Anti-woman post kicks up furore

 

Simsarul Haq Hudavi of the Samastha Kerala Jamiyyathul Ulema (EK faction) lashes out at the IUML for fielding women candidates and says those who allow freedom to women could not be called Muslims.

 

He argues that the women entering politics and contesting elections are un-Islamic. He quotes Quran to drive his point home that giving freedom to women is haram (forbidden) and against the law of Allah.

 

“Let them be at home with discipline, attending their husbands, doing household chores and engaging in procreation. Women have no right to walk down the street as men,” he says.

 

“While we discuss whether women can be taken to mosques for prayers, here we are allowing them to walk freely in the streets in the name of politics, that too with other men.”

 

The clerics’ body has been facing a rift over the issue as many conservative scholars oppose the candidature as well as campaigning of women.

 

But due to their affinity for the IUML, the Samastha leadership desisted from voicing displeasure.

 

The leadership is confused about how to deal with the ‘speech’ as they are unable to oppose or support his views openly in the middle of the elections.

 

One of its spokespersons, Kottumala Bappu Musliyar, said the speaker was not an official of the organisation but just an orator. He evaded questions on whether he attested his views.

 

“Some women are contesting, and some scholars are opposing it. We have to discuss the issue in detail,” the Musliyar told DC.

 

IUML general secretary KPA Majeed said the speech was timeworn, and now it was being spread by foes with evil agenda.