Criticising the ongoing Karnataka hijab controversy, Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan on Saturday said that ‘Right to wear Hijab’ argument is acceptable, but then it will be the Muslim women who will be the losers. He recalled several instances of women refusing to wear the veil in the history of Islam.
Khan narrated a short story to prove his point on the hijab row in the neighboring state of Karnataka. “A young girl, who was brought up in the household of the Prophet himself, and she was the niece of the wife of the Holy Prophet. She was proverbially beautiful. In medieval times, she was chided for not wearing a hijab. What she said was that God had made her beautiful and the almighty had placed His stamp of beauty on her. She said I want people to see my beauty and see the grace of God in my beauty. This is how the women of the first generation of Islam behaved”, he said reaffirming that the story is true and is written in the history of Islam.
One Tight Slap to all Champions of Burqa !! pic.twitter.com/deOZQVrwH1
— Kashmiri Hindu (@BattaKashmiri) February 11, 2022
“In the past, veil in north India came up due to invaders. But now women in north India women don’t put-up extremely long veils, and are not mandated to do so; as time changes, so do the customs,” he said.
He sharply added that those claiming to follow the legacy of Islam today are actually losers and the entire act of hijab controversy is useless. “Those girls having problem with the uniform can go and join any such school where there is no compulsion of following the uniform discipline. They (hijab girls) should understand that when they’ve joined some school with certain principles and standards, they are bound to follow the rules of that institution”, he stated.
The Kerala Governor while exclusively talking to India Today also slammed the Pakistan government for interfering in the matters of India. He said that the Pakistan govt must be treated the way it deserves to be treated. “I don’t even want to talk about Pakistan govt. Malala who supported the hijab may be misinformed about the issue. She fails to understand that if hijab right is accepted, Muslim women will become losers, their lives will become miserable”, he added.
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If the ’Right to wear Hijab’ argument is accepted then it will be the Muslim women who will be the losers: Arif Mohammed Khan (@KeralaGovernor)#KarnatakaHijabRow #HijabRow #Hijab | @gauravcsawant pic.twitter.com/H8Ou72xn6t
He appealed to the hijab girl students to avoid being instigated by the outside forces and requested them to focus on education and a better standard of life. The hijab controversy gained ground earlier this month when eight hijab-wearing Muslim girls refused to follow the school uniform regulations. They hit the High Court seeking permission to attend the classes with hijab, as it is their fundamental right, they said.
The High Court so far has declared that no one should be allowed to wear their religious attire inside the educational institutions until the matter is pending in the Court. However, the Supreme Court denied to interfere in the matter after the girls impatiently knocked the doors of the apex court.
