re: Muslim star claims housing bias
^ For one the majority population does not have any religious reasons for not accepting family planning 
Not since Shahbano, has the Muslim Personal Law as applied in India come in for so much review and revile. It all began with the Great Body Count or the once-a-decade census report that erroneously showed a marginal increase in the Muslim population. (As the state of Jammu & Kashmir failed to make the grade initially) Soon all hell was let loose as rightists Hindutva parties decided to exploit the issue of exploding Muslim population to the hilt. This when Muslims form just 13 per cent of the total population. While India’s population has skyrocketed to one billion, the Muslim population is pegged at 200 million.
A group of progressive and liberal section of the Muslim leadership used the opportunity for introspection, but got shouted down by the hardliners. In the din, the Muslims of India once again got branded as bigots and polygamists who begot dozens of children.
A month later, the birth control issue among Indian Muslims is still generating much heat. The issue has also highlighted the great divide between two major sects of Islam – the Sunnis and the Shias. In India, the opinion is sharply polarized between the two sects. While it was a Shia from the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), a quasi-official organisation who fired the first missive, it was a Sunni from AIMPLB who played spoilsport.
Maulana Sayed Kalbe Sadiq, a noted Islamic scholar and a prominent Shiite cleric in his capacity as the vice president of the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) had announced that the AIMPLB and Sunni and Shia scholars should sit together and hammer out a solution which can spread awareness on the issue of family planning among Indian Muslims Buttressing his point, Sadiq cited the case of Iran as a model country practicing birth control even while strictly following the Shariat law. Consequently, Iran’s population growth level was zero percent, Sadiq said. Hence Kalbe Sadiq felt that the issue of birth control among Indian Muslims should be taken up for discussion at the AIMPLB’s meeting in Kerala to be held in December 2004.
But SQR Ilyas, a Sunni jurist and another member of the AIMPLB, immediately shot down the suggestion claiming that these were Sadiq’s personal views and as such no such discussion on birth control was on the agenda for the December meeting. To make matters worse, Maulana Rabey Hasan Nadwi, a cleric from the Nadwa school of the orthodox Ahle Hadis, chipped in, “There is no place for family planning in Islam.”
The Sunni Ulema are firm that Maulana Kalbe Sadiq made a monumental error, while the Shia scholars insist that there is no harm in family planning and Islam has not opposed it. “Kalbe Sadiq cited Iran’s example on family planning probably because he is a Shia but other Islamic nations like Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey and Egypt do not practice family planning,” insists Maulana Abdul Quddus Kashmiri. Kashmiri is among the topmost sunni cleric from Mumbai.
“Family planning can be practiced only for medical reasons like having reasonable gap between two births and allowing mother to recuperate completely from one birth but not for other reasons like for fear of poverty or growing population. Quran prohibits such fear and birth control. None of our jurists including Hanafi, Shafei, Hambali, Maleki approve of motivated family planning,” Kashmiri adds.
Sunnis which form the majority of Islamic sects believe in the jurisprudence of Imam Abu Hanifa, Imam Mohammad Shafei, Imam Malik Ibn Anas and Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal. This quartet of jurists had interpreted the Hadith-Nabavi or the traditions of Holy Prophet (saw) for the lay Muslims. The Sunnis believe that there cannot be any Mujtahid (a scholar capable of deriving Islamic laws from Holy Quran and Hadith) after these four. Those Sunni groups who follow any of the fiqhs (Islamic jurisprudence) are known by that name like followers of Imam Abu Hanifa are known as Hanafi, Shafei, Maleki and Hanbali.
Maulana Mohammad Athar, a Sunni scholar and chief of Muslim scholars at Zakaria Masjid says that “There is a Ijmaae-Ummat (consensus of the nation) that family planning is not allowed in Islam. Islam has neither encouraged it nor discouraged it. A Muslim is allowed to practice certain precautions but measures like sterilization, vasectomy or abortion are haram.” Athar feels that only gynaecological problems or life threatening issues can provoke birth control otherwise Islam does not approve of family planning in any manner.
