Gender-equality debate heats up among Muslim outfits

Kozhikode: Discussions over the role of Muslim-women in Islam have heated up among the various Muslim organizations, including the community's popular political face Muslim League, with leaders expressing diverse opinions.

The latest came from leader of AP-faction of the Sunnis Kanthapuram A. P. Aboobacker Muslyar, who, while talking at a function organized by Sunni Students Federation, said the concept of equal status for men and women was against the principles of Islam. “Men-women equality is not Islamic. That is an impractical concept,” he said here on Saturday.

“Women can just give birth. It is the men who control the world. The duty of women is to bring up the children and treat her husband nicely when he comes home. Women lack mental strength.”

The Sunni leader asked whether there was any lady doctor who dared to conduct a heart surgery.

Kanthapuram, who rejected the allegations of sexual harassment in madrasas, said those who raise allegations should present evidences.

In another development, Muslim League leader Panakkad Hyderali Shihab Thangal said women should be brought to the political forefront to make better effects in the society.

“Women should come to the political forefront. That is a need of the time,” Thangal said while talking at the Women’s League conference in Kochi on Saturday.

Earlier, V P Rajeena, a woman journalist, had come under online attack following her disclosure about alleged sexual exploitation of children in madrassas.

Rajeena incurred wrath on social media after she went public on Facebook about the alleged happenings in madrassas which she claims to have witnessed during her childhood.

Rajeena, in her post, narrated how teachers at that madrassa allegedly used to "inappropriately grope" both boys and girls who came for studies.

According to news agency PTI, her post led to a furore and she was flooded with obscene messages and open threats on her profile. Facebook reportedly closed down her account following mass reporting by her critics.

Rajeena had said her "motives were questioned and efforts were made to present her post as an attack on the religion, instead of being debated.”

“The revelation came from a woman. The men can’t digest a Muslim woman going public with her own experiences. That shows their mindset,” she said.

In a similar incident that triggered debates over the gender-role, Farook College in Kozhikode kicked up a controversy when it suspended a boy student for allegedly defying its directive not to share seats with girls. The college authority and the students in the college, however, said the issue was exaggerated unnecessarily and blamed the media for blowing it out of all proportion.