Kerala’s Muslim girls crave to come out of burqa

 VR Jayaraj | Kozhikode – Daily Pioneer
Image Courtesy:Janmabhumi

Even as Islamist forces like the PDP of Abdul Nasser Madani and the Popular Front of India are allegedly working overtime for Talibanizing Kerala by forcing Muslims to adopt strict conservatism, a revolution is taking place within the community against such efforts.

In several places with Muslim concentration in the State, the Islamist outfits are facing stiff resistance, especially from women, to the diktats of the clergy to adopt conservative customs like wearing burqa and hijab. This revolution is proving the Islamists’ cries for freedom of the Muslim women to wear traditional dresses a farce. Also, the rebellion is no more a silent.

The latest example of this intra-community revolution is Riyana R Khasi, a young Muslim woman belonging to Kasaragod, known for strict conservatism among Muslims. Riyana, an aeronautical engineering degree-holder, made history last week when she earned an order from the Kerala High Court against the Islamists who were determined to make her wear burqa and hijab against her will.

The court ordered the police to give her security from her relatives, neighbours and an Islamist outfit, who threatened her with dire consequences if she did not wear the “traditional Muslim dress”. The Kasaragod Police, who had refused to look into the girls’ complaints till last week, have already registered cases against three persons for threatening her in the name burqa.

Riyana had come back to Kasaragod after completing her degree course in aeronautical engineering at Chennai a year ago and since then she and her family were being harassed by conservative elements among her own relatives and the neighbours for her special affinity to modern dresses like jeans and T-shirts. When their efforts failed, an Islamist organization allegedly took over the job of threatening the family.

But Riyana stood her ground arguing that the Holy Qur’an had not made burqa mandatory for Muslim women. She argued that the women of Arabia were wearing it because of the climatic peculiarities and that it was in no way a symbol of Islam. Her firm stand enraged the conservatives, clergy and the Islamists, and the threats intensified.

Riyana approached the High Court after her complaints to the Kasaragod Police at different levels and the Kerala State Commission for Women proved futile. Last week, the High Court ordered the police to provide security to the girl, her parents and sisters from those who were harassing them with open threats and embarrassing telephone calls.

“India is not a religious state but a democracy. The Popular Front or the conservative clergy has no right to decide how I should dress,” says Riyana, who is preparing for civil service examinations. “I am a true believer but I have the right to choose my clothes,” she says.

Reports from several other places, where concentration of conservative Muslims is high and where the Islamists are successfully enforcing their diktats, also suggest that young girls are in the process of breaking off the fetters of religious rigidity. Firdhouse, a pharmaceutical sciences student from Mattanchery, says she has been resisting the dress code compulsions from the clergy ever since she joined the course in Coimbatore two years ago.

“I don’t agree with the burqa ban in France but I don’t also agree with our people’s campaign for the Muslim girls’ freedom to wear hijab at schools,” says Firdhouse. “It is true that the Muslim girls should have the freedom to wear the hijab but the clergy should also agree with their freedom to wear the dress they like. Somehow, our leaders do not want us to live life the way we want to,” she says.

Haroon, a Kozhikode-based expert on Islamic culture, said that revolts by Gen-Y Muslim girls are not isolated cases but it is fast becoming a trend. He said the new generation Muslims had made great progress in lifestyle and professionalism and this was bound to reflect on their outlook.

“You can’t ask a young IT professional to excel in his field and stick to conservatism at the same time. Their professions and the world they interact are sure to have an influence on their perspective and dress. The clergy of any group cannot keep in the confines of conservative practices,” he said.

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