2. Outline
Muslim Rule In India
Sharia Law
Company Rule
British Raj
Islamization of Shariah
Ill effects of Islamization of Shariah
Conclusion
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4. Muslim Rule
Indian Muslims were governed by the Shariah
The administration of justice according to the shari‛ah
Qadi Courts
Muftis
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5. End of Mughal Rule
1600s, the English East India Company (EEIC) established
trading posts at Bombay (Mumbai), Madras (Chennai), and
Calcutta.
At first, India’s ruling Mughal Empire kept European traders
under control, but already weakened by civil war and misrule
few, Indians wished to defend it.
By 1707, however, the Mughal Empire was collapsing. Dozens of
small states, each headed by a ruler or maharajah, broke away
from Mughal control.
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6. British Rule took place piecemeal
Direct British Rule
Company Rule
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7. British Rule
Initially, British followed “Non-Interference Policy”
Did not desire an abrupt break with the past
to have security in social conditions
No desire to interfere with the religious susceptibilities
of their subject
The British slowly abandoned the policy with gradual
consolidation of power in India
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8. British Rule and Muslims
Developments in British Rule adversely
affected Muslim interests
Due to many reasons British considered Muslims as
their main rivals
Rivalry became worst after the Great Revolt of 1857
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9. British Rule and Muslims
Faced discrimination in every walk of life
Education
Government jobs
Administration
Language
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11. British Rule and Muslims
Biggest loss for Muslims was loss of Shariah
For Muslims Shariah is divine guidance and code of
conduct
British Colonialists considered it necessary to deprive
Muslims of their source of sustenance and symbol of
identity
by substituting a good part of the Shariah with English
law and
systematically mutilated the rest of it into a hybrid legal
system called “Muhammadan Law”
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12. British Rule and Muslims
Erosion of Shariah
started with the Bengal
Regulations VII of 1832
Third Law Commission
was constituted in 1861
to frame a body of
substantive law
Six enactments owe
their origin to the
Commission which
superseded the
principle of the Shariah
The Indian Succession Act
The Indian Contract Act
The Negotiable
Instruments Act
The Indian Evidence Act
The Transfer of Property
Act
The Criminal Procedure
Act
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13. British Rule and Muslims
Abolished the office of Qadi the main functionary
position in the administration of justice under Shariah
Kazi Act in 1864
Muslims were not allowed to elect Qadi by the British
Courts
The Administration of Shariah was placed in the
hands of the English Judges who had very scanty
knowledge of the subject
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14. Ill effects of the conversion of
Shariah into “Muhammadan Law”
Adoption of the theory of Stare decisis unknown to the
Shariah made it a prisoner of taqlid and robbed it of its
dynamism
British courts placed absolute reliance upon some Islamic
legal texts used in the past
Rejected any deductions made be contemporary jurists of new
rules of law from the ancient texts
Judges were inclined to equate taqlid with stare decisis
In Baker Ali Khan v. Anjuman are (1903)30 I.A. 94 refused to
agree with certain sound inferences drawn by Mahmood J. in
Agha Ali Khan’s case
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15. Ill effects of the conversion of
Shariah into “Muhammadan Law”
Applications of the principles of English law to the
Shariah anglicized it to the extent of being a hybrid
legal system
Codification of law replaced various aspects of shariah
with English law
English law will be first consulted wherever the context
so demands (Privy Council-Waghela V. Sheikh 1887)
A choice most consistent with Justice, equity and goods
conscience could be made between the conflicting
opinions in Islamic law (Asia Bano V. Muhammad
Ibrahim 1925)
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16. Ill effects of the conversion of
Shariah into “Muhammadan Law
Non-Muslim judges started deciding the Shariah cases
against clear Islamic legal injunctions
The soul of a culture – law is largely the formalized and
enforceable expression of a community’s cultural norms
cannot be fully understood by alien minds
Under islamic law only a Muslim possessing specific
qualifications could be a Qadi or Judge
Qadis were replaced with English judges who started
deciding Shariah cases
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17. ill effects of the conversion of
Shariah into “Muhammadan Law”
Judicial misinterpretation of the Shariah started and
gradually assumed disturbing dimensions
K.P. Saksena has given a list of judgments in which
Islamic law had been misinterpreted
Islamic legal education suffered immensely and has
become completely out of tune of the Shariah
English became official/court/business language
English laws and judicial system was taught
Indigenous legal system was not taught
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