KSLU Solved Question Papers
Family Law II (Mohammedan Law and Indian Succession Act)
Previous Year Question Paper with Solution
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) · Sem 6
2025 Jun (100 marks) Examination
munotes.in
Mumbai
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 6 Family Law II (Mohammedan Law and Indian Succession Act) 2025 Jun (100 marks) Question Paper with Solutions
First published on munotes.in on 21 October 2026.
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Contents
The questions below are the paper as Karnataka State Law University set it at the 2025 Jun (100 marks) examination, in the order it was set.
MarksPage
The Paper as Set
The questions in this volume are the questions asked at the 2025 Jun (100 marks) examination, reproduced as Karnataka State Law University set them, in the order it set them. Long reading passages are shortened to their first and last lines and our summary; the original paper prints them in full. Only the answers are ours. See the original question paper.
Duration 3 hours · Total marks 100 · 13 questions answered
How to use this volume
Solve the paper first, under exam conditions and against the clock. Then read the answers here and mark your own. Reading a solution before attempting the question feels productive and teaches very little, because recognising an answer is not the same as being able to write one.
Q1Explain the various sources of Mohammaden law.[16]
Answer
For full marks, cover: why Muslim law speaks of sources and ranks them; the primary (classical) sources in depth: Quran, Sunna (with hadith), Ijma and Qiyas, each with meaning, kinds or elements, and limits; the Shia position (aql in place of qiyas, the sayings of the Imams); the secondary sources: custom (urf), judicial decisions, legislation, and equity, justice and good conscience (with istihsan and istislah as classical parallels); section 2 of the Shariat Application Act 1937; Shah Bano, Shayara Bano, Abdul Kadir v. Salima and Maina Bibi explained; a criticism of the system; a conclusion.
Introduction: law that claims a divine origin
Muslim law (Shariat) is understood by Muslims as revealed law, not law made by a ruler or a legislature. A judge does not invent a rule. He finds it in recognised materials, and the materials are ranked. This ranking is what the "sources" of Muslim law describe. In India, section 2 of the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act 1937 directs courts to apply the Muslim personal law. It covers matters such as marriage, dower, divorce, maintenance, gifts, wakfs and intestate succession. So an Indian judge must know where that law is found.
The sources are usually divided into two groups:
| Group | Sources | Nature |
|---|---|---|
| Primary or classical | Quran, Sunna, Ijma, Qiyas | recognised by the jurists themselves |
| Secondary or modern | custom, judicial decisions, legislation, equity, justice and good conscience | the means by which the law operates in India today |
1. The Quran
The Quran is the holy book of Islam, believed to contain the words of God revealed to the Prophet Muhammad over about twenty-three years. It is the first and paramount source. Every other source draws its authority from it, and none may contradict a clear text of it.
The Quran is mainly a book of faith and guidance. Only a limited part lays down legal rules. That part deals chiefly with marriage, dower, divorce and iddat, maintenance, inheritance, and the treatment of orphans. The rules of inheritance are given in the greatest detail, with fixed fractions for the heirs.
Because many verses are general, they needed interpretation. That need gave rise to the other sources.
2. The Sunna and the hadith
The Sunna means the traditions of the Prophet: what he said, what he did, and what was done in his presence without his objection. These three are called sunnat-ul-qaul, sunnat-ul-fiil and sunnat-ul-taqrir. A hadith is the narrative report of a tradition, passed on through a chain of narrators.
- Function. The Sunna explains the Quran where it is brief, and supplies rules where it is silent.
- Grading. The jurists graded traditions by the reliability of the chain. A tradition reported by many independent chains carries great weight. A tradition resting on a single chain carries least.
- Limits. A tradition cannot override a clear text of the Quran.
The Shia schools accept the traditions handed down through the Prophet's family and the Imams, and they rely on their own collections. This is one reason the schools differ.
3. Ijma (consensus)
Ijma is the agreement of the qualified jurists (mujtahids) of a particular age on a question of law. It operates where the Quran and the Sunna do not settle the point. Once ijma is reached, it binds later generations on that point.
