Banning the Burqa: Kerala’s Muslim Educational Society bans burqas on campuses. Why this is a good beginning

Any reform in any community is sustainable in the long run only if it follows internal churning. It shouldn’t be thrust down a community's throat, ideally, but it should come after debates, discussions and deliberations from within.

This, of course, applies only to practices that are not a threat to human life.

The move of Kerala’s Muslim Educational Society (MES) — which controls 150 educational institutions — to ban “any dress that covers the face” for girls on all the campuses is thus a positive move.

“The MES will not encourage any type of veils on its campus... Managers of each MES institution will have to ensure that girl students do not come to the campus with their faces covered. They are hereby asked to include this as a rule on the campus from the academic year 2019-20,” the MES circular read.

It has for long been maintained that regressive practices within the Muslim world must be questioned — from within.

While many say that covering the face is a matter of 'choice', the hard fact is, millions of women in the world are forced to cover up their bodies, including their faces. The hard fact is also that in some countries, women can be stoned to death for not covering up. Every call for a ban on the burqa is met with senseless rebuttals, stating it is a matter of choice — and also a fashion statement for many. Both these weak defences either naively or deliberately miss the hard truth behind the practice.

But this glamorisation of the burqa by some has proven to be an incarceration of sorts for many others, who have risked their lives fighting for their right to walk with their faces uncovered and their heads held high.

However, when countries like France implemented this ban without much debate, almost as a diktat, they faced backlash. The implementation of a similar move is currently under discussion in Sri Lanka, following the terror attacks on April 21 that claimed over 300 lives.

Such a 'burqa ban' by a state, topdown and sans sufficient consensus, actually furthers divide — but when such a move is implemented from within the community, it creates room for positive dialogue.

Some would say Kerala’s MES should have waited for a consensus to build on the subject. But that makes little sense, given that the burqa has been in existence for pretty long and has been implemented with such an iron fist for so many women that it needs to be done away with — now.

There is no reason for women to cover up their faces, just as there is no reason for women to join their deceased husbands on a funeral pyre, just as there is no reason for women to be killed while they are still a foetus.

Burqa is not a matter of choice of choice for many. It is a marker of deep misogyny. If there is a God, why would s/he want women to cover their faces and let men beat them up for not doing so? If women’s faces were indeed problematic, why would that Supreme Being create them in the first place?

As the debate gathers steam, Kerala MES has made a very good beginning.

It is time more Muslims support it and speak out against the veil.

Also read: AR Rehman’s daughter wearing the veil is her choice. But it's still a hugely regressive one