Recently The Times of India had a news item on the ulema's criticism of Sania Mirza
I share conservative Muslims' ambivalence on Sania Mirza
I find myself supporting Sania Mirza and hoping that she wins sometimes . Why do I do that ?
Is it because of the feeling of Assabiyyah (tribalism) because she is an Indian Muslim ?
But yes the tennis dress she wears does violate traditional Islamic guidelines on modesty.Any practising Muslim who has a feel for the letter and spirit of the Shariah will corroborate that.The ulema are only doing thier duty by pointing out what is wrong with her dress .Now the ball is in her court Sorry I could'nt just resist this :-)
Anyway only Allah knows her intentions and whether she is a devout Muslim or not .
As expected , progressives like Feroze Mithiborwala could not resist making a jab at the Darul Uloom Deoband .The Darul Uloom Deoband ulema are well known for their ultra orthodox stand .Despite the recent controversies associated with the Darul Uloom Deoband ,I still have great respect for the ulema .I believe they have have much greater Taqwa than me . It is neccessary for us to be linked with Sunnah - the tradition of the Prophet (PBUH) and keep a perspective on preparation for the Akhirah (Day of Judgement ) through the ulema .
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4 comments:
Hie,
good to see u write in ur views..
may i take the credit.. :D
Well, its always nice to hear, read from you.. even if I may not hold the same views...
The only question I would put in here, why should the ulema discuss the attire of Sania? And more importantly why now?
Sania is not the first muslim girl to have played tennis in India. She may be the most famous one now, but for sure not the first one to play in a short dress. And talking of famous people, there are number of muslim actresses in movies all around the world and india donna precious little.
So is it the Ulema, trying to keep themselves in the news by associating the Sania or what?
Just my two cents.. hope you take it that way only :D
Cheers.
history_lover,
I cannot relate to your struggle with Sania's dress. She's a spunky kid and we're proud of her. I'm thrilled each time she wins (no I'm not Muslim - just Indian). Folks around the world can see that Indians are not just ugly, engineering geeks - there are some talented, non-geeky, good-looking ones too :-) - with nose-rings and giant attitudes to match!
Regarding the diktat of the ulema - they're entitled to their opinion, and they should voice it freely. The line gets crossed when they threaten her well-being. That's unacceptable. Anyway, she's a smart kid and seems to be be getting some great advice on and off the court.
Cheers.
Well Sania is being held as a role model.The Alim was only doing his religious duty of enjoining good and forbidding evil.
Movie stars despite thier popularity have never been considered as legitimate role models Thier dresses or their hair styles may have been copied by people but that is not the same .They have been always considered as too immoral :-)
Yes, given the discussion on Yursil's blogs about not condemning the Early Muslims for their part in slavery, and the kind of moral relativism arguments that were deployed, i feel it is relevant here. I felt that slavery went against the spirit of Islam, hence my original point. One can argue yes the people made mistakes etc. whatever -sure, fair enough. But we could possibly have agreed that slavery went against the spirit of islam, which that discussion didn't seem to do. But - one can say a practice is not in the spirit of something, without necessarily condemning the individual who is practicising it.
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