Muslim Personal Law is a legal concept and body of statutory law in India that governs the personal matters of Muslims, distinct from the common civil code applicable to all citizens. Its foundation is the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937, a central act passed on October 7, 1937, which extended to the whole of India. The Act was created to ensure the uniform application of Shariat principles to Muslims, overriding diverse and often discriminatory local customs, particularly those that denied Muslim women their rights under Islamic law.
The core mechanism is established in Section 2 of the 1937 Act, which mandates that the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) shall be the rule of decision for Muslims in matters including marriage, dissolution of marriage (such as talaq, khula, and mubaraat), maintenance, dower, intestate succession, and guardianship, "notwithstanding any custom or usage to the contrary". The Act connects to other legislation, notably the Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act, 1939, which grants Muslim women specific grounds for seeking divorce.
A significant recent change occurred with the Supreme Court's 2017 judgment in Shayara Bano v. Union of India, where a 3:2 majority declared the practice of instant triple talaq (talaq-e-biddat) unconstitutional. The court held that instant triple talaq was manifestly arbitrary and violated fundamental rights under Article 14 of the Constitution. This was followed by the enactment of The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019, which made instant triple talaq illegal, void, and a cognizable offense. The rest of the 1937 Act, governing other personal matters, remains in force, but the concept is closely linked to the ongoing national debate surrounding the Uniform Civil Code (UCC), which is envisaged under Article 44 of the Constitution.