The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Call for fatwa against Sania condemned

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Sep 12, 2005

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Call for fatwa against Sania condemned

Staff Reporter

The sanghatane has termed the fatwa `fundamentalist and regressive' `Sania Mirza has brought credit to the nation with her achievements'

BANGALORE: The Akhila Bharata Janawadi Mahila Sanghatane has termed the call of a Muslim cleric to issue a fatwa against tennis player Sania Mirza for wearing skimpy clothes, as a "fundamentalist, regressive suggestion aimed at keeping Muslim women from attaining progress".

In a statement, the sanghatane's president K. Neela and general secretary K.S. Vimala said the Muslim religious leader's statement is just another instance of the relentless assault on the community's women who are on the road to progress and change.

The recent case of the alleged rape of Imrana by her father-in-law, after which the Deobandh Muslim clergy issued a fatwa declaring the victim the offender and ordered that she treat her husband as a son, was bizarre and condemnable, they said.

Sania Mirza is not merely a Muslim woman, but an Indian who is bringing credit to the nation with her achievement as a sportswoman.

Progressive Muslims must raise their voice against such regressive fatwas, the statement from the sanghatane said.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Karnataka