We (should) rule out the possibility of a common civil code for the time being and concentrate our energy on reforms within the existing personal laws.

The Muslims too should realise the demands and the realities of contemporary society. They should not preclude either procedural modification or reinterpretation and rewriting in contemporary legal idiom - in the light of new social demands - to meet new social injunctions, without tampering with the core of the substance. They have to go along with right-minded people of the majority community if they want to secure a just solution. It is necessary for the Muslims to set their house in order.

An all-out effort must be made to argue the case of the community in order to persuade the skeptics to see reason in what we believe to be the Islamic position on issues such as inheritance, divorce (read triple talaq) and polygamy. That is not to deny or belittle the need for political efforts. It is time for the Ulema to deliberate on the cultural and social perspective and on the recent changes in personal laws brought about by some West Asian countries and Pakistan. They should evaluate the scope of reform in the Muslim personal law in the country.

It will be welcome if the All India Muslim Personal Law Board solicits views from other Muslim intellectuals and scholars to frame a code. The requirement is for an indepth study of the present day needs and also for an integrating force in the Muslim community for ushering in a new social order ..

At present, codification and reform of all family laws with a view to making them internally uniform and immune to possible misuse is the only pragmatic solution ..   (Source: The Times of India, 9 August, 1998)