Kashmiri Muslim Society Has Dragged the Name of Islam in Justifying Patriarchy
By Javed Beigh
September
25, 2020
Recently, I
came across a news photo feature in one of the leading Kashmir based social
media news portals that showed an assortment of pictures of young teenage
Kashmiri Muslim girls practising cricket in a sports stadium in Srinagar,
dressed in trousers and tracksuits along with Covid-19 protections such as
masks. One would think that Kashmiri society at large would encourage such
sporting and immunity boosting activities among our young female population,
and yet, shockingly, most of the comments from young Kashmiri Muslim men and
boys were extremely vulgar, tasteless and patronising. Calling these girls
“shameless”, “shameless girls of shameless parents” and “prostitutes”, who are
not only shaming the name of their family and Kashmiri society but also of
entire Muslim community by participating in such “shameless” events that
promote “Zina” (extra marital affairs).
The
question that emanates from this kind of rogue mob behaviour of Kashmiri people
is something that we as a Kashmiri society know it all very well but hide and
suppress for a variety of social and political reasons that have not only
emboldened anti-social, undisciplined and rogue elements of our Kashmiri
society but have also stopped us from dealing with the problem, thereby
strengthening the evils of the patriarchal system.
It is very
important to understand that politics and religion play an important role in
our collective denial of the evils of patriarchy that has made life of Kashmiri
Muslim women miserable. In our efforts to further the narrative of painting our
“enemy” as bad, we as a Kashmiri Muslim society have defined image of our
“enemy” or “other” as a characterless, immoral and unethical non-Muslim entity,
where rapes of women, molestation, drinking of liquor, prostitution and such
other “un-Islamic” activities such as songs and dances happen, while Kashmir
being a “Muslim” entity, no such evils associated with so called “non-Muslim”
entity happens here or for that matter in any Muslim society.
There are
of course complicated political reasons for weaving such narrative and then
believing collectively in it, as it portrays us Kashmiris as pure, pious and
virtuous, and our “enemy” as immoral, decadent and impure. It might help to
sooth our collective political grievances but does it really help our Kashmiri
Muslim women and their daily lives?
Talk to
most young Kashmiri Muslim women, whether studying in colleges in Srinagar and
other cities or living in small towns and villages, and tales of eve-teasing,
sexual harassment, molestation and even rapes abound. Our Kashmiri Muslim women
complain of routine inappropriate touching in public transportation and even on
religious fairs and gatherings, which they have now accepted as part of life
because complaining about the same would invite no sympathy or empathy from
Kashmiri society but only slut shaming of the victim herself. There is this
false narrative which forces people to push the agenda of not talking about
social evils of Kashmiri society, so that it does not in any manner dilute the
image of Kashmiri Muslims as an oppressed and helpless people.
But the
important point that we as a Kashmiri society tend to ignore is that in modern
times any community is judged by how it treats its own vulnerable groups like
religious minorities, women, tribal groups, lower castes, etc. On nearly all
these fronts, we as a Kashmiri society fail miserably. The controversy
surrounding a young and extremely talented Kashmiri Muslim actress, who won
many accolades and fame by acting in Hindi movies and even winning the National
Film Award, eventually resulted in her very public decision of taking
retirement from movies after a massive backlash by Kashmiri society because the
same was supposedly prohibited by Islam. It ended up portraying the Kashmiri
Muslim society as a religiously radical, socially conservative, regressive and
backward community that is still living in medieval era with outdated concepts
of modern life. Prior to that, a few years ago, a music band of young Kashmiri
Muslim girl was also publicly criticised for indulging in “shameless” and
“un-Islamic” behaviour, forcing them to withdraw.
In all of
these anti-women societal behaviour, the Kashmiri Muslim society has dragged
the name of Islam, while not explaining as to how come such artistic and sports
endeavours for Muslim women citizens are part of the national mainstream of all
Muslim majority countries including Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Islamic Republic of
Iran, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Central Asian Muslim nations, Indonesia, Egypt and
even Afghanistan.
Countries
like Iran, Turkey, Pakistan, Indonesia and Egypt have a thriving film industry
with a long history of Muslim actresses and so has the Hindi movie industry.
Muslim women citizens in all these countries are part of their respective
national sports team and even compete internationally including in Olympics and
Asian Games. Do the Muslim men in these countries also call their Muslim women
as prostitutes for pursuing careers which are perceived as “un-Islamic”?
Why has
Kashmir fallen so back among all progressive Muslim societies in such a short
span of time that things which were part of Kashmiri culture like singing folk
songs, Kashmiri Sufiana music, Kashmiri rouf dance, Kashmiri celebratory Eid
songs all have now been declared “un-Islamic”? Why no one questions that
Kashmiri women, who have always dressed modestly, are now covered in culturally
alien Arabic and Iranian hijabs and abayahs?
The
collective denial of the fact that Kashmiri Muslim society suffers from the
same social evils as the so called “enemy” has made us deliberately complacent
in admitting our social faults and thereby allowing these social wounds to
fester.
The result
is for all of us to see. Kashmiri Muslim women are now the largest Muslim
female drug addict community anywhere in the Muslim world; thousands of
Kashmiri Muslim women have crossed the age of marriage and many hundreds are trapped
in violent marriages subject to physical beatings and other harassments that
have resulted in a spate of suicides by many Kashmiri Muslim daughters-in-law.
The
question therefore is, what will it take to shake the conscience of Kashmiri
society to recognise these social evils and then accordingly deal with them,
rather than politicise them to the detriment of our own sisters and daughters.
-----
Javed Beigh is an aspiring politician,
political analyst, and columnist.
Original Headline: Kashmir’s Suffocating Patriarchy
Source: The Kashmir Reader
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/kashmiri-muslim-society-dragged-name/d/123016
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