07-04-2005, 04:06 AM
By Tavleen Singh
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The Dar-ul-Uloom's fatwa last week condemning Imrana to a marital
life of unmitigated hell and absolving her rapist father-in-law
comes as no surprise to me. It comes as no surprise because last
year I had the dubious pleasure of visiting the Dar-ul-Uloom in
Deoband and seeing for myself what this Islamic school that inspired
the Taliban is really like.
It was this inspiration that caused the Taliban to execute women in
Kabul's infamous football field for crimes they often did not know
they had committed. It was this inspiration from Deoband's
interpretation of the shariyat that caused the Taliban to ban
education for women and to punish them for such supposed
misdemeanors as wearing white socks and shoes that made a noise when
they walked.
Now, Deoband rules that Imrana, a mother of five children, of
Charthawal village, district Muzaffarnagar, in UP is haraam for her
husband, Noor Ilahi because she dared protest publicly about being
raped by her father-in-law, Ali Mohammad.
It is typical of the Deobandi interpretation of the laws of Islam
that they have not condemned the rapist. And, if you were following
the story you would have noticed that the bearded maulvis who
expounded on the subject on television hinted that they did not
believe she could have been raped. "Taali donon haathon sey bajti
hai," said one bearded monster with a smug smile on his face.
As a Muslim woman Imrana showed extraordinary courage in going
public at all because under Islamic law rape can only be punished if
four male witnesses exist. They never do. Her only hope now is that
the normal laws of the land are implemented and her father-in-law
charged and punished under them. Her personal life is ruined because
her wimp of a husband has already announced that he will obey the
fatwa from Deoband.
There are wider implications of Imrana's story and they should
concern us all. What should concern us is that the Dar-ul-uloom will
get away with its outrageous interference in the law. What should
concern us even more is that the Dar-ul-uloom should exist at all on
the soil of India. If you are shocked that I can say something so
politically incorrect let me describe for you what this institution
of Islamic teaching looks like.
During the general election in May last year I happened to drive
past Deoband on my way to cover election stories in UP and since I
had heard of how the Taliban took their inspiration from the Dar-ul-
Uloom decided that it would be worth my while to stop and take a
look at this influential school.
Deoband is a shabby, little hick town with a dusty, disorderly
collection of half-built shops as its main bazaar and its shabbiness
makes the magnificence of the Dar-ul-Uloom even more startling. But,
I go too fast. I drove through the dusty bazaar, along a gutted road
to arrive at a pair of tall, black wrought iron gates. Beyond these
gates I could see several fine, white-washed Islamic buildings and
beyond them a magnificent mosque that seemed almost bigger than the
town of Deoband. At the entrance was a white-bearded gentleman in
traditional Islamic clothing â a long kurta over loose pajamas that
barely reached his calves. I asked him if I could meet the chief
Maulana and after several minutes on the telephone to someone to
whom he conveyed my request he said I could not meet him because a)
I did not have an appointment and b) I was not veiled.
This irritated me and I pointed out that this was India and not
Saudi Arabia and in any case I was not Muslim and that if the
Maulana was so keen on purdah then perhaps he should be in it.
At this point a group of bearded students walked by and asked what
was going on. When I explained they said I should go to the main
office and make an appointment to come back another time. Knowing
that I would never have any desire to come back to the Dar-ul-Uloom
I decided that as I was there I could at least look around the famed
seminary.
So, despite the protests of the white bearded watchman I strolled
onto the grounds and found myself in a little bit of Saudi Arabia.
All the men I saw were bearded and in Islamic clothes, a small
bazaar on the campus sold books only in Urdu and Arabic and when I
stopped to talk to a group of young men they said (in Urdu) that
they could not talk to me because they spoke only Arabic and I had
been rude about their Maulana. I never found out what they
considered rude but thought them not just rude but nauseatingly
fanatical.
The whole atmosphere was medieval and extremely unpleasant
especially if you happened to be a woman. In the forty minutes or so
that I spent in the Dar-ul-Uloom I saw only one other woman and she
was so heavily veiled that only her eyes and a bit of her nose were
exposed. So you see why the fatwa that punishes the victim and not
the rapist comes as no surprise to me.
