THE Muslim clergy has for long been branded as fundamentalist. Suddenly a pro g ressive cleric has arrived on the horizon. P. K . K Ahmed Kutty Moulavi, chief Imam of one of the most famous mosques in the state, the Palayam Jumma Masjid in Thiruvananthapuram, has issued a controversial fatwa permitting women to enter the mosque and offer prayers including the 8.30 pm prayers during the Ramzan month.
However, segregation remains: there will be a separate entrance, a separate oozhukhana (place for cleaning limbs before prayer) and a separate praying hall for women. But it is the evening prayers during the Ramzan period which are at the core of the controversy. Hard - pressed to put up a theological or sociological defence, those opposed to the fatwa keep reiterating that "the sanctity of the place of worship will be spoilt and this would lead to moral trepidation". Another popular argument is: "For centuries our forefathers have followed a particular path and it is unwise to think that they are fools and we are great intellectuals."
Interestingly, it was in 1993 that Ahmed Kutty issued his first fatwa permitting women to come and offer prayers at the Palayam Masjid. This move was an instant success. As it is, the Friday namaz attracted a large number of worshippers and, with the doors being opened to women, there was a space crunch in the main prayer area. Hence, a separate hall was constructed for women. After three years of attending the regular prayers, women requested permission to take part in the Ramzan fasting prayer held every evening at 8.30 pm. A committee was formed and it left it to the Imam to ascertain whether Islam permitted the participation of women in the Ramzan prayers. Says Ahmed Kutty: "I went through the holy scriptures carefully and found that now here have women been forbidden from entering and offering prayers in a mosque. Hence, I issued the fatwa permitting them to take p a rt in the night prayers."
Under the new arrangement, which was announced on January 7, men assemble on the ground floor and the women on the first floor of the Palayam mosque. This move solicited some measure of protest from fundamentalist groups. A.P. Aboobakar Musaliyar, general secretary of the Sunni Yuvajana Sangam, and T.M. Thajudheen, Imam of the Poonthura Jumma Masjid, led the attack, with the Sangam taking out a 20-member procession condemning the move.
The reason for the low-key protest is the unique history of Muslims in Kerala. Long before the unification of the Travancore region (south and central Kerala) and the Malabar region (north Kerala) into one state, the Malabar region had taken the lead in permitting women to offer prayers in mosques. The progressiveness heralded by the anti-colonial movement and the traditional matrilineal practice of inheritance gave women a substantial say in public affairs.
But Travan core did not emulate the Malabar example. Notes Ahmed Kutty: "The theological knowledge of the religious leaders in Travancore has all along been rather superficial and they could not effect any change. That is perhaps why they decided to uphold the distorted idea of preventing women from entering a place of worship."
To substantiate his decision to allow women at the evening prayers, the Imam draws attention to Verse 114 of the second chapter of the Koran: "None should be prevented from entering a mosque to offer prayers." He asserts that neither the holy text nor the Prophet have ever discriminated against women. In fact, there are references to women belonging to the family of the Prophet offering prayers at the mosque.
Says Ahmed Kutty: "Women are allowed to pray at the mosques in Mecca and Medina five times on all days. All over the Gulf women attend prayers on all days." According to him, some people oppose this move because they have not read the original texts and follow interpretative texts of a later period in which a lot of distortions have taken place. "Let them cite a single reference from the original text against women worshipping in mosques and I will accept their arguments," he declares.
The Muslim League and the Peoples Democratic Party are reluctant to take a stand against the Imam. With the practice a l ready prevalent in the Muslim dominated areas of northern Kerala, they find it difficult to oppose it in the south. Like any other political party that has an eye on the vote bank, they choose to remain neutral in this controversy. Muslim League leader Panakkad Mohammed Ali Shihab Thangal is non-committal when he says: "It is for the religious scholars to speak on the issue."
HOWEVER, Sunni organisations like Samastha Kerala Sunni Students Federation, who are opposed to the move which allows women to worship, have demanded that the League make its position clear on the controversy.
Muslim women in the main are livid at the opposition. Says Khamarunnisa Anwar, president of the womens wing of the Muslim League: "Women have the right to pray in mosques. It is un-Islamic to prevent them from offering prayers in the place of worship." Adds Fathima, an academic at Kerala University: "Women are permitted to go to films and political party meetings. But not to mosques. Isnt the logic strange?"
Muslims in Kerala by and large feel changes like these have been long overdue and so have not reacted against Ahmed Kuttys fatwa. So much so that some are surprised by the media attention being given to it. Observes Justice P.K. Shamsuddeen: "There is nothing new in this. I am amazed to see some publications describing the development as new assertiveness of Muslim women." According to him, women have been offering prayers continuously since the days of the Prophet in most Islamic countries. He feels a controversy in this regard is unwarranted.
K.M. Bahauddeen, former vice-chancellor of the Aligarh University, points out that every mosque north of Ernakulam has been permitting women to offer prayers for years now and the opponents to this fatwa are in a minority. Asks he: "If conservative Saudi Arabia permits women to offer prayers in mosques, it is unfair to even think of prohibiting women here."
Besides, reform in Kerala is not likely to stop with women o ffering prayers in mosques. A group of women in Calicut have already requested the council of Imams to permit women to enter the Islamic clergy. They point out that theological pursuit is not an exclusive preserv e of men and quote from the second chapter of the Koran to make a case for their entry into the Islamic priesthood. Given the present mood in Kerala, the demand seems to be an attainable one.
Interestingly, Imam Ahmed Kuttys fatwa is being used by the CPI(M) to hit out against the RSS. The CPI(M) has been soliciting the RSS stand on a similar arrangement for Hindu women to enter the sanctum sanctorum of the Sabrimala temple, which is a male preserve. Only girls who have not attained puberty and women over 55 years of age are permitted to worship at the temple. The RSS has been strongly opposed to women being allowed entry.
This is perhaps one reason why even Muslim League leaders admit in private that Ahmed Kuttys fatwa is for the good. As one leader puts it: "The Palayam development once again proves to the world the inherent egalitarianism of Islam. There may be some retrograde development like the Taliban but basically Islam is humane."
