When Indian Muslim Women Questioned Fatwa

Last updated on: August 21, 2010 at 8:49 pm by Dan Wilkinson

When Indian Muslim Women Questioned Fatwa 2010-08-21T20:49:56-05:00 Dan Wilkinson

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Imagine the alleys of an old city in a place like Lucknow, and in a locality which is very conservative and a few women, (as I saw in the picture, there was no Burqa), march together with placards saying things like “Dharmacharyon se yeh keh do hum unki zageer nahin” ” sehen sheelta ka ghunghat uthaiye aur anyay ke khilaf awaaz uthaiye”. (We are not the property of the religious leaders and leave the veil of tolerance and fight for your rights)

Whoa!!! I was happy when I read this article this morning in newspaper.
Imagine these women march shouting slogans, waving placards and the march ends at the marital home of two of those three women who had roughed up some Maulvis of the Shariat Court in June for issuing ex-parte talaqnama. After some commotion, the women get their way into their homes, and in laws could not say anything.

The many fatwas issued for muslim women recently like forbidding them to ride bicycles (something to do with virginity?!), joining public office without hijab ( I don’t understand hijab), talk loudly, join judiciary (eh scared!) or even talk to their fiance before marriage (oh so that the girl doesnot know what a @#$@#$ he is !).

Very rightly, a muslim lady has asked “when women work as labourers on the streets, no one says a woman is not allowed to do that, then why a fatwa for wearing a black coat or a stethescope?” Very valid question.

Only insecure men use such controlling behaviour towards their women. I am so glad to see, women came out in open to oppose it. By the way, just a day before, there was a news(see here) that how a widowed women was executed publicly (by shooting in her head) after hours of torture (flogging) on the charges of adultery (she was pregnant) by Taliban in Afghanistan. The man responsible was obviously was not touched ! What an irony !

It disturbs me and scares me equally, what if such a practice starts here in India ? What if the Fatwas issued are not followed and from some far flung small locality, we get the news of such executions. Such socio-religious issues cannot be tackled by law alone. Consititution has prohibited us from doing many things, but in the name of customs, religion or prevailing caste systems, we, our own people break them, and then the law watches everything helplessly or sometimes react on it, and their reaction is too little too late.

I have all the reason to be disturbed when the honour killings (God! this word has suddenly surfaced…. when we thought it was thing of the past…. Kings sacrificing some one for their honour kind of stuff ). But we are witnessing it, then who can stop these Maulvis, who are so so narrowminded ?

So, when these ordinary women like you and me but who were gritty enough to lash back, march united, I feel proud of the fact that I am an Indian, I have freedom to voice my opinions, and thank God for the fact that I belong to India and not to Afghanistan.

Women_s Rights

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