Finally, two questions. Why is a seminary that can only breed
Islamic fanatics allowed to exist in India? Will the government of
India take action against the maulvis who issued that fatwa
declaring Imrana haraam for her husband? Both questions demand
answers from `secular' leaders like Sonia Gandhi and Mulayam Singh
Yadav. And, if this is the secular India they want to build then
give me Hindutva any old time.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->
The Dar-ul-Uloom's fatwa last week condemning Imrana to a marital
life of unmitigated hell and absolving her rapist father-in-law
comes as no surprise to me. It comes as no surprise because last
year I had the dubious pleasure of visiting the Dar-ul-Uloom in
Deoband and seeing for myself what this Islamic school that inspired
the Taliban is really like.
It was this inspiration that caused the Taliban to execute women in
Kabul's infamous football field for crimes they often did not know
they had committed. It was this inspiration from Deoband's
interpretation of the shariyat that caused the Taliban to ban
education for women and to punish them for such supposed
misdemeanors as wearing white socks and shoes that made a noise when
they walked.
Now, Deoband rules that Imrana, a mother of five children, of
Charthawal village, district Muzaffarnagar, in UP is haraam for her
husband, Noor Ilahi because she dared protest publicly about being
raped by her father-in-law, Ali Mohammad.
It is typical of the Deobandi interpretation of the laws of Islam
that they have not condemned the rapist. And, if you were following
the story you would have noticed that the bearded maulvis who
expounded on the subject on television hinted that they did not
believe she could have been raped. "Taali donon haathon sey bajti
hai," said one bearded monster with a smug smile on his face.
As a Muslim woman Imrana showed extraordinary courage in going
public at all because under Islamic law rape can only be punished if
four male witnesses exist. They never do. Her only hope now is that
the normal laws of the land are implemented and her father-in-law
charged and punished under them. Her personal life is ruined because
her wimp of a husband has already announced that he will obey the
fatwa from Deoband.
There are wider implications of Imrana's story and they should
concern us all. What should concern us is that the Dar-ul-uloom will
get away with its outrageous interference in the law. What should
concern us even more is that the Dar-ul-uloom should exist at all on
the soil of India. If you are shocked that I can say something so
politically incorrect let me describe for you what this institution
of Islamic teaching looks like.
During the general election in May last year I happened to drive
past Deoband on my way to cover election stories in UP and since I
had heard of how the Taliban took their inspiration from the Dar-ul-
Uloom decided that it would be worth my while to stop and take a
look at this influential school.
Deoband is a shabby, little hick town with a dusty, disorderly
collection of half-built shops as its main bazaar and its shabbiness
makes the magnificence of the Dar-ul-Uloom even more startling. But,
I go too fast. I drove through the dusty bazaar, along a gutted road
to arrive at a pair of tall, black wrought iron gates. Beyond these
gates I could see several fine, white-washed Islamic buildings and
beyond them a magnificent mosque that seemed almost bigger than the
town of Deoband. At the entrance was a white-bearded gentleman in
traditional Islamic clothing â a long kurta over loose pajamas that
barely reached his calves. I asked him if I could meet the chief
Maulana and after several minutes on the telephone to someone to
whom he conveyed my request he said I could not meet him because a)
I did not have an appointment and b) I was not veiled.
This irritated me and I pointed out that this was India and not
Saudi Arabia and in any case I was not Muslim and that if the
Maulana was so keen on purdah then perhaps he should be in it.
At this point a group of bearded students walked by and asked what
was going on. When I explained they said I should go to the main
office and make an appointment to come back another time. Knowing
that I would never have any desire to come back to the Dar-ul-Uloom
I decided that as I was there I could at least look around the famed
seminary.
So, despite the protests of the white bearded watchman I strolled
onto the grounds and found myself in a little bit of Saudi Arabia.
All the men I saw were bearded and in Islamic clothes, a small
bazaar on the campus sold books only in Urdu and Arabic and when I
stopped to talk to a group of young men they said (in Urdu) that
they could not talk to me because they spoke only Arabic and I had
been rude about their Maulana. I never found out what they
considered rude but thought them not just rude but nauseatingly
fanatical.
The whole atmosphere was medieval and extremely unpleasant
especially if you happened to be a woman. In the forty minutes or so
that I spent in the Dar-ul-Uloom I saw only one other woman and she
was so heavily veiled that only her eyes and a bit of her nose were
exposed. So you see why the fatwa that punishes the victim and not
the rapist comes as no surprise to me.
Finally, two questions. Why is a seminary that can only breed
Islamic fanatics allowed to exist in India? Will the government of
India take action against the maulvis who issued that fatwa
declaring Imrana haraam for her husband? Both questions demand
answers from `secular' leaders like Sonia Gandhi and Mulayam Singh
Yadav. And, if this is the secular India they want to build then
give me Hindutva any old time.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->