BaKhabar, May 2013, Page-10 [Mumbai gets its first Shariah court to settle civil, marital disputes + Oldest Quran found in Yemen, man claims]

Mumbai gets its first Shariah court to settle civil, marital disputes

… By Mohammed Wajihuddin, TNN | Apr 29, 2013

MUMBAI: The city is set to get its first Darul Qaza or Shariah court to settle civil and marital disputes in the Muslim community. The court, set up by the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, will be inaugurated on Monday at Anjuman-i-Islam, near CST, and will serve to fill a long-felt need of the community.
Shariah courts already function at many places in the country, such as Hyderabad, Patna and Malegaon. Here qazis appointed by the AIMPLB hear the community's various disputes, barring criminal cases, and deliver judgements. "This court will function to settle mainly family disputes pertaining to marriage, divorce and inheritance. Marriage disputes will be settled quickly and the couples will be told to either reconcile or separate if reconciliation is not possible. It will save the community much time and money as fighting cases in civil courts is expensive and time-consuming," said AIMPLB secretary Maulana Wali Rahmani.

For a dispute to be heard by a Shariah court, both the parties in the dispute will have to approach the court. If one of the parties has approached a civil court, then it will have to withdraw the case for the Shariah court to accept the matter.
Rahmani said Shariah courts do not compete with the civil courts. "On the contrary, Shariah courts will lower the burden of the civil courts where thousands of cases are pending and the judges are overworked," he said.
Senior advocate and head of AIMPLB's legal cell Yusuf Muchalla called the city's Shariah court a "significant alternative dispute settlement mechanism". "This court will decide within the framework of Muslim personal laws and mainly deal with matrimonial disputes. This is a kind of domestic tribunal set up by the Muslim community." He added that district and high courts in Bihar, Jharkhand, Bengal and Orissa have upheld several decisions given by the Shariah courts established by the Imarat-e-Shariah (House of Shariah) headquartered in Patna. Muchalla maintained that the Shariah courts were well within the law of the land.
'Shariah courts don't compete with civil courts'
For a dispute to be heard by a Shariah court, both the parties in the dispute will have to approach the court. If one of the parties has approached a civil court, then it will have to withdraw the case for the Shariah court to accept the matter.
AIMPLB secretary Maulana Wali Rahmani said Shariah courts do not compete with the civil courts. "On the contrary, Shariah courts will lower the burden of the civil courts where thousands of cases are pending and the judges are overworked," he said.
Senior advocate and head of AIMPLB's legal cell Yusuf Muchalla called the city's Shariah court a "significant alternative dispute settlement mechanism". "This court will decide within the framework of Muslim personal laws and mainly deal with matrimonial disputes. This is a kind of domestic tribunal set up by the Muslim community." He added that district and high courts in Bihar, Jharkhand, Bengal and Orissa have upheld several decisions given by courts established by the Imarat-e-Shariah (House of Shariah) headquartered in Patna. Muchalla said that Shariah courts were within the law of the land.
Source: http://bit.ly/105MVqY

Oldest Quran found in Yemen, man claims

Preliminary tests indicate book is genuine

... By Habib Toumi, Bureau Chief, Gulf News, Yemen

Image Credit: Courtesy: Aden Gulf News
The Quran thought to date from 815AD, found in a mountain cave near Dhale, Yemen

Manama: A Yemeni young man has claimed to have found the oldest surviving manuscript of the Holy Quran.

The book venerated by Muslims was found inside a leather cover in a cave in the mountains south of the city of Dhale in the southern part of the country, Yemeni Arabic news site Aden Gulf News reported on Wednesday.

The words “This manuscript was handwritten in 200 AH” (815 AD) were inscribed on the first page, and preliminary tests have indicated that the copy was genuine, making it the oldest in existence. According to the site, the Arabic letters did not have the dots that were introduced at a later stage in the Arabic alphabet to distinguish similar looking letters.

The young man, who was not identified, has reportedly been offered large sums of money for the manuscript, including a YR 12 million (Dh205,682) offer, but he has refused to give it away, preferring instead to keep it, relatives said. He said that he was able to reach the mountain cave by climbing down using a rope, insisting that it was the only way to reach it.

The news site said that the young man also found next to the Quran manuscript a sword believed to have belonged to Ali Bin Abi Talib, the fourth Caliph and son-in-law of the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH). Some history accounts say that the sword — Dhu Al Faqqar — was offered by Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) to Ali.
Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) lived between AD570 and 632 and the Holy Quran was revealed between 610 and 632.
quran

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