Does India Really Need a Uniform Civil Code? (Aug 2023)

– Maaz Ahmed Javed (M.Tech. AMU)

Following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement, the government has indicated that it is seriously considering the implementation of the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) and is going to draft it soon. Therefore, the Law Commission of India has also asked people’s opinion regarding UCC. All these news have re-started the debate on Uniform Civil Code in the country. Representing the Muslim position, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board clearly stated that the change in the Muslim Personal Laws is an act of abrogation of the Islamic Sharia because these laws are derived from the Qur’an and Sunnah. Although it is very difficult to prevent personal laws from being followed, it depends on how the law will be made. After this narrative came out, the argument from the opposition camp was also released in the media that Muslims have abandoned all Sharia laws and want to follow only the part of Sharia that is against women. A debate was also started as to why when changes were made in Hindu Personal Laws, Muslim Personal Laws could not be changed. Some of the intellectuals of the government presented a very modern theory of the history of evolution of Muslim Personal Laws while publicizing their enthusiasm. However, this narrative, adorned with intellectual tricks, is not something new, but it is a copy of the narrative of Western Orientalists. According to this narrative, the implementation of UCC is not a negation of the Islamic mood, because Muslim personal law has always undergone a process of change in history, so even today it can be changed anew. Come on! Consider these questions. Personal laws or family laws are those which deal with personal and family matters of every person. It is a short part of civil laws. Personal laws are related to an individual or family members themselves. There is no role of government in its implementation. While the law enforcement of military rule etc. is done by the government, it cannot be implemented by the people individually. Therefore, those ignorant people who are talking that Muslims are demanding only a part of the Sharia law, they should understand that only the Islamic government can implement the laws of Islamic military, etc. To demand this from a non-Islamic government is to make a mockery of Islamic Sharia. Therefore, since the end of Muslim rule in India, all Islamic laws were repealed, but Muslim personal laws continued to be practiced. Because the Muslims knew that a Muslim government was necessary for the implementation of all laws except personal laws.

The All India Muslim Personal Law Board has opposed the implementation of UCC

Muslims have always protested against the abrogation of personal law because they believe that it is not legally permissible to withdraw from any part of the Sharia that we can follow. And whenever there is an opportunity to follow the complete Islamic Sharia, a practicing Muslim will never avoid it. The faith of the Muslims is that whenever there is a limitation in any part of the earth, Allah Ta’ala opens the treasures of blessings in it. So, when the children of Israel abandoned the implementation of the Sharia, Allah Ta’ala commanded them to return to it, saying, “I wish they had established the Torah and the Bible and the other books that were sent down to them from their Lord. If they had done so, sustenance would have rained down for them from above and boiled from below” (Al-Ma’idah). That is, for a group that has divine commandments, the implementation of Allah’s limits is a guarantee of the work of this world and the hereafter. It is evident that the reason for the prosperity and development of the Islamic society in the early centuries was that there was complete rule of the Qur’an. And those people were not ready to deviate even a small bit from it. But as soon as the Muslims compromised with this attitude, the Ummah continued to decline.

Amid the ongoing financial crisis, oil has been discovered in Afghanistan and the extraction efforts have started

Therefore, if the Muslims will abandon personal laws today, it will lead to their further decline. Today, if there is any part of Islamic Sharia enforced in the Muslim countries, it has become a source of blessing. Afghanistan is a great example of this. The current Afghan government has implemented full Sharia law there. And their trend suggests that they are slowly making progress towards a modern Islamic state. Although this government has only been in office for a short time, but still Afghanistan has started to turn around. During the NATO government, Afghanistan was completely dependent on foreign aid. As soon as NATO left, it seemed that Afghanistan’s economy would collapse. But the current statistics show that Afghanistan’s imports and exports have increased. Various development projects are being started. The Taliban have also started oil extraction projects through Chinese companies. Another welcome news that came recently is that Afghanistan has one of the largest reserves of lithium, which will lead to further economic prosperity. Those countries of the world who understand that these people are strong in character are actively participating in development projects in Afghanistan. All these news shows that the days of economic misery in Afghanistan are numbered. How did all these things come about? The main reason for this is that the government has implemented complete Sharia law. Due to the return of Zakat and Ushar system and the near complete elimination of malfeasance, the government has overcome the economic crisis to a great extent. Therefore, it seems that the promise made by Allah Ta’ala in the above mentioned verses is proving to be true in Afghanistan. And if those people continue to move forward with the same spirit, then their country and the whole world will be blessed by them. We pray that after seeing the blessings of Islam in practice, the eyes of its critics are opened. And they can benefit from the unborn shore of Islam. Ameen.