The Supreme Court of India has agreed to examine a crucial constitutional question. Whether Muslims can opt to be administered by the secular provisions of the Indian Succession Act, 1925, without formally renouncing Islam. This is due to several petitions including one recently submitted by Naushad K K from Thrissur, Kerala.

Naushad’s petition aims at recognition of his expectation that he should be entitled to succession governed by the general law, instead of Shariat based personal law and without having to renounce his religion. The Court has issued notices to the Central and state of Kerela governments and has decided to consolidate this with other similar matters put before the court.

Other Earlier Petitions

This is not an isolated case. In 2023, Safiya P M from Alappuzha, Kerala, and general secretary of the “Ex-Muslims of Kerala” filed a petition seeking similar relief. She argued that all non-believing Muslims Shariat is an option and not a mandate for inheritance should have choice of secular legislation instead. The petition highlighted the discrimination of women under the Shariat, through a Muslim woman has only one third share of the contested property which she is entitled to inherit.

In Safiya’s situation, her lawyers suggested that such people should have the opportunity to inherit through civil secular inheritance system, which is not based on religion. She asks that the Indian Succession Act applicable to Muslims who choose to renounce Personal Law be compelled to serve them.

Previous Case yet to be Determined

This third case is one of the two pending before the supreme court by the Quran Sunnat Society. This group also is seeking the right that allows Muslims to choose secular law over their personal law governed the order of succession. The Supreme Court of the land now wants to amalgamate and decide all three cases at once.

Constituted Laws Applicable to Muslims Succession

Currently in India, succession to all property of a person who is a Muslim is governed by Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937. This legislation consists of religious provisions prescribed in the Quran, Hadith, and other Islamic literature. It is active by operation of law unless Muslims have opted out under specific conditions.

The 1937 Act deals with family matters, succession, divorce, and marriage primarily based on historical Islam teachings. Such codification has been criticized because existence of minimal delineation of scope leads to ambiguities of the rights women on succession in inheritances.

Impacts on Personal Freedom and Legislative Change

These petitions raise intricate constitutionally due cases bearing on discrimination based on religion, discrimination based on sex, and multi-level legal systems. The petitioners are not trying to eliminate Muslim personal law, rather they desire the option of adhering to a civil law system within their faith.

The potential ruling on this is likely to pose a significant landmark both for reform of personal law encroachments and freedom of religion in India. If permitted, it might encourage people from other religions to claim such self-governing authority within the context of Indian secular law.

Read More: Supreme Court to Examine If Muslims Can Opt for Secular Inheritance Laws Without Leaving Islam