However, the Shi’te scholars do not concur. ”Islam allows and believes in a limited family and fewer children. **About birth control or family planning, any such arrangement which permanently stops child birth might not be permitted but, none of the fiqhs object to having temporary measures,’ says Maulana Sayed Hasnain Rizvi Kararvi, a leading shia jurist and scholar. **
Shias emulate Imam Jaafar Sadiq who was the great grandson of Prophet Mohammad. Imam Jaafar was regarded as a reviver of Islam as expounded by the Holy Prophet. Shias believe that the doors of Ijtehaad (the Islamic science of jurisprudence) are open to interpretation. For the Shias, Ayatullah Ali Hussain Seesstani based in Najaf in Iraq is the current spiritual leader whose guidelines on religion is generally considered foolproof.
There are misconceptions on birth control in Islam as the Quran does not talk explicitly about contraception and family planning leaving room for scholars to speculate and interpret while others fall back on the Hadith, or the oral traditions of the prophet to shed light on the topic.
Universally, two contradictory views are presented by theologians. The conservative group is led by Ibn Hazm and Maudoodi, and the liberal view has the support of a large number of scholars and is led by Ghazzaali. The former group quotes the Quranic verse: “Kill not your children, on a plea of want. We provide sustenance for you and for them.” While the progressives also fall back on the Quran to plead their case. “And one (God’s) sign is, that he has created for you your Mates from yourself, that you may dwell in tranquility with them, and has ordained between you love and mercy.”
Ghazzaali discussed contraception from premises rooted more in profane biology and economics than in strictly religious sources. Prohibition in Islam was possible only by adducing an original text. Ghazzaali argued that while abortion and infanticide were crimes against an existing being, contraception was different. Contraception is of a cautionary nature and does not involve an evolved biological being.
Ghazzaali of course sets a rider. Use of contraception for fear of having daughters is not allowed in Islam. Similarly, its use by women for personal reasons - such as their dislike of pregnancy or their fetish for absolute cleanliness or simply because they abhor the pain of child birth cannot be held as a reason for opting for birth control.
**Thus the intent and not the concept of birth control is found objectionable in Islam. **Ghazzaali supports use of contraceptives with one’s wife to protect her from dangers of child-birth, or simply to preserve her beauty. Ghazzali also supports birth control for those living below the poverty line or those who wish to have a small family.
Ironically, several studies in India have found that economic compulsions drives population growth rather than religion. Muslims in India fare as well as or as worse as any other community following different faiths as far as birth control is concerned. In India family planning is linked more to literacy and income levels. All studies in India by demographers show that poor people irrespective of their faith tend to have more children than the middle class
Among Muslims too, studies in Muslim dominated towns and cities (with a large Muslim populace) clearly show that the educated middle class practice family planning while the poor illiterate Muslims desist.
Though the Shariat allows a Muslim to have four wives, there is no social acceptance. Women in second marriages are considered pariahs and not accepted in the family fold. A Government of India survey in 1974 revealed that Muslims fall at the bottom of the table as far as bigamy is concerned. Tribals are right on top at 14% while the Muslims are at the bottom of the table with 5.6%. Even the uppercaste Hindus beat the Muslims scoring 5.84%. If there is relatively less family planning among Muslims it is because of poverty and lack of awareness than religion. Those Mullahs who come from the poorer strata (and most of the mullahs come from this strata) do invoke religion for opposing family planning but it does not mean all Muslims necessarily listen to them. Several Muslim families across the board opt for permanent birth control measures. In Kerala, there is more family planning among Muslims than Hindus in U.P. as literacy is high among Kerala Muslims Thus sterilization among Kerala Muslims is 42.7% whereas among Hindus in U.P it is only 18.2 per cent.
A section of Indian Muslims (mostly the uneducated, illiterate and financially and economically backward strata) consider family planning as un-Islamic though it is practiced in many Muslim countries. Another valid reason for practicing contraception in Islam is the well-being of children. The presence of a nursing infant was a major reason for birth control. A new pregnancy set an upper limit on lactation length, resulting in palpable harm to the child being nursed. Even the Quran impliedly supports age difference between children: “And mothers shall suckle their children two full years to complete breast feeding.”
Few years ago, the Operations Research Group (ORG) conducted a survey about variations in acceptance of family planning in India. It was found that as against 45.5 per cent Hindus, only 33.8 per cent Muslims practice family planning. However, the fact not to be ignored is, as against this national average, 64.4 per cent Muslims in Kerala practice family planning as compared to 17.3 per cent in Rajasthan, 18.1 per cent in Uttar Pradesh, and a mere 14.6 per cent in Bihar.