The Shi’a Ithna-’Ashari Sect follows in all religious...

The Shi’a Ithna-’Ashari Sect follows in all religious matters the rulings of the greatest Mujtahid of the time. He is considered the representative of our Twelfth Imam and he is the final authority on all religious matters. In him vest in certain cases the powers of guardianship of children, guardianship in marriage and divorce, executorships of the Will and estate of a deceased and such matters. Ithna-’Ashari school of Islamic Law is a well-knit entity.

We cannot change or amend one or two aspects of it without destroying the whole fabric. For example: (1) Marriage and divorce rules have direct bearing on legitimacy or otherwise of a child; on virtue or sin of togetherness of the man and the woman; on their mutual right of inheritance and that of the child; apart from the social and legal embarrassments. (2) In Islamic Law a man cannot use anything obtained illegally (in religious sense) either for secular or for religious purposes.

Therefore, if a change is made in the Laws of succession and someone is given more than his due share according to Qur'an, his whole life would become miserable. His daily life would be a long list of transgressions; his prayers, pilgrimages, food and clothing would, in the religious sense, become unlawful. Thus it is clear that the pattern of laws of marriage, divorce and inheritance cannot be changed; otherwise this would constitute a direct interference in our religion.

With regards to the Commission's desire "to pay particular attention to the status of women in relation to marriage and divorce in a free democratic society" we wish to submit as under:- (a) In our School of Law a women have such rights, privileges and safeguards since 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.

(b) Islam according to Shi’a school has given a woman right to contract herself in marriage if she is adult and discreet. (c) Islam has given the woman an independent identity. A Muslim woman owns her property even after marriage and husband cannot interfere with it. (d) She can sue her husband, can give evidence against him. She inherits from him by right and he 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 a man. But this is quite logical. Islam has made man responsible for the maintenance of his family. No such burden is laid upon women.