Thread by @ghazalawahab

A thread on the #hijab controversy.

1. Until now, I hadn't commented on #Karnataka #hijab row. Conscious tht d issue was abt politics, neither religion nor young girls' right to wear hijab to college, I didn't have clarity of my position. Now I have. But first, a few questions

2. Has there been any incident in any part of India where #Muslim men wanted to attend classes in a particular dress, say a skullcap? Why is the responsibility of upholding religious identity only Muslim women's? Who is telling these women tht their identity & d right to fight

3. For tht identity more imp than their future? Why is no one finding it disturbing tht fathers of some girls r saying tht if college doesn't relent, they will not allow their girls to study further. Let their future b ruined? Y r parents not moved by d sight of desperate girls?

4. Now about #hijab. #Islam prescribes no identity, except faith or Iman. As long as clothes do not draw attention to one's body, a Muslim, both man & woman, can wear anything. Their Muslimness shows in their upright & just conduct not clothes.

5. Quranic verses on modesty for women are circumstance-specific, which is why even now there is no unanimity on what exactly should b the nature of #hijab. Eventually, it has devolved on regional & cultural practices, mainly dictated by men. So you see some women

6. Wearing only a #headscarf and some wearing a full face covering shroud. Rich ladies of the Gulf wear figure-skimming long robes in the name of #abayah. Given this, for young women to fight a battle which doesn't deserve to be fought is a travesty of the real challenge

7. That Muslims are facing in India today. More to the point, these women are being used as pawns by men on both sides. Whoever may win this battle, these women will lose because they are allowing others to dictate to them what their religion tells them to do

8. Finally, comparison with Sikhs is wrong. #Sikhism probably is d only religion tht mandates physical identity. No ambiguity here. No possibility of diff intrpretations. Islam mandates no such identity. Wish there was a way these women could win, instead of their fathers.
Ends