According to a number of controversial guidelines that were published by British mosques earlier this month, Muslim women should not wear trousers, leave home without the permission of their husbands or use Facebook.
As Green Lane Masjid in Birmingham announced that Muslim women should not wear trousers even in front of their husbands, Central Masjid in Blackburn labeled social networking websites such as Facebook sinful and evil. Other Islamic organizations, namely Croydon Mosque and Islamic Center and Blackburn Muslim Association, an affiliate of Muslim Council of Britain, said that women should not be allowed to leave their homes without their husbands’ permission and they should definitely not travel beyond 48 miles without a male chaperone. Croydon Mosque and Islamic Center also referred to abortion as a great sin and described modeling as well as acting as immoral acts.
Following the publishing of these rules, moderate Muslims across Britain slammed the statements, calling them “disgraceful”, “patriarchal” and “outdated” with campaigners asking Muslim Council of Britain, an umbrella body representing hundreds of mosques and madrasas in the United Kingdom, to order its affiliate members to delete the guidelines published online.
Justine Greening, International Development Secretary, described the travel ban on women as disgraceful and unacceptable while urging Blackburn Muslim Association to withdraw its comments. A spokesperson from Greening's department said that such views had no place in Britain.
Scholar and former education committee member of Muslim Council of Britain, Sheikh Howjat Ramzy, said, “[These interpretations of Islam] are totally wrong. It is nonsense. And Islam has no objections to Facebook, just as a woman can wear trousers or not wear a scarf and can still be a Muslim. They should ask the organisation to withdraw their statement or advise them that this may not be applicable for use in the United Kingdom.”
At the same time, a spokesperson for Muslim Council of Britain said that it does not order jurisprudential positions to its affiliate members and that there has been a rise in the number of Muslim women taking part in politics and religion.
“Rulings that belong to different historical periods and cultural settings get superseded. We encourage affiliates to actively consider this,” she said.
Salah al-Ansari from the anti-extremism think tank Quilliam Foundation condemned the guidelines as well.
“These are typical examples of literalist interpretations of Islam which are extremely fundamentalist and exclusivist,” he said.
The guidelines restricting women’s rights and freedoms, published on the websites of various mosques, were soon brought down following a barrage of criticism.
Photo Credits: The Telegraph, Great Britain
