Nishat Hussain, woman qazi who fights against patriarchy

Behind the pink and white colonnades of Old Jaipur’s Johari Bazaar, where lanes get narrower and the sparkle of the city’s famed jewellery dims, lies Raigaron ki Kothi. Despite its grand name, it is an area that is dotted with auto mechanics, ramshackle tea stalls, open drains, overhanging wires and decades-old soot on everything. It is in these narrow lanes that ‘Nishat appa’ has worked for over 34 years. Her boxy office space is often lined with a row of slippers outside and expectant faces inside.The reason is that Nishat Hussain is a female qazi — among a dozen in India who are trained to conduct nikahs, mediate in matrimonial disputes and divorces. They are well versed in the Quran, the sharia and Muslim personal laws but with a gendered lens.In 2016, the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA) established the Darul Uloom Niswan to train women qazis to push back against the exploitation and abuse of power by mullahs who issued fatwas, endorsed unilateral triple talaq and even encouraged practices like ‘nikah halala’ (where a divorced woman who wants to remarry her first husband must first marry and consummate her relationship with another man and then divorce him). Through advocacy about these oppressive practices, BMMA has been able to create an alternative forum for redressal but the process of changing mindsets is a long-drawn one.Hussain was amongst the first to be trained as a qazi. “After I studied the Quran, I realised that there has been a lot of misrepresentation of its edicts whether it is marriage or divorce, inheritance or maintenance. Why are we being kept in the dark? The so-called religious leaders take advantage of our ignorance. I also understood that ‘hamare pair ka kaanta humse hi nikalega’ (we have to resolve our own problems),” she says. It is a mantra that she must repeat dozens of times a day as distraught women, often accompanied by worried parents, come to her seeking justice.Medium108411818 It has been the spirit that she has kept alive within too. Born and raised in Karauli district in Rajasthan, Hussain came to Jaipur after marriage. Moved by the condition of the children around her locality, she started a school for them in 1984. Communal riots in 1989 that led to the death of 39 Muslims in Raigaron area prompted her to discard the burkha and commit to social work. She set up an NGO, the National Muslim Women Welfare Society, that participated in peace committees to restore calm in the communally charged neighbourhood and worked to uplift the cause of Muslim women. In 2007, she partnered with the BMMA as its Rajasthan convenor to continue her work with their support.Hussain’s day officially starts by 10am though she has no use of a clock. She sits with a patient ear, noting down details of petitioners for as long as they keep streaming in, averaging around a dozen a day. Amongst the crowd is Sana Naaz, a 23-year-old who was married in October 2021. Within a couple of days, demands for dowry ensued. She was forced to give up her job as a primary school teacher to keep peace at home, but nothing stopped the beatings and the threats of talaq. Despite being banned by law, Sana Naaz’s husband gave her triple talaq in October 2021 and then again in November 2021. Hussain and her team helped her file a police complaint. “I have registered a FIR, even attached proof of his statements asking for dowry and giving talaq. He got bail and I am left to fend for myself,” Sana says.Many who flouted laws with impunity earlier have been brought to book. In 2016, a Jaipur man wagered his wife in a card game and lost. He then spiked her drink and forced her to sleep with the man who had won the game. He also forged documents claiming that he had given his wife talaq and she had participated in nikah halala with the other man. “When we found out, we filed a complaint, and ensured that both men were arrested for this,” Hussain says. Often she makes multiple trips to the local police thana to check in on the cases that are being registered there.Hussain says that though the number of triple talaq cases have reduced (there were 100-150 complaints a year before the triple talaq ban kicked in), desertions have increased. “There can be any number of laws but until there is support from society, it becomes difficult to bring the culprits to book,” she says. Shabo, 24, gave up a job at a local cafe, her phone and her friends because of the constant taunts from her husband and in-laws. She had hoped that their relationship would improve after her baby was born but she was deserted by her husband less than two years after their wedding. “I gave up my economic independence, did not talk to my friends or even family hoping things would change. It has been five months but there was no word from him,” she says. With pressure from the family to make amends, Shabo was unsure of what to do. But after counselling by Hussain, she has decided to resume studies and reskill herself. “I am tired of waiting around. I plan to learn driving so I can get work driving cabs,” she says.This change in Shabo — the desire to struggle for a better life — are moments that keep Hussain hopeful and keep the fight going for another day.