The classical writers recognised three levels. The consensus of the Companions of the Prophet carried the greatest weight. Next came the consensus of the jurists, and last the consensus of the people at large. Much of the settled classical law of marriage and divorce rests on ijma.
4. Qiyas (analogical deduction)
Qiyas is the extension of a rule laid down for one case to a new case that shares the same effective cause (illat). It has four elements: the original case (asl), the rule (hukm), the effective cause (illat), and the new case (far). Qiyas is used only where the Quran, the Sunna and ijma are silent, and its result must not contradict them. It is the weakest of the primary sources.
The Shia schools do not accept qiyas in this form. In its place they rely on reason (aql), exercised by qualified jurists.
5. Custom (urf)
Custom was not formally listed among the four sources, but the jurists accepted local usage where it did not conflict with the texts. In British India the courts enforced proved customs widely, and many of them denied daughters and widows their Quranic shares.
Section 2 of the 1937 Act changed this. It begins "Notwithstanding any custom or usage to the contrary" and makes the Shariat the rule of decision in the matters it lists. Agricultural land is excluded. Custom still governs adoption, wills and legacies unless a person makes a declaration under section 3 of the Act.
6. Judicial decisions
The decisions of the Privy Council, the High Courts and the Supreme Court have stated and settled the Muslim law applied in India. Under Article 141 of the Constitution the law declared by the Supreme Court binds all courts. Much of what students learn as Muslim law is in fact the law as these decisions have fixed it.
7. Legislation
Parliament has legislated on parts of Muslim law. The main examples are:
- the Shariat Application Act 1937;
- the Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act 1939;
- the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act 1986;
- the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act 2019;
- the Waqf Act 1995. Where an Act applies, it prevails over the classical law.
8. Equity, justice and good conscience
Where no rule of statute, precedent or personal law applies, a court decides by equity, justice and good conscience. The classical law had its own parallels: istihsan (juristic preference for the fairer result) and istislah (regard for the public good). The Privy Council warned that courts must not use their own notions of equity to override clear rules of Muslim law.
The leading cases
Mohd. Ahmed Khan v. Shah Bano Begum, AIR 1985 SC 945. A divorced wife of 62 sought maintenance under section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The husband argued that Muslim law ended his duty after iddat. The Supreme Court held section 125 applicable. It read ayats 241 and 242 of the Quran and held that the Quran itself requires provision for a divorced wife. The case shows a court relying directly on the first source.
Shayara Bano v. Union of India, AIR 2017 SC 4609. Instant triple talaq was challenged. By three to two it was set aside. Justice Kurian Joseph reasoned that what is held bad in the Quran cannot be good in Shariat law. Justice Nariman, with Justice Lalit, held section 2 of the 1937 Act void to the extent it recognised triple talaq. The case shows the Quran, legislation and the Constitution operating together.
Abdul Kadir v. Salima (1886) ILR 8 All 149. The Full Bench decided the wife's right to refuse cohabitation for unpaid prompt dower from the classical texts, especially the Hedaya. It repeated the Privy Council's warning that judges must not apply their own sense of justice in place of Muslim law. The case shows how precedent and the jurists' texts carry the law, and where equity stops.
Maina Bibi v. Chaudhri Vakil Ahmed (1925) 27 Bom LR 796 (PC). A widow held her late husband's lands for her unpaid dower. The Privy Council held that she could retain possession until paid, the right arising from Muslim law itself and not being a mortgage. A rule found in no verse now binds as precedent, showing judicial decisions as a source.
An assessment
- Strength. The ranking gives certainty. A lower source cannot override a higher one, so the core of the law is stable.
- Weakness. Ijma closed many questions centuries ago, so change from within became difficult. Reform has come mainly through legislation and the courts.
- Diversity. The schools read the same sources differently, which is why Hanafi and Shia rules can differ on the same facts.
Conclusion. The Quran, the Sunna, ijma and qiyas are the classical sources, ranked in that order, with aql in place of qiyas for the Shia. Custom, precedent, legislation and equity are the means through which the law now works in India. Shah Bano and Shayara Bano show the Quran still being read by Indian courts, while Abdul Kadir and Maina Bibi show the weight of precedent.
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