Zaira Wasim Speaks Up on Hijab Row: It Being a Choice is Ill-informed Notion, It's an Obligation in Islam

Former actress Zaira Wasim has spoken up in the recent Hijab row that was sparked in Karnataka a month ago at a college in Udupi. The Dangal actress, who announced she would cease her acting career as it conflicts with her religious beliefs and faith in June 2019, said in a Facebook post that as a hijab wearing woman, she resents this “entire system where women are being stopped and harassed for merely carrying out a religious commitment.”

“The inherited notion of hijab being a choice is an ill informed one,” Zaira says on Facebook. “It’s often either a construct of convenience or ignorance. Hijab isn’t a choice but an obligation in Islam. Likewise a woman who wears the hijab is fulfilling an obligation enjoined upon her by the God she loves and has submitted herself to. I, as a woman who wears the hijab, with gratitude and humility, resent and resist this entire system where women are being stopped and harassed for merely carrying out a religious commitment.”

She continues, “Stacking this bias against Muslim women and setting up systems where they should have to decide between education and hijab or to give up either is an absolute injustice. You’re attempting to compel them to make a very specific choice that feeds your agenda and then criticising them while they’re imprisoned in what you’ve constructed. There is no other option to encourage them to choose differently. What is this if not a bias with people who confirm it acting in support of it? On top of all this, building a facade that all this is being done in the name of empowerment is even worse when it is quite exactly the opposite of that. Sad”

The hijab row in Karnataka has been raging for more than a month, with protests and counter demonstrations by Muslim and Hindu students. The Karnataka High Court is hearing petitions on the issue, but has for now asked students to wear uniform from refrain from wearing hijab, saffron scarves or any other piece of cloth till the time the issue is resolved.

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