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It is high time for the leading intellectuals of Islam to denounce such regressive practices and advocate a modern, more tolerant outlook by pushing the envelope higher.
Whenever, the current government or those associated with it, does something promoting discrimination against Islam, we hear the refrain that it is not possible for a country to progress by marginalising and discriminating against one-fifth of its population. It is a fair critique. What is even more tragic is for those one-fifth population to discriminate and marginalise against one-half of themselves – Muslim women. The voices which are pushing back against what they consider as attempts by ruling party/ government to marginalise the minorities are eerily silent on the active discrimination against fairer sex within the minority community.
This is not to sidestep or trivialise the outrage but to widen its ambit to include also the discrimination that has been happening for centuries without any pushback from the so-called “Civil Society”. While all the other major religions has progressed or modernised and is almost unrecognisable from how it was even a century ago, one religion continues to wallow in its medieval practices.
I happen to come across an interesting phenomenon during the recent local body elections in Tamilnadu. In one of the Muslim majority town panchayats, there were a sizable number of wards reserved for women. When the winners of these awards were announced, the publication comprised also the photos of the winners. While the names of the winners were female names, the photos published were all male photos, apparently the spouses/ guardians/ parent of the successful female candidates. This injustice was meted out under the cloak of religious freedom. If this is the state of affairs in a supposedly progressive province of “Periyar Mannu”, the rest could only be worse.
The discrimination of any nature – be it on caste, gender or race, cannot be justified in this day and age. Despite the wheel of reform being set in motion in Hinduism more than a century ago, vestiges of caste-based discrimination linger to this day and are rightly being rebuked and looked down upon. While the other major religions of the world are taking at least baby steps towards modernity, Islam frowns upon and shuns modernity altogether. The discrimination against one-half of their population is boundless. Hijab, Niqaab, Burkah, Triple talaq, prohibition from entering place of worship (Mosque) etc. are some of the well-known examples.
It is high time for the leading intellectuals of Islam to denounce such regressive practices and advocate a modern, more tolerant outlook by pushing the envelope higher.
The civil society including Muslim intelligentsia is right to censure the current Indian regime for taking India back in time glorifying imagined past achievements and hounding the Muslims in the present for the sins of Muslim rulers in the past. But it is even more important for saner voices within Islam to advocate for reform of the religion in tune with the times. Such an approach would even make the Islam appealing to a larger sections of international community, reduce Islamophobia across the world and take the sting out of the criticism of the religion.
The initial attempts would definitely be futile and would trigger fatwas. But the chorus should grow louder and louder that the establishment could no longer ignore or suppress it. It may take years or even centuries but the seeds of reform should be sown at least now and nurtured so that at least future generations can enjoy the blossom and fruits of reform. Remember the Devar Magan dialogue – “Ithu yenna perumaiya? Namma kadamai!” (Is doing this an achievement to take pride in. No it is our duty)?
Allah, the most merciful, would definitely not grimace at such attempts to promote modernity among his followers. If he does grimace, it does not sit well with the “merciful” tag. Allah-u-Akbar!!!!
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