For years, proponents of Hindutva have accused the Congress of using Muslims for vote bank politics. In December, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah announced that his government would withdraw the order imposed by the previous Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government restricting hijabs in classrooms. However, a day later, he clarified that the Congress government was still deliberating the matter. This decision, taken possibly in the fear of a BJP-led backlash prior to the general elections, is an example of vote bank politics and validates the BJP’s long-standing allegation against the Congress. Meanwhile, the fact remains that the hijab/veil has been the subject of a global debate for some time now.
In recent years, many Western leaders have recommended a partial or full ban on the veil. In 2010, French President Nicolas Sarkozy ordered the French government to prepare legislation paving the way for a total ban on the full Islamic veil. In 2016, British Prime Minister David Cameron said that he would back institutions with “sensible rules” over Muslims wearing full-face veils. In 2019, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson came under fire for the use of Islamophobic language against Muslim women who wear burqas. On the other side, there have been massive protests by Muslim women against Iranian state policy, which enforces the hijab. There are four inter-related questions dominating the global discourse. Should Muslim women have the right to exercise their choice to wear the hijab/veil? Should the state have the prerogative to make a law for them? What is the provision in Islam on gender freedom? In the event of a clash between state policy and Islamic provisions, which should prevail?
The Western colonial project
The dominant Western perception is that Islam has been unfair to Muslim women and does not offer the required equality or freedom. For some, this assessment is not objective as it is influenced by the legacy of a Western colonial mindset. In her book, Women and Gender in Islam (2021), Leila Ahmed argued that since the time of the Crusades, colonialism has had a “rich vein of bigotry and misinformation to draw on” against Islam. She wrote that feminism against cultures in the Islamic world or in sub-Saharan Africa or even in India was mainly intended for the service of colonialism. Edward Said articulated this relationship between colonialism and Islam evocatively; he wrote, “For Europe, Islam was a lasting trauma.” Vestiges of this approach of the West towards Islam and Muslim societies can be found even in contemporary policies: wars in West Asia are often launched in the name of democracy or fighting terrorism.
Indeed, there is an overlap in the objectives of the Western colonial project and Hindutva’s majoritarian agenda: both are driven by the ruthless desire for total domination. Both hold the idea of equal rights with contempt. Colonialism never respected the rights of its subjects and the Hindutva majoritarian ideology has no respect for the rights of minorities. Therefore, its concern about the hijab/veil is not related to concerns about gender equality or gender freedom. This becomes apparent when such claims are juxtaposed with the positions of the proponents of Hindutva on the Bilkis Bano case or the Sabarimala verdict.
The purdah system evolved slowly in different parts of the world, including India. Ibn Batutta (1377) was shocked to see unveiled Muslim women in southern Anatolia and western Sudan. Around 1595, Abul Fazl wrote referring to Bengal, “men and women for the most part go naked wearing only a cloth (lungi) about the loins”. Historian Richard M. Eaton, who has written the most authoritative book on the rise of Islam in Bengal, offered a fascinating narrative of the gradual evolution of these practices. Around 1700, he wrote referring to a ballad, Dewana Madina, composed by Mansoor Baiyati, in which a peasant woman laments the death of her husband, that there is no evidence of the practice of purdah. He concluded that even in Bengal, the purdah system evolved gradually. This argument could be valid in the rest of India too.
Women in Islam
What is the position of women in Islam? Scholars Fatima Mernissi and Amina Wudud have been deeply critical of Western feminism. Both have argued that Islamic provisions could be interpreted for gender equality and gender freedom. In her widely read book Qur’an and Woman (1999), Wudud examined various terms and argued that “there is no inherent value placed on man and woman” in Islam. “In fact,” she wrote, “there is no arbitrary, pre- ordained and eternal system of hierarchy. The Qur’an does not strictly delineate the roles of woman and man to such an extent as to propose only one possibility for each gender.”
Also read | UN demands Iran drop ‘demeaning’ new hijab law
Whether or not we agree with these formulations, the fact is that all Muslim women do not wear the hijab/veil, either in India or elsewhere. In India, many Muslim women have excelled in various walks of lives such as academia, media, politics, art, music, sport, and cinema without bothering about the hijab/veil. For instance, Parveen Babi and Zeenat Aman are acknowledged for having played “bold roles” in Hindi cinema. In part, this has been possible because India has let women exercise their choices and there is a hospitable secular political culture regardless of its flaws. Thus, Muslim women do not need to be emancipated by Hindutva activism, which does not respect minority rights in all its shapes and forms.
Shaikh Mujibur Rehman teaches at Jamia Millia Central University, New Delhi
