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Bombay High Court scraps ban on women entering Haji Ali sanctum
http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/bombay-high-court-allows-entry-of-muslim-women-at-haji-ali-dargah/Just an interesting story from my old stomping grounds...
Four years after the Haji Ali Dargah Trust barred women from entering the sanctum sanctorum, the Bombay High Court lifted the ban on Friday, saying it contravenes the Constitutuion and women should be allowed entry “at par with men”.
“The ban imposed by the dargah trust, prohibiting women from entering the sanctum sanctorum of the Haji Ali Dargah, contravenes Articles 14 (equality before law), 15 (prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth) and 25 (free profession and practice and propagation of religion) of the Constitution… Women should be permitted to enter the sanctum sanctorum at par with men,” said a division bench of Justices V M Kanade and Revati Mohite Dere.
The court, however, stayed its order for six weeks, allowing the trust the liberty to appeal in the Supreme Court. The trust had cited verses from the Quran and Prophet Mohammed to claim that Islam does not permit women to enter dargahs/ mosques. “There is nothing in any of the aforesaid verses which shows that Islam does not permit entry of women at all into a dargah/ mosque, and that their entry is sinful in Islam,” said the court.
“It cannot be said that the prohibition is an essential and integral part of Islam and fundamental to follow the religious belief; and taking away that part of the practice would result in a fundamental change in the character of that religion or its belief… What cannot be ignored is the fact that women were permitted entry in the sanctum sanctorum till about 2011-2012,” said the court.
“The ban imposed by the dargah trust, prohibiting women from entering the sanctum sanctorum of the Haji Ali Dargah, contravenes Articles 14 (equality before law), 15 (prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth) and 25 (free profession and practice and propagation of religion) of the Constitution… Women should be permitted to enter the sanctum sanctorum at par with men,” said a division bench of Justices V M Kanade and Revati Mohite Dere.
The court, however, stayed its order for six weeks, allowing the trust the liberty to appeal in the Supreme Court. The trust had cited verses from the Quran and Prophet Mohammed to claim that Islam does not permit women to enter dargahs/ mosques. “There is nothing in any of the aforesaid verses which shows that Islam does not permit entry of women at all into a dargah/ mosque, and that their entry is sinful in Islam,” said the court.
“It cannot be said that the prohibition is an essential and integral part of Islam and fundamental to follow the religious belief; and taking away that part of the practice would result in a fundamental change in the character of that religion or its belief… What cannot be ignored is the fact that women were permitted entry in the sanctum sanctorum till about 2011-2012,” said the court.
