عادات المسلمي الهند في ميراث المرأة : دراسة فقهية تقويمية

Abstract

Women have been deprived of their rights to inherit throughout history in various civilizations until the dawn of Islam, where women were given their rightful share to inherit by Allah the Almighty. This dissertation acknowledges that some of Indian Muslim women are still underprivileged from their basic right to inherit due to the customs and norms of society. Nevertheless, there has been a lack of references related to these customs. Moreover, there has been another aspect covered in this study, which is connected to the misconception that states that Islam has not done justice to women in inheritance, as their portion is half of what men get. This dissertation attempts to highlight the inheritance in Islam and other civilizations and evaluate the customs of inheritance of Muslim women in Bhopal, India, and their causes and effects. This study follows four methodologies: inductive method, as it is used for extracting inheritance information; analytical method, which includes analysis of the causes and impacts of the customs; comparative method, as there is the comparison between what Islamic jurisprudence states regarding inheritance and what are the customs followed by some Indian Muslims in the city of Bhopal, India. At the same time, there is a field study where the researcher conducted interviews in Bhopal, the capital city of Madhya Pradesh, with ten Muslim scholars and ten women who were deprived of their right to inherit. Furthermore, the findings show that Muslim women of India, especially women of Bhopal, are prevented from their rights to inheritance mainly due to a lack of Islamic knowledge, following Hindu customs as per considering the dowry as inheritance for women. This prevention has negative effects socially, financially, psychologically, and, most importantly, religiously. These customs of inheritance and their causes are considered invalid because they contradict the Sharīʽah texts and rulings.