Judicial Precedents:

Interpretation of Muslim law by the judges of the Indian High Courts and Supreme Court continue in modern times to supplement and modify the Islamic law. These include the decisions of the Privy Council, the Supreme Court, High Courts in India. These decisions are regarded as precedents for future cases.

It is said that the law protects only the vigilant. This is very much applicable in the case of Muslims in India. The development of Muslim law by the judiciary came to its full development during the period of 1980’s because till then, the Muslim men and women were ignorant about their rights.

The first landmark judgement that deals with the Muslim personal law was the 1986 judgement in Shah Bano V. Md. Ahmed Khan. In this case, the Apex Court held that Muslim women have a right to maintenance under Section 125 of the Criminal Procedure Code even if the Quran or their personallaws have provided for an alternate remedy. The same ration was upheld by the Apex Court in Daniel Latifi v. Union of India.

Recently, in the leading case of Shayara Bano V. Union of India, the Apex Court held the system of instantaneous divorce by the utterance of the word ‘Talaq’ thrice orally is unconstitutional because the right to instantaneous divorce is only with the men and not with women. Further, the system is arbitrary and hence, violation of Article 14.

Therefore, the judiciary has assisted in the development of Muslim personal law.

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