Lessons From How the World's Largest Democracy Fails Muslim Women

News:

The Indian Express have published an article entitled “When absence speaks louder than presence: Muslim women and India’s Parliament”. It addresses the huge lack of representation of Muslim women in its office. Since the first Lok Sabha (The Indian Democratic Parliament) in 1952, only eighteen Muslim women have been active in the chambers. The underrepresentation has been documented in a new book written by journalists Rasheed Kidwai and political scientist Ambar Kumar Ghosh entitled “Missing from the House: Muslim Women in the Lok Sabha”, published by Juggernaut (2025). The authors are unsparing in their recognition of how tokenistic such representation often was. For many political parties, the candidature of a Muslim woman functioned as a symbolic gesture rather than a real impact and influence.

One of the most important threads the book teases out is the uneasy relationship between visibility and power. A Muslim woman MP might attract media spotlight. But when it came to real decision-making, candidate selection, policy priorities, and cabinet posts, the Muslim women are clearly often sidelined. The authors make it clear that “Democratic representation” does not translate automatically into empowerment.

Comment:

We should not be surprised as Muslim women to be witnessing the end of an era where the experimentation with Liberal political theory needs proof of its toxicity. The long-lost cure for empowerment can no longer be found in the black chasm of Democracy. We have seen the “Inclusion” illusion for all that it is, a mirage of fake promises and misguided Islamic rhetoric. Getting into “power” always means serving your secular masters and compromising with your relationship with Allah (swt).

The feminists are silent in the global as well as national assault and murder of Muslim women who live in fear of expressing their identity and allegiance to Allah (swt).

We as Muslim women must never forget we have real empowerment from only Allah (swt) and that our voices, security and dignity were always secured under the Khilafah (Caliphate). We never needed a women’s rights movement, and we were protecting non-Muslim women with our noble values. Economic as well as social rights are sacred and clear in the Quran 4:12;

[وَلَكُمْ نِصْفُ مَا تَرَكَ أَزْوَاجُكُمْ إِن لَّمْ يَكُن لَّهُنَّ وَلَدٌ فَإِن كَانَ لَهُنَّ وَلَدٌ فَلَكُمُ الرُّبُعُ مِمَّا تَرَكْنَ مِن بَعْدِ وَصِيَّةٍ يُوصِينَ بِهَا أَوْ دَيْنٍ وَلَهُنَّ الرُّبُعُ مِمَّا تَرَكْتُمْ إِن لَّمْ يَكُن لَّكُمْ وَلَدٌ فَإِن كَانَ لَكُمْ وَلَدٌ فَلَهُنَّ الثُّمُنُ مِمَّا تَرَكْتُم مِّن بَعْدِ وَصِيَّةٍ تُوصُونَ بِهَا أَوْ دَيْنٍ وَإِن كَانَ رَجُلٌ يُورَثُ كَلاَلَةً أَو امْرَأَةٌ وَلَهُ أَخٌ أَوْ أُخْتٌ فَلِكُلِّ وَاحِدٍ مِّنْهُمَا السُّدُسُ فَإِن كَانُوَاْ أَكْثَرَ مِن ذَلِكَ فَهُمْ شُرَكَاء فِي الثُّلُثِ مِن بَعْدِ وَصِيَّةٍ يُوصَى بِهَآ أَوْ دَيْنٍ غَيْرَ مُضَآرٍّ وَصِيَّةً مِّنَ اللّهِ وَاللّهُ عَلِيمٌ حَلِيمٌ]

“You will inherit half of what your wives leave if they are childless. But if they have children, then ˹your share is˺ one-fourth of the estate—after the fulfilment of bequests and debts. And your wives will inherit one-fourth of what you leave if you are childless. But if you have children, then your wives will receive one-eighth of your estate—after the fulfilment of bequests and debts. And if a man or a woman leaves neither parents nor children but only a brother or a sister ˹from their mother’s side˺, they will each inherit one-sixth, but if they are more than one, they ˹all˺ will share one-third of the estate1—after the fulfilment of bequests and debts without harm ˹to the heirs˺.2 ˹This is˺ a commandment from Allah. And Allah is All-Knowing, Most Forbearing.”

If we focus exclusively on returning the correct authority of Islam back to the political life, we will no longer be confused in the distractions of the secular agenda that only seeks to make the true Muslim women invisible and powerless.

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Imrana Mohammad
Member of the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir