Bhopal, April 28: Maulana Rabey Nadvi calls them a minuscule figure ? or .001 per cent of the country?s Muslim population. But a closer look at the plight of Firdaus, Rehana, Ruhi, Farhana and countless young women like them tells a different story.

On the eve of the 18th session of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board at the Taj-ul-Masajid mosque here, over a hundred women braved the 41 degrees Celsius temperature today to draw the board chief?s attention to the problem of divorce.

A common tale of sorrow had brought them here.

Firdaus did not want a divorce but her husband abandoned her, leaving the 28-year-old to bring up two children on her own. Her parents have since been looking for a suitable match without success.

Rehana was already a mother of four when her husband, a social activist, divorced her to marry a girl barely out of her teens. A victim of the gas tragedy, Rehana tried her best to save the marriage but failed as the city qazi expressed helplessness.

Ruhi, who comes from a rural background, even failed to secure her ?meher? (bridal price), clothes and jewellery that her doctor father had gifted her.

Farhana?s husband married his cousin in Aligarh when she had come to visit her parents in Bhopal. Her husband pronounced the triple talaq over phone. The reason he gave was that he suspected her character.

Against this backdrop, the board is set to clear a model ?nikaahnama? (marriage contract) tomorrow which seeks to empower women with a piece of paper articulating their rights and duties, though privately many members concede it would just be a symbolic step towards reforms badly needed in Muslim society.

?What is needed is mass awareness and fear of Allah. Only that can prevent gross injustice,? said Maulana Abdul Raheem Qureshi, the board?s secretary and a votary of sweeping reforms.

Nadvi, too, concedes there is a long way to go. The noted Islamic cleric said there was a need to make a distinction between the spirit of the Shariat and its application in society.

Tomorrow, the board chief, who said he called divorces a ?non issue? in a recent interview because of their minuscule percentage, will be handed a memorandum from 16 NGOs seeking a better deal for Muslim women in matters of marriage, divorce and inheritance.

Conscious of the spotlight on gender issues and social reforms, the board is set to reiterate its demand for agricultural income rights for Muslim women, a move it claims would strengthen their economic status.

Board member Kamal Farooqui said after the abolition of the zamindari act, Muslim women stopped getting the one-eighth share as envisaged under the Shariat. ?It is time to restore that right to our sisters.?

The board is also set to pronounce its disappointment with the US government?s move to deny visa to Maulana Kalbe-Sadiq, a noted Shia cleric and vice-president of the board.