‘I See No Reason For Kareena Kapoor To Apologise’: Taslima Nasreen Backs Actor Amid Quranic Verse Pendant Row

Kareena Kapoor Khan has received a legal notice for wearing a Quran-inscribed emerald pendant in one of her Diwali looks. The notice, dated November 11, came from Congress leader and national media coordinator Abbas Hafeez, who also demanded an apology from Kareena. Writer Taslima Nasreen then backed the actor, saying there was no reason for an apology.

Taslima Nasreen backs Kareena Kapoor over pendant row

Nasreen responded in a long post on X (formerly Twitter). Strongly criticising the notice, she questioned the objection to the jewellery.

Nasreen wrote, “What ridiculous antics the self-appointed guardians of religion get up to sometimes!”

She then questioned what exactly had offended critics of Kareena Kapoor's Diwali pics with the pendant. “Or is the objection that Kareena’s cleavage is visible? Do they think Allah did not create cleavage? That Satan did?” she wrote.

“What a bizarre notion of sanctity! Letters engraved on an emerald deserve respect, but a woman of flesh and blood does not,” she wrote further.

She said people were free to treat the verse as sacred, but not to press that view on others. “If you consider a verse sacred, by all means do. But why impose the burden of your belief on someone else?” she asked.

She also wrote that one's “hurt feelings do not give you a licence to take away someone else’s freedom.”

Nasreen called the “policing of women’s bodies in the name of religion" and “intimidation”, and the “bullying to extract apologies must stop.”

She sees “no reason for Kareena to apologise”. Rather, she feels that “apologies should come from those who are going out of their way to turn a woman’s harmless choice of clothes and jewellery into a crime.”

Why Kareena Kapoor received a legal notice over her pendant?

The 30-carat emerald pendant Kareena wore is a piece of heirloom jewellery linked to the former Bhopal royal family. It is inscribed with the Quranic verse 'Ayat-ul-Kursi', which triggered the controversy.

Rhea Kapoor, who styled Kareena, shared details of the look on Instagram, "Kareena in a pure chandi kaftan and turban by Punit Balana, wearing a 200-year-old kalgi from the Nawab of Bhopal and the Begum of Bhopal's 30-carat emerald, carved with the 'Ayat-ul-Kursi,'" she wrote.

"Heirlooms of the Bhopal royal family, Kareena's own. These pieces come through Saif's family; his grandmother, Sajida Sultan, was the daughter of the last ruling Nawab of Bhopal," she added.

Abbas Hafeez told the media, "There is a pendant from the princely state of Bhopal, linked to the heritage of the Begums of Bhopal, which bears a verse from the Quran. For the Begums, this was a matter of faith, not a fashion accessory. It was customary for them to wear it while in seclusion."

He said the way Kareena flaunted it as a fashion statement is "inappropriate, especially given the specific rituals associated with touching or reading verses from the Quran." He also called her social media post with the pics "objectionable" and demanded that she remove those pictures and offer an apology.

He also clarified that it is his personal matter and the Congress party has no stance on this.