The movie ‘Miyan Kal Aana’, produced by Nawazuddin Sidiqqui and directed by his brother, Nawabuddin, has incurred the wrath of Deoband clerics. The movie, which has won 10 awards across the globe, was attacked by Muslim clerics for highlighting the evils of Halala. Maulana Arshad Farooqui, chairman of Fatwa Online of Deoband, stated, “If halala is illegitimate then as a Muslim Nawazuddin should know that making and watching movies, too, don’t have Islamic approval and hence illegitimate too.”
“As such, watching films itself is un-Islamic and on the top of it the facts you are showing in the film are misleading. Halala is there to provide support to a woman who has been divorced. But it is always projected in a wrong way. We condemn the film,” The Deoband ulemas said.
Maulana Nadeem-Ul-Wajidi told TOI, “Halala Nikah’s meaning has been completely twisted and today it is seen as some kind of tool to force woman to sleep with someone else other than her husband. On the contrary, the purpose of Halala is actually to give support to a woman who has been divorced. It actually gives her a right to marry again to anyone except her husband. What is so wrong in that? But some sections and these ill-informed filmmakers just showcase everything in a different light.”
Halala is an Islamic practice that dictates that a divorced women must marry another man, consummate the marriage and then divorce the man before she can allowed to remarry her ex-husband. It often leads to an exploitation of women and emotional and sexual harassment. Maulvis have been known to charge money, even as much as 1 lakh rupees, from women looking to save their marriages, for engaging in one night’s sexual relation. There have been instances where Muslim men have forced their wives to have sex with their friends under the pretense of Halala.
‘Miyan Kal Aana was screened at the Cannes Film Festival in India where it received much praise and has now been made available on YouTube where, at the time the report was written, it had 132k views in 5 days.
