December 3, 2003	Wednesday	Shawwal 8, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, Dec 2: A Supreme Court bench, seized of a set of petitions involving the question; whether marriage of a Muslim woman without the consent of her guardian is valid, was informed on Tuesday that Quaid-i-Azam Mohammmad Ali Jinnah was opposed to the restriction of consent of guardian (Wali) for the marriage of an adult Muslim girl.

The bench, which had reserved its judgment on Monday, was handed over a document by Attorney-General Makhdoom Ali Khan on Tuesday to show that the founder of Pakistan was opposed to the restriction of consent for the marriage of Muslim woman.

The document, called “The collected works of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah” by Syed Sharifuddin Pirzada, was handed over to the bench.

Justice Karamat Nazir Bhindari, a member of the bench, observed that that was why a group of ulema was against the Quaid and opposed the creation of Pakistan. But when the Quaid created the country, they hijacked it.

Quaid-i-Azam was quoted as having said: “According to the Mohammadan Law, a girl is entitled to marry at the age of 15.”

Quaid-i-Azam also quoted Justice Mulla as saying that under the Muslim law every individual, upon attaining the age of puberty, may enter into legal transactions of every kind, affecting his or her legal status, that is marriage and divorce or his and her property.”

Attorney-General Makhdoom Ali Khan on Monday had quoted Allama Iqbal from his book “Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam”, as having said: “The teaching of the holy Quran that life is a process of progressive creation necessitates that each generation, guided but unhampered by the work of its predecessors, should be permitted to solve its own problems.”

He had further quoted Allama Iqbal as saying: “In the Punjab, everybody knows, there have been cases in which Muslim women wishing to get rid of undesirable husbands have been driven to apostasy. Nothing could be more distant from the aims of a missionary religion. In view of the intense conservatism of the Muslims of India, Indian judges cannot but stick to what are called standard works. The result is that while the people are moving, the law remains stationary.”