Amidst the Supreme Court hearing in the wrangling hijab row, an old tweet posted by Nizam Pasha, one of the advocates arguing for hijabs in state-run schools, has gone viral on the internet. In his tweet, Pasha has cited Quranic verse to say how hijab helps molesters to distinguish Muslim women so they can be spared.
Citing Quran 33:59, Pasha, who had posted the tweet in February 2022, said Muslim women should wear hijabs so that they can be identified as Muslims and not be harassed.
“Holy Quran 33:59 explains why Muslim women should wear a hijab. “So that they can be recognised as Muslim and not be harassed.” The hijab is meant to tell people that this is a strong woman with a strong community standing behind her that you are taking on, so tread with caution,” Pasha had tweeted.
Earlier this month, Pasha submitted in the Supreme Court that the Karnataka High Court, which had upheld the hijab ban in government-run educational institutes, had misquoted the Holy Quran to pronounce that wearing hijab is not a mandatory practice in Islam.
Pasha submitted had that the High Court had referred to an unrelated verse, which stated that nobody can be compelled to convert to Islam, to hold that hijab was not mandatory. He further stated that the High Court had referred to the opinion of a translator of the Holy Quran and not the translation of the text itself. He claimed the verses cited in the High Court were concerning “jilbab”, which covers whole body as opposed to “Hijab” which only covered head and chest. He said that the translator had meant that “jilbab” was not mandatory and not hijab.
Earlier yesterday, Dushyant Dave, another advocate arguing in favour of hijab had made a slew of preposterous arguments during the plea(s) hearing challenging the order of Karnataka HC upholding the prohibition on wearing headscarves in Pre-University institutions.
From claiming Brahmins had hijacked India to designating Jains and Buddhists as outsiders to selectively quoting Dr BR Ambedkar, Advocate Dushyant Dave made a bunch of ludicrous arguments while representing the petitioners challenging the hijab ban upheld by the Karnataka High Court.
A major controversy erupted in Karnataka in January 2022 after a Udupi school prohibited hijab inside classrooms. Some Muslim girl students, supported by PFI had appealed against this in the Karnataka High Court. On February 25, the court reserved its decision on the case. Protests, allegations, and counter-allegations occurred in response to the hijab ban.
The Karnataka High Court declared on March 15 that wearing a headscarf does not constitute an essential Islamic practice as the petitioners failed to provide evidence in that regard. The Karnataka High Court dismissed all petitions contesting the hijab ban in Karnataka schools and decided that the rules for the uniform dress were fair and that students can not object to respective dress codes mandated by educational institutions.