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November 21, 2005
India: More Muslim Attacks on Sania
We described earlier how Sania Mirza has become embroiled in a controversy in her native country. At a conference organised by the Hindustan Times on Wednesday, she is reputed to have supported sex before marriage, as long as it was practiced "safely". The comments did not issue from her lips, but she was mercilessly hounded by Muslims from the Sunni Ulema Board. Earlier this board denounced her for her wearing of standard tennis costumes.
Now Sania is under attack again from Muslims. Outlook India reports that the Ulema (Chief scholar) of the Darul Uloom, Centre for Islamic Studies has gone on the offensive about her style of dress on the tennis court.
The Darul Uloom is the largest centre for Islamic learning outside of Egypt, and many of its graduates became the intellectual guides for the Taliban. It is based in Deoband, northeast of Delhi, and its strict and repressive ideology, which treats women as second class citizens, is known as Deobandi.
"Instead of frequently changing her statements, she should change her way of dressing. She should restrict her liberal views to herself", stated A Ikram the Ulema of the Darul Uloom. The Mufti of the seminary, Ahsan Kasmi, said that Islam prohibits pre-marital sex and requires women to wear veils.
The scholars seem to prefer their own version of the truth. Even though Wednesday's conference was televised, and the moderator of the event has sworn that Sania never made comments supporting sex before marriage, the Deobandi clerics would rather use innuendo and lies as the basis for their attacks upon Sania's character. So much for the "truth" of Islamic teachings.
And the pressure on the 19 year old (who only celebrated her 19th birthday on 15 November) is now starting to show. Sify.com reports that at a press event yesterday, where Sania is the promotional representative for a range of jewellery made by the Malabar Group, a barrage of personalised questions, pertaining to the comments on pre-marital sex, which she never made, caused Sania to storm out of the meeting.
The Ulema from the Darul Uloom has said "she should restrict her liberal views to herself." It is a shame this sexist old goat cannot keep his oppressive views to himself.
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at November 21, 2005 7:55 AM
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