Why is Purdah a problem to Election officials at polling booths?

Kozhikode: Purdah or nikab resorted to by some Muslim women has become an issue at several polling booths. Election officials at polling booths in Malabar wanted women wearing purdah to lift the veil so they could see the face of the voter to reconfirm identity. In Kasargod district and several parts of Kannur the issue is a contentious one.

A practice that is highly discriminatory when it is imposed on women like some diktat, it has its supporters and detractors. Some say that it is in tune with tradition and beliefs while others say that there are provisions to show the face to strangers if it is a requirement of the law of the land. And some denounce it when it is forced on women.

Noted Muslim scholar Syed Hyder Ali Shihab Thangal, who is also the head of the Indian Union Muslim League, told DC that purdah is a tradition, but that in a democratic set up each one should act in tune with the law.

It has also been pointed out that purdah is an Arab way of life, not Islamic. “It is a wrong notion that purdah is Islamic dress,” said Dr P.A. Fazal Gafoor, president of the Muslim Educational Society.

“It is an Arab dress. Among the 150 crore Muslims living all over the world, Arabs are only 10 crore. In that, too, the purdah that covers the face, known as nikab, is used only by a few such as Yemanies and Saudi people. And it is not limited to women, but men too wear such dress,” he said.

Mr Gafoor said that rather than religious reasons, climatic conditions like unexpected desert storms forced people to opt for such dress. Not only Arabs, the Egyptians and Christians living in Arab nations also wear the dress, he noted.

Commenting on the Indian situation, Dr Gafoor said that a majority of Muslims- about 18 crore - live in West Bengal and Bangladesh and wear the sari, an Indian dress.

“In Kerala, it was the Arab interface that brought the purdah culture. The religious groups encouraged it. My grandmother and great grandmothers never wore purdah. They wore the indigenous ‘lungi’ and ‘mundu’. Wives of C.H. Muhammed Koya or A. A. Rahim never wore purdah. My wife, who is the daughter of A. A. Rahim and wife of Muneer sahib never wore purdah,” he noted.

Mr Gafoor also said that the popularity of  purdah came as a defensive reaction of Islam against cultural invasion of West. “It is a great social leveller which has limited options to show your pomp and wealth. There is no doubt that it also gives a feeling of security to women,” is his opinion.

It is not in the Quran: Dr Hussain Madavoor

Eminent Islamic scholar Dr Hussain Madavoor says that purdah has not been recommended in the Quran. “Quran only directs to cover the body parts that create sexual urges in men. It can be a sari or a churidar provided it decently covers the female body,” he says. He says that some Christian schools in Kozhikode have asked Muslim girl students not to wear the veil.

“At the same time the nuns who run the institution are wearing a purdah like dress covering head, hands and toes. The Christian priests also wear such a dress. Then how can they deny the freedom to Muslim girls?” he asked, forgetting that there is a distinction to be made between religious and lay persons.

But Dr Hussain was also of the opinion that there was no point in protesting when it is legally binding to show your face.

Muslim intellectuals are of a different view. Noted critic K.E.N Kunhammad told DC that whether to wear purdah or to cover one’s face is up to the individual to decide. It cannot be imposed by anyone else. In a male-dominated society, if such a dress code has been imposed on women, it is against individual freedom. At the same time, if a woman wants to wear purdah, she must have the freedom to do so, he said.

Mr Kunhammed made the point that the purdah, which was imposed by religious conservatives, has metamorphosed into a form of resistance.

“The clerics brought purdah to ensure that women always remain unseen, but see how a commercialised society has transformed it, breaking its religious barriers. Now we have different types of purdah and many of them are fashionable and sexy,” he said.