Women over 45 years of age may soon go on Haj without male kin

MUMBAI: From next year, women aged over 45 could make the Haj pilgrimage without their 'mahram' or close male relatives if travelling in groups of four or more, Union minority affairs minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said on Saturday.

Naqvi made the announcement after a Haj review committee, headed by retired IAS officer Afzal Amanullah, handed him the new policy report listing several recommendations. Some might be implemented from next year.

"Some sects among Muslims don't allow the travel of women unaccompanied by mahram, while others do. It is up to the sects to use this option," said Amanullah. He added that the Saudi authorities had permitted the government to employ the norm. Terming it "progressive", Naqvi said the Haj Committee of India might consider implementing the recommendation from next year.

Predictably, women's rights activists welcomed the move. "This is a huge leap, which will help remove the perception that Islam considers women inferior to men," said Islamic scholar Zeenat Shaukat Ali. However, orthodox clerics termed it "interference with Sharia".

"A Muslim woman has to be accompanied by a mahram if they travel such a distance," said Mufti Mohammed Huzaifa Qasmi of Jamiat-ul-Ulema-e-Hind.