"It was a wonderful experience interacting with you and appreciate the way you have planned and executed the whole publication process within the agreed timelines.”
Subrat SaurabhAuthor of Kuch Woh Pal
This collection of essays and articles captures the beginning of the Muslim women’s movement in India in the last two decades. Written at different points during the journey, these pieces provide a glimpse into the collective tumultuous journey of women demanding reform in Muslim family law in India and for equal citizenship without discrimination. This journey was undertaken by ordinary women under their own leadership. This collection highlights the challenges faced by women. It also celebrates successes such as the organization of women into groups, abolition of triple talaq and women’s entry into the mazar of Haji Ali Dargah. This book is a collection of articles written by authors, individually and jointly in various newspapers, magazines, journals and other publications. It challenges the misogynist regressive norms for women in family set by patriarchal religious groups. It calls for state accountability in providing safety, security and equality to Muslim citizens. Based on experiences and insights from grounded struggle of ordinary women, these essays give hope and provide strength in addressing discrimination through shared vision and collective democratic action. It calls out the failure of conservative religious leadership as well as elected representatives in providing an enabling environment to the community and particularly, women. It calls out certain feminists for their dual standards and for unsuccessful attempts to weaken the movement for reform in family law led by ordinary Muslim women.
Zakia Soman and Dr. Noorjehan Safia Niaz
Zakia Soman and Noorjehan Safia Niaz are the co-founders of Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan [Indian Muslim Women’s Movement]. They have been leading BMMA since 2007 and in the last 13 years have mobilized lakhs of Muslim women, enabled their leadership and created an alternative voice and agency within the community. Notable amongst their achievements is the Supreme Court judgment and legislation against triple divorce, training women qazis, setting up Women’s Shariat Courts, setting up centres for livelihood and education and entry into the Haji Ali dargah through a Supreme Court judgment.
