Purdah is un-Islamic and a western import: Muslim Educational Society

Kozhikode: Dr. P.A.  Fazal Gafoor, president of Muslim Educational Society, has strongly objected to Muslim women wearing ‘purdah’, calling it “un-Islamic” and unsuitable for Kerala’s climatic conditions. 

 
Addressing a gathering at the MES Golden Jubilee celebrations here on Wednesday, Fazal Gafoor said that more cloth did not mean better culture. He also said that ‘purdah’ was a western import the prolonged use of which, by blocking sunlight, had induced Vitamin-D deficiency in many Muslim women. 

 
“Using of more cloth and covering up of the face cannot be considered Islamic. Nowhere in Islam has it been stated that faces should be covered,” Mr Gafoor said. “If that was so, have your mothers covered their faces? Has C H Mohammad Koya's wife covered her face, has Seethi Haji's wife covered her face? But weren’t they all devout Muslims,” Gafoor asked rhetorically. “This imported dress has no connection with Islam,” he said. 

 
 He said that religion and dress code had no connection. “People can wear any dress that is not vulgar,” he said. He said he had never talked against jeans. “I am a person who used to wear jeans from a very young age and am not against anyone wearing it. However, it is medically proved that wearing tight dresses can cause fungal infections,” he added. 
 

Gafoor did not spare the Muslim League either. Looking at the League leaders on the dais, Gafoor said: “You stand for green. So you can ask your followers to wear green purdah. Why are you promoting black purdah?” he asked. He also issued a not-so-veiled threat saying that if anyone tried to isolate him for his comments he would retaliate in a fitting manner. n ‘Veiling face not in Koran’.