crafted through extensive consultation with scholars and BMMA members, integrates Quranic principles, constitutional laws, and practical guidelines for officiating weddings.

Key components include:

• Consent Verification: Trainees are taught to ensure that both parties freely consent to the marriage. They are trained to identify and address subtle coercion, especially in cases involving underage brides or forced unions.

• Financial rights: Emphasis is placed on ensuring the bride receives a fair mehr (mandatory wedding gift, mostly monetary), as prescribed by Islamic law. 

• Background checks: BMMA-trained women Qazis conduct thorough checks, such as verifying the groom’s marital status and financial stability, to safeguard the bride’s interests. According to Niaz, “No married man is allowed to remarry, as per our values.”

“We studied the constitutional rights to marriage, Article 21 (Right to Life and Personal Liberty), Article 14 (Right to Equality), and so on. We then incorporated both the Quranic and the constitutional frameworks within our syllabus,” says Niaz.

BMMA framed the curriculum also keeping in mind the experiences of women who had suffered the worst of gender-discriminatory practices that male Qazis upheld for generations. "Some would be thrown out of the house overnight with no place to go," says Niaz.

Women trainees were also initially sceptical. Niaz recounts how some worried about backlash from relatives and neighbours. However, examples of trailblazers—such as a woman in West Bengal who succeeded her father—helped bolster their confidence.

Nargis Tariq Husain of Mumbai has been connected with BMMA for the last 28 years and started training to become a Qazi just six years ago.

Counter to some male Qazis meeting couples barely a few minutes before solemnising their weddings, Husain starts engaging with them at least a month before the nikah, running background checks, offering counselling services, and ensuring the girl has a safe space to go to after marriage.

“We realised that the more organised and transparent we were, the more ethical and streamlined our work became. Religion didn’t stop us, the law of the land didn’t stop us. So, we gave what we deemed was a much-needed overhaul of the system—one small step at a time,” says Niaz.

Several women Qazis, including Husain, had to stand up to male members of their own families, many of whom were maulanas—religious scholars and leaders. “In a way, I was fighting within the microcosm of this social structure in my own home. I garnered support from my husband and his family, but not so much from my biological one,” says Husain.

Since the programme’s inception, BMMA has certified over 20 women Qazis, though they have solemnised only three weddings so far. These included an interfaith wedding in Mumbai and ceremonies in Shimla and Kolkata. Each instance, however rare, signifies a shift in community perception and a growing acceptance of women’s religious authority, BMMA likes to believe.

Jaipur-based Nishat Hussain, who has been a part of BMMA since 2007 and later trained to become a Qazi, has solemnised one of the three weddings. She says it is mostly the brides who approach them to officiate their weddings. 

“They take it upon themselves to convince their families," says Nishat. “We sense that there is already a sentiment among young Muslim women to break out of regressive traditions that perpetuated the cycle of suffering for their mothers and grandmothers,” she adds.

Under her leadership, among other senior women, a group of young girls are studying Islamic philosophy and ways to integrate it into their lives. They call themselves ‘Rehnuma’. 

While the numbers are modest, Nishat remains optimistic. “Now, our focus is on fostering dialogue and expanding the network of women Qazis,” she says. Plans include incorporating Islamic ethical frameworks, such as tawheed (oneness of God) and harmony in relationships, into future training modules.

Niaz draws hope from the younger generation, who she believes is more open to progressive interpretations of faith. A recent workshop saw the participation of several young men eager to learn concepts of gender equality within Islam.

“The youth are key to this movement,” she says. “Their openness to reform signals a brighter future for gender justice in our community.”

BMMA has a far-reaching goal: to inspire systemic reform that prioritises women’s rights and reclaims Islam’s egalitarian principles.

“The Quran teaches love, justice, and equality,” says Niaz. “Our work is not just for Muslim women—it’s a message to all communities that religion can be a force for empowerment, not oppression.”