Agra: Local Muslims discuss need for gender equality and doing away with fundamentalism

With the Muslim community and its religious laws coming in focus for alleged inequality towards women following the Supreme Court's decision on Triple Talaq, the community leaders too are feeling the need for introspection.

A seminar on this subject was organised by the Bhartiya Muslim Vikas Parishad in Agra recently in which the issues facing Muslim women in the community were discussed.

Addressing the attendees, Parishad chairman Sami Aghia said that the Muslim community is largely wandering through a haze. On one side they grapple with internal indoctrinators, laced with regressive thinking. On the other side, they struggle with an external stereotyped image of violence and gender inequality.

He said that the projection of West as the adversary of Islam is overdosed with an atavistic approach to such an extent that now West represents modernity while Islam implies medievalism.

Aghai said that in the 21st century, which is called the golden age of individual freedom and collective achievement, it is required that the fundamentalist tendencies be substituted by a humanitarian approach.

Syed Irfan Salim, president of Sarvdaleey Muslim Action Committee, said that secularism is basically the inner spirit of harmonious co-existence as propounded by the Holy Quran as 'La Qum Deen O Qum Wali Yadeen' (No religion promotes war).

He said that the doctrine 'Faith is Supreme' has been misutilised by the perpetrators of violence and terrorists. Saleem was of the opinion that modernity is not merely an attractive thought but it is also a contemporary way of living of the human race. This comprises freedom and shared values, which includes the acquisition of knowledge, gender equality and universal civilisation.

Sareef Jahan Begum, a female Muslim leader, said that today the responsibility to embrace democratisation and secular knowledge was on the leaders of the Muslim community, especially the religious and social pioneers. They are simultaneously countering the regressive schools of thought, she said.

Begum further said to achieve this, women must be in the vanguard of cultural advancement and economic growth of the community. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's slogan 'Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas' has been envisioned with an aim to fulfil the needs of every citizen irrespective of his or her community, she said, and added that unless women are a part of that holistic development, the aim cannot be achieved.

Social activist Shayra Qureshi said that women are half of the population of India and are also termed as the better gender. Yet, they have not received half the share of the assets as well as equality in every sense with the men.She said that the contribution of women in this task should invariably be ensured through their involvement in every field which, in turn, requires inspiration, encouragement and positivity among them. The attitude of gender superiority among a section of men, blocking the path of equality for women, would have to be discouraged and eliminated, while simultaneously imbibing the spirit of respect and dignity to the women, she added.

Qureshi further said that the Muslim women are expected to cover themselves from head to toe in the name of family honour when they go outside. "How can burka-clad women compete with the modern Indian women?" he asked.Social activist Mohd Ashfaq Saifi said that the materialisation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's dream with "composite welfare measures" of the top leadership would change radically the condition of every Indian in terms of prosperity, health, happiness and their mental faculties.

To sum up in one phrase, he said, India will be among the top countries of the world, with a status change from "developing" to "developed" country.Concluding the seminar with his address, senior citizen Imamuddin Qureshi said that the time has come when the Muslim community will have to come out of the regressive school of thought and work towards the betterment of the whole society through self-development.

Remaining confined to a mindset based on the limited interpretation of the religious texts will not serve either the community or the country. Instead of complaining about development not reaching them, the Muslims will have to think above this limited mindset and walk with the rest of the country's population, he said.