How a Muslim doctor in Kerala is fighting against the ‘un-Islamic’ face veil

Dr Fazal Gafoor, chairman of Kerala's Muslim Education Society, says Quran doesn't mention the use of face veils and the trend has come to India from Arab countries.

The college administration said students wearing burqa will be fined Rs 250 | Commons

Bengaluru: A woman candidate had appeared for an interview last year to get a seat in a medical college in Kerala. In the interview panel, a representative of the college management told her she would not be considered as she was wearing a naqab (face veil). The woman returned the next day to inform the panel that she did not want the seat because her husband would not allow her to step out without the naqab.

That day, the management representative Dr Fazal Gafoor, who is the chairman of the Muslim Education Society (MES) in Kerala, realised he was bound to face backlash for speaking out against face veils.

The MES, which has been in existence since the last 52 years, runs several medical colleges and over 90 schools and colleges in Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

‘Cultural invasion from Middle East ’

Dr Gafoor has remained steadfast in his views on face veils even in the face of backlash. Last month, he had issued a circular to all the institutions controlled by the MES, stating that the prospectus should contain the message, loud and clear, that any woman wearing a face veil would not be considered for admission.

Dr Gafoor’s father, P.K. Abdul Gafoor, was the one who identified that the major cause behind the backwardness of the Mopala community (Kerala Muslims are called Mopalas) was lack of education, without which their economic well-being would also remain a distant dream.

“I have never supported the concept of face veils, or naqab, and I have made it clear to both the students as well as the staff that MES-run institutions will not support such practices,” Dr Gafoor told The Print.

“Both my mother and my wife don’t wear face veils. It is just not a part of Kerala’s culture. What has happened now is nothing but cultural invasion from the Middle East. There are a few who want to impose such things on women, but I will stand against them and fight till the end,” Dr Gafoor said.

He said powerful Muslim women leaders, who have been heads of other countries, never wear face veils.

“See the way they dressed, for example Megawati Sukarnoputri, the former president of Indonesia, or Benazir Bhutto, the former prime minister of Pakistan. See how they dressed, they did not wear face veils.”

Dr Gafoor claimed after speaking out against face veils, some sections, who he calls Facebook warriors, said wearing the naqab is an individual’s prerogative.

But, he thinks otherwise. “This is no right of an individual. It is also the right of an individual to see the face of the person sitting next to him/her or if a person is in a hospital, he/she has the right to see the person treating him/her. If a person is travelling, it is also the right of other individuals to know who is travelling with them. Some individuals try to impose non-existent rules to oppress women,” Dr Gafoor said.

He said unnecessary controversy was created over the burqa ban in Sri Lanka after last month’s horrific Easter bombings that killed over 250 people. He said the decision to ban face veils was taken in April itself and it gained momentum in the background of the unfortunate attack.

‘Naqab is not Islamic’

“The Quran does not mention the use of purdah,” he argues.

The trend of face veils has come from the fundamentalist approach of the Arab and Gulf countries, he said.

“Women covering their faces is not Islamic. It is a new culture that has become widespread in Kerala in the last few decades. This concept has been brought in from abroad and has little to do with religion. The practice of covering the face is nothing but cultural invasion,” Dr Gafoor said.

Supporting Dr Gafoor’s theory, M.N. Karassery, a senior writer and social thinker from Kozhikode in Kerala said purdah is not even Arab, it is Persian and a part of their tribal culture.

Karassery also clarified that two decades ago burqa worn by Muslim women did not have a face veil. He further said the introduction of the face veil has propagated anti-women ideologies, which are not the teachings of Islam.

The Samastha Kerala Jamiyyathul Ulama has vehemently opposed Dr Gafoor’s stand on face veils. They called it “an incursion on their right to practise religion.”

Claiming that burqa and naqab are the identity of a woman, the Ulama demanded that Dr Gafoor roll back his decision to ban face veils in his institutions.

But Dr Gafoor is not ready to budge. Threatening phone calls and criticism have not made him flinch. On the contrary, he appears to have become more steadfast.

‘Face veils can cause health issues’

Dr Gafoor has very clear-cut views on face veils. He believes it is unhygienic to wear the veil in hot weather in Kerala as it breeds bacteria.

“Another major problem that women face is the Vitamin D deficiency as the veil blocks sunlight to the face. This can further cause long-term health problems for women,’’ he said.

Followed his father’s footsteps

Educated in London, Dr Gafoor has travelled across the length and breadth of India. In 1953, he had participated in the Sampoorna Kranti or Total Revolution in Patna and was jailed along with other agitators.

He went to Kashmir in search of work and later to Madurai in Tamil Nadu to study MBBS. After finishing MBBS, Dr Gafoor decided to follow his father to educate and create a generation that will have the power of knowledge.

The circular banning face veils

After last year’s interview incident, the appointments committee of the MES told Dr Gafoor that he could not stop students or teachers from wearing clothes of their choice unless it was specifically mentioned in the prospectus. Following this, he advised the heads of all the institutions under MES to publish the message in the prospectus.

He also had the advantage of a judgment of the Kerala High Court, which in December 2018, had made it clear that private institutions have the right to decide on a dress code within their campus.

Justice A. Muhamed Mustaque, who had written the judgment, had refused to intervene in the case of a Kerala school, run by Christian missionaries, which had not allowed two Muslim students to wear headscarves and full-sleeved shirts to school.

“I am of the considered view that the petitioners cannot seek imposition of their individual right as against the larger right of the institution. It is for the institution to decide whether the petitioners can be permitted to attend the classes with the headscarf and full-sleeved shirt. It is purely within the domain of the institution to decide on the same. The court cannot even direct the institution to consider such a request,” said the judgment.

Based on this, the circular generated by Dr Gafoor said: “As per the above order (WP(C) No. 35293/2018), all colleges are hereby being instructed to prepare a non-controversial college calendar, including a law, that prohibits women students from coming to classes covering their faces from the 2019-2020 academic year.”