User:Bookku/R3

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In this most recent case an innocent expectation of appreciation of academic excellence by a Muslim girl student on her school's stage, became a cause of a moment frowned upon by the leading orthodox Muslim clergy; Whether women should view it positively, at least she has access to some education when many girls do not get that too or see it skeptically, as yet another example of continued denial of access to public places to women in South Asia?

A leading cleric, M.T. Abdullah Musaliyar, of a prominent Muslim orthodox religious orgnisation and also head of their School board (Samastha Kerala Sunni Vidyabhyasa Board), having ten thousand  in Karala, a southern state of India, got telecasted live while berating their school award organisers for inviting the teenage awardee girl student Mashida P. V. on stage instead of giving award for her in her parents hands as per their organizational orthodox policy of.

The instance occurred at madrassa building inauguration function which was held as part of the annual event of the Darul Ulum Madrasa at Ramapuram near in Perinthalmanna, Dist. . The school functionaries  invited the girl on to the stage to receive an award for excellence in education. The award memento was presented to the girl by Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leader Panakkad Sayed Abbas Ali Shihab Thangal. Instantaneously Abdullah Musliyar, the institution's clerical dignitary, publicly criticized the school organizers in the presence of the girl by pointing out that this was against the institutional ideology  of Samastha.

As per reports, " .. Who invited a Class 10 girl to the stage? If you do this again... Don't call girls like this on stage, are you not supposed to call parents as per Samastha rules ? Did you call her ? .. Did not you do something that is not supposed to happen when we all sit on stage ? Won't this appear in photos  and  telecast?  .. “ the cleric retorted on the stage.

According to, a Kerala based news media, defended Musaliyar's remarks saying, Samastha views matter of in religious manner being a religious orgnisation. MT Abdullah Musliar said Samastha looks after girls with the due respect and dignity but Samastha policy does not permit women and men on equal footing and that no one has the right to say that Samastha policy needs to change.

Though the girl who walked on the stage was in full and, as per the strict Islamic dress code. As per, the video came to light from the 'Sunni Ulama Followers' Facebook page related to Samastha. According to the news reports, the cleric Musliyar's retort has got a lot of flak, including on social media from some progressive civil society, where as some other Islamist sources went on to defend the cleric's position and equated the criticism to Islamophobia, while many social and political voices seem to have preferred silence according to the Governor of the State.

P. K. Nawaz, state president of said that the cleric is being portrayed in an attempt to show the Muslim scholars in barbaric and anti-feminist light. On his facebook page Nawaz wrote that, Those who attempt to portray the Musliyar in a bad light should be isolated. Criticisms are not naive and propaganda by certain communal institutions to promote Islamophobia. Musliyar is an honorific associated with South Indian, chiefly Malayali, scholars of Islam. According to the New Indian Express news report, the former national vice-president of Muslim Students Federation (MSF) Fathima Thahiliya distanced herself expressing her displeasure about Abdulla Musliyar’s action. Thahiliya took on to social media to say that the girls who face such incidences  (like the Class X student faced) would hate religion and religious leaders later in their lives.

The Governor of Kerala,  who is well known in India for his progressive outlook specially promoting Muslim Women's rights questioned silence of the state, social, political leadership and media, according to, the Governor criticizing the stand of clerics said that “ .. She was wearing a hijab. Then why were they insulting her? Because, your ultimate purpose is not hijab. They are the people who are responsible for creating Islamophobia. I have a fear that if they had an upper hand, they would have imposed their code on every woman, .. ”. "They might have any number (of Madarasah), these numbers do not matter. You are in a democracy, in a rule of law. Be you ever so high, the law is above you. This is not merely a violation of the clear cut commands of the Qur'an. It is clear cut violations of the provisions of the fundamental rights guaranteed in the Constitution," the Governor Khan said. A day earlier the Governor Khan had twitted, " .. Sad to know that a young talented girl was humiliated on stage .. while receiving a well-deserved award simply because she was born into a Muslim family." "This is yet another example of how Muslim clerics continue to push hard, Muslim women into seclusion and suppress their personality in total defiance of Qur'anic commands and provisions of the Constitution, .. ". P Sathidevi, the chairperson of the Kerala Women's Commission criticized the clergy terming their thoughts misogynistic and deplorable, since  in a civilized society leading in women's literacy  religious leadership denying young girls opportunity to receive educational awards does not augur  well.

Kerala Govt. Ministers R Bindu and Veena George (Women and Child Development) criticized the incident.

