There’s no stopping me: Farha Faiz

Farha Faiz has ruffled more than a few feathers in her quest to get the Supreme Court to notice the issue of triple talaq and women’s rights under the Muslim personal law. Last year, the court took notice of the triple talaq matter and instantly, the 44-year-old criminal lawyer filed an application to become a respondent in this case, in favour of Muslim women. The ride has been uphill but Farha is not the one to back down.

The fight to set things right, she says, is something she learnt growing up, watching her father. “My father was a hafiz Quran — he knew the Quran by heart. When he’d be called to mosques, he would stand behind the pesh imaam and correct him when he read the namaaz. It would annoy a lot of people, but it taught me to right whatever is wrong, however small,” says Farha.

Her father wasn’t the only source of inspiration, Farha feels. The issues of triple talaq and the injustice meted out to womenfolk first came to her attention when her uncle, Omar Khayyam Saharanpuri, became a supervisor of religious scenes for BR Chopra’s controversial 1982 movie, Nikaah. “For the two-and-a-half years that my uncle was associated with the movie, the house was chirping with intellectual discussions on marriage and divorce,” she says. “There are some things that just stick to your memory and you can’t shake them off even as you grow up.”

Her progressive Muslim background was a far cry from the conservative community around her during her early days in Saharanpur.

“When I was growing up in Saharanpur, there were two powerful mosques in the area. There were people who had issues with the way I was, and my family faced a lot of pressure. Mobs once threatened to set my house on fire and have bashed up my scooter on several occasions in the past,” she says nonchalantly. But no obstacle is too big, when she sets her mind to fight the wrong. “I always worried if my actions went against any teachings of the Quran or my religion. Once I believe that what I’m doing is right, there’s no stopping me,” she says.

Fresh out of college, armed with an LLB degree, the young lady became involved with an NGO in her city that worked for the upliftment of women and children, and mainly tackled issues related to child labour.

“We soon realised that taking the children off their jobs would mean the women would need to pitch in with money. But in these areas, if a woman even expresses a desire to be independent, the man beats her up. She’s expected to produce a child each year. If she protests, it’s easy for the man to divorce his wife and it isn’t even an option for her helpless, poor parents to take care of her and her children,” she says, continuing, “It pains me to see families depending on religious leaders for personal decisions, while the woman has to bear the brunt of it all. In these areas, whenever somebody is faced with a problem at home, their first reaction is to turn to the ulemas and kazis and maulvis for a solution. But the maulvis don’t have a vast knowledge about the societal atmosphere, the Constitution and the laws. They harbour very conservative ideas about women. Nowhere in the Quran is the woman suppressed or degraded; the holy book is a guide for the upliftment of women. But the fear of God that these religious leaders put into people’s heads can mess them up.”

As she fights her battle against repression, giving her the required emotional and moral support are her husband and her daughter. “My husband is very supportive of my decisions, as is my 11-year-old daughter. She helps me with my cases so much, that if I drop my fight in the SC right now, she’ll be able to pick it up, right away,” Farha says with a proud smile.

Farha’s soft-spoken demeanour belies her crusading spirit. Quiz her about the centres of power that she’s clashed with and she meets the query with a hearty laugh. “I don’t think they’re powerful. Had they been, they would not need to harness the common man’s powers like this. Power is exactly what they lack. They’re like the moon that can’t shine without the light of the sun. The community supports me in my fight and I feel powerful,” she signs off.