The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to examine a significant legal question—whether Muslims can choose to be governed by India’s secular succession law for dealing with ancestral property, instead of being bound by Shariat, without renouncing Islam.

A bench led by Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar issued notices to the Centre and the Kerala government in response to a petition filed by Naushad K K, a resident of Thrissur district in Kerala.

Naushad submitted that he wished to be governed by the Indian Succession Act rather than personal religious law, while continuing to remain a Muslim.

The court also directed that his petition be tagged with two other similar cases already pending before it.

One such case, filed in April last year by Safiya P M, a resident of Alappuzha and general secretary of ‘Ex-Muslims of Kerala,’ challenges the applicability of Shariat to her property rights. She describes herself as a non-believer but identifies culturally as a Muslim, and seeks to be governed by secular succession laws.

Another related petition filed in 2016 by the ‘Quran Sunnat Society’ is also pending. The Supreme Court will now hear all three matters together.