Orthodoxy redux: On Keralam, religion and Muslim women’s rights

Veteran Islamic cleric Kanthapuram A.P. Aboobacker Musliar’s directive to restrict Muslim women’s participation in public celebrations has unsettled Keralam because it strikes at a fundamental question: women’s right to participate in public life. This is not merely a quarrel over how Muslims should mark Prophet Muhammad’s 1,501st birth anniversary. It is a test of how far religious authority can intrude into the lives of women in a State that takes pride in its progressive social history. Kanthapuram says he is merely reminding followers of established religious norms. His supporters argue Milad celebrations have moved beyond mosques and madrasas into large public events, and that scholars have a duty to caution against such departures. That argument holds no weight. Communities have the right to preserve traditions and regulate religious practices, but they have to conform to the values enshrined in the Constitution. When women are told to remain at home because their presence could cause “chaos”, the issue is no longer about religious observance; it is at variance with constitutional equality and Keralam’s long struggle to expand the space in public life for women disadvantaged by social customs and religious traditions.

The Muslim community is not a monolith. It contains both orthodox and progressive currents. More Muslim women are breaking barriers in education, employment, politics and public life, but that progress is encountering a counter-current of renewed orthodoxy and social control. The CPI(M), Keralam’s main Opposition party and a decades-old ally of the Kanthapuram-led faction of Samastha Kerala Jamiyyathul Ulama, a body of Sunni scholars, has responded sharply. The Congress, which leads the ruling coalition, was largely guarded until Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan rubbished the decree as antediluvian. The Indian Union Muslim League’s silence is harder to defend. A party with an active women’s forum and a woman legislator for the first time in the State Assembly cannot equivocate when women’s right to public participation is open to challenge. Its caution may reflect political pressure over Waqf, Vande Mataram and PM-SHRI, or an attempt to improve ties with the Kanthapuram faction amid strained relations with the rival Samastha faction. Whatever the political calculation, silence carries a cost. Religious freedom does not confer on religious authorities the right to regulate women’s freedom of movement, association and degree of participation in society. During Onam, social media were awash with videos of young Muslim girls celebrating the harvest festival. Kanthapuram’s remarks drew criticism from a section of Muslim women on social media. Keralam cannot claim to be progressive while making exceptions for orthodoxy.