In India's southern state of Kerala, which is known for best on population index, ; also  gets highlighted in Indian media for cases of  from orthodoxies of various religious denominations. In most recent case  mainly women  by some  orthodoxies among both Muslims, Christians and Hindus for dancing (. while being a non-Hindu.
 * Brief background 

History of opportunity for South Asian women to access public places has been mixed over place, time period and communities; very large sections of Hindu and Muslim women were secluded and restricted from accessing public places freely for centuries together under cultural system backed by religious orthodoxy, situation improved some what since twentieth century still orthodoxy and opportunists attempts to control women bodies as and when get chance as in Taliban's Afghanistan interestingly which works on theological  hues imported from Indian Islamist school of Deoband. Attempts of orthodoxy do not go unchallenged either, they reflect in South Asian feminist literature, for example since last decade books like "Why loiter?: Women and risk on Mumbai streets" came under discussion influenced activism in Karachi, or for that matter women's demonstrations in South Asia at various points of time. In Kerala's one of popular Temple Sabarimala, temple administration puts. This tradition of the temple allegedly followed to respect the celibate nature of the deity. The case is before Supreme Court of India for constitutional review whether to allow Hindu women entry irrespective of their age group. In Kerala's neighbouring state of Karnataka at the beginning of January 2022, a dispute about  was reported, when some  girl students of a  who wanted to sport  to classes were denied entry with the reason that it was a violation of the. This case too is before supreme court waiting for resolution. Meanwhile in neighbouring Pakistan, Farah Khwaja in her article in The Express Tribune Pakistan acknowledges Pakistani sentiments for right of Indian Muslim women to wear Hijab if they choose to do so, but similarly expects introspection to protect the rights of religious minorities and women in Pakistan.

Similar issues of Mosque, Dargah and graveyard entry for Muslim women in India persist, for example, entry of women to the sanctum of the in  shrine was limited starting 2012 until   an intervened in 2016, but most other Sunni graveyard, Sufi/ Shia Dargah  and most Mosques practically either refuse access or severely restricts for women; as Azania Imtiaz Khatri-Patel points out from her personal experience that she was not allowed to be at her own father's grave. On state of Indian Muslim women Azania Imtiaz Khatri-Patel in her article "In a double bind, facing conservatism and politics" states that " .. The lack of a middle path here means that Muslim women are forced to occupy spaces on two ends of the spectrum — one that requires a compromise of political agency and the second that requires accepting an exclusion from one’s own community. .. "

Endnotes

 * There are minute differences in translation about what the cleric said.
 * Alternate translation versions " .. Don't call girls like this on stage, are not you supposed to call parents as per Samastha rules ? did you' call her ? Did not you do something that is not supposed to happen when we all sit on stage ? Won't this come in photo ? .. " / alternate translation: " .. Who called the class 10 girl to the stage? Will show you if girls are called to the stage once again. Don't call such girls here. Don't you know Samastha's decision? Tell the girl's parent to come. Are you doing unnecessary work in our presence?, .. ", ( An alternate translation:  " .. Who invited a Class 10 girl to the stage? If you do this again... Don't call such girls here. Don't you know the rules of Samastha? Were you the one who called her? Ask her parents to come to the stage to collect the award. Don't do such things while we are sitting here. This will appear in photos and be telecast, .. ")


 * In the student felicitation ceremony video first a boy is felicitated, then the girl's number comes and when she reaches stages accepts memento then the cleric makes issue. The politician handing over memento is criticized in news reports for his silence but he did not avoid presenting memento to the girl on his own.


 * This sentence borrowed from an en wp user " .. The first photograph is added because it is simply a great composition presenting a nice contrast, very in-your-face, .. " depicting gender segregation at religiously controlled public places. The user further states " .. experience ..  definitely not any more segregated than, lets say, the Hindu and Sikh cultures .."


 * To avoid one sided stereotyping I have added photograph from another (north Indian) Muslim educational institution where in a girl student has been felicitated. Of course that institution is  controlled by Indian Government funding and parliamentary legal structure.


 * While Indian constitution assures equal dignity to all citizens in case of minority educational institutions run by Muslim and Christian institutions have special privileges to avoid governmental interference in curricula and academic processes and hence Madarasas are free to make own rules.
 * Brief background note also helps equal measure of criticism across communities segregation practices.


 * First para summary is OR and one para in Brief background though certainly can be sourced from academic sources but not sourced yet.