The Brashness of Ignorance
Al-Risala (English), June 1987, p. 11
By Maulana Wahiduddin Khan
Maulana Wahiduddin Khan is named as the default author of the periodical; a piece that carries another writer’s byline is credited to that writer.
The Brashness of Ignorance
1987 6 June 11 The Brashness of Ignorance (234) Nadira Begum Quraishi of Bilaspur, Maharashtra, who was divorced by her husband after the birth of a daughter, is now suing her ex-husband for maintenance. According to The Times of India of May 1, 1986, when she was asked why, when it was against Islamic teachings, she had followed the lead of Shah Bano of Indore in demanding maintenance under article 125 of the Indian criminal law, she burst out with: “What has Islam done for me that I should follow its tenets?” Neither the judge nor the lawyers were able to persuade Mrs. Quraishi to withdraw her case. Moreover, she rejected Mr. Quraishi’s offer to take her and her daughter back. She then called upon the court to order her ex-husband to give her a monthly allowance of Rs. 500. Unlike Mrs. Shah Bano, she is young – just thirty years of age – and is a graduate.
Although she is supposed to be an educated person, her utterances are those of an ignorant, illiterate woman, for she is clearly unaware of the fact that whatever women have nowadays is the gift of Islam. She does not realize that even being able to question Islam in public with impunity is a great freedom given to her by Islam. Before the advent of Islam, no woman who valued her life would have dared question religious authority, and certainly not in the terms used by Begum Quraishi.
