Regarding the rights of a woman in Muslim Law we wish to submit that...

Regarding the rights of a woman in Muslim Law we wish to submit that: In our school of Law, a woman has such rights, privileges and safeguards for the past fourteen centuries, most of which were unimaginable in non-Islamic societies up to the last century and some of which are ahead of the so called modern time. Islam, according to Shi’a school, has given a woman right to contract herself in marriage if she is adult and discreet. Islam has given the woman an independent identity.

A Muslim woman owns her property even after marriage and a husband cannot interfere with it. She can sue her husband, can give evidence against him. She inherits from him by right and he inherits from her. This mutual right of inheritance was given when no society ever thought about it. A woman's share is, normally, half of that of man. But this is quite logical. Islam has made man responsible for the maintenance of his family. No such burden is laid upon a woman.

Even a rich wife is entitled to get her maintenance from her husband though he may be poor. As the maintenance of the family is the responsibility of man, he has been given double share in almost all inheritances. The woman gets the 'Mahr' (it is not the 'bridge-price which is foreign to Islamic thinking) which goes from husband to wife. The ratio of the shares as laid down in the Qur'an is, therefore, most reasonable.

Islamic laws relating to will do not allow a person to will away more than one third of his net estate. Thus the financial position of the would-be heirs (including the wife) is always secure and beyond any encroachment by any one. This security is still lacking in many societies which allow a man to give all his estate even to a stranger. Now coming to the White Paper itself, there is one proposal which in its present form, cuts deep at the root of all religions.

It is the suggestion that "If a man cohabits with a woman for a period of more than two years then he would be presumed to have married that Woman, and if they have children such children would be deemed to be legitimate children of such spouse." If the intention is to provide safety to a genuine wife whose marriage was not registered or whose marriage certificate was lost, the word 'co-habit' does not convey the idea.