Unfortunate, bizarre, uncalled for, biased, communal, disappointing, saddening, against the secular fabric of the nation, violative of one of the fundamental rights and thus unconstitutional, etc. These are some of the attributives the Muslim leaders used in earnest to greet the observation against beard and burqa passed by Justice Markandeya Katju of the Supreme Court.
While dismissing the petition of a Muslim student Mohammad Salim of Nirmala Convent Higher Secondary School in Madhya Pradesh, seeking the court’s directive to let him sport a beard, Justice Katju remarked that they did not want to have talibans in the country. He also quipped that they would not allow a girl student to wear a burqa if she wanted to. And the irony is that he donned the garb of secularism to take this talibanisation stance.
One fails to comprehend what danger of terror a Muslim male poses when he opts to sport a beard, and what threat of peace and security the nation feels when a woman covers her body with an Islamically ordained hijab. In view of the fast changing social landscape in the country one can say that instead of talking of talibanisation, which in fact has no roots in India, the apex court should take the cudgel against fast saffronisation of the nation. No doubt, the apex court has from time to time, as the cases might be, pronounced against this dangerous phenomenon. But the plural polity still awaits the day when it will be free from the windmill of hate and rancour against minorities.
Secularism is not a synonym of atheism or irreligiosity. No doubt, we are a secular State. But our secularism simply means that there will be no State religion and thus no interference in the religious affairs of the citizens. When the Constitution gives us the fundamental right to “freely profess, practise and propagate” the religion of one’s choice, there is no question of conscience keepers like Justice Katju to ‘strike a balance between the rights and personal beliefs’. It is this fundamental right where meet a citizen’s professed beliefs and his firm will to put them into practice.
What is a point to object is the believer’s unwillingness to practise what he professes and not the otherwise. When you profess a belief, you must practise it. The learned judge was right when he quipped to the Salim’s counsel Justice (retd) B.A. Khan, who argued before the bench that sporting beard was an indispensable part of Islam: “But you (Khan) don’t sport a beard.”
There might be various factors lurking behind the learned judge’s observation. But one thing is clear that Justice Khan’s clean shaven appearance contributed a lot to the making of this observation. This sends a great message to the believers that they should practise in letter and spirit the religion they profess. Muslim males by sporting beards and Muslim women by wearing burqas can and must present before the society what Islam is. The more you practise Islam in your domestic and social life the more you will stand free from such controversies.