President Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, Maulana Mahmood Asa’d Madani, Tuesday called the Karnataka High Court’s hijab verdict “deeply disappointing.” “This verdict will have a direct impact on religious freedom. No society is governed only by its legal nuances about issues where traditional and social values matter a lot. This verdict would have many negative implications, especially on the education of Muslim girl’s students as they would lose their right to choice and their confidence in the present communal atmosphere,’’ said Madani in his statement. Niaz Ahmed Farooqui, secretary of Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, said the verdict could be “misused in other contexts”. “The implication of the verdict is not limited to the specific issue that the court has scrutinised – that of wearing Hijab in institutions – but has questioned whether religious practices are at all essential or not. This has a wide-ranging impact on the very practice of religion in this country. Using this verdict as a precedent, any religious practice can be called into question. Who is to decide what is essential and what is not in a religion? We believe that the verdict can be widely misused in other contexts as well,’’ Farooqui said. The Jamiat’s statement further said that Indian Muslims “have a deep attachment with their belief about modesty and veil that can never be erased merely by judicial intervention”. “This has also put Muslim girl students in a very tight spot. Will they now have to choose between their belief systems and getting educated? Whereas all these years they had the freedom to pursue both simultaneously. Also, all Muslim women don’t observe purdah, just as all Hindu women don’t. It is a matter of belief for that individual. But this freedom of choice, and the freedom of religion guaranteed in the country has now been curtailed and taken away,’’ added Farooqui. Maulana Madani urged the state governments and the Centre to “fulfill their responsibility of protecting the established culture and tradition of a particular community” and if the issue is “not resolved by the court then in a democratic country, Parliament and Assemblies have absolute right to enact a law.”
