It took 28 years, but Zehra Cyclewalla finally prayed again in her community mosque.
With the help of police, she entered the Burhani Mosque in Surat, Gujarat, on July 31st, winning a long fight against Dawoodi Bohra Muslim religious authorities who excommunicated her many years ago for refusing to leave a job they deemed un-Islamic.
"I did not want to involve the court in a religious issue and I believed that I would never be able to return to any Bohra mosque," the 58-year-old woman said. But after other Bohras expressed solidarity with her plight, she decided to force her way inside.
"After a gap of 28 years I am back to my community mosque. It's a big victory for me and our reformist movement."
In 1985, Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin issued a fatwa asking all Bohra Muslim employees to quit their jobs at the bank of the Saif Cooperative Society (SCS) in Surat because, in the view of the Bohra clergy, its operation involved haram interests on deposits and loans.
Almost immediately nearly all other Bohra SCS employees left their jobs. But, Cyclewalla, manager in the quasi-government bank, refused to quit.
The defiance angered the Syedna, who ordered her excommunication. Almost all Bohras, even her relatives, stopped interacting with Cyclewalla. She was excluded from community activities, and barred from entering community mosques.
She believes the clergy also influenced her employers, who demoted her to accountant and then suspended her from service in 1989.
In response, Cyclewalla filed a law suit in the High Court of Gujarat. Two years later, the court ruled that her suspension had been illegal and bank authorities reinstated her as manager immediately.
But Bohra society's harassment of Cyclewalla continued. In 1994, she was physically assaulted. Fearing for her life, she sought security from the state and was granted 24-hour police protection in a 1995 court order.
ISLAM GIVING WOMAN HER RIGHTS BY FORCING HER TO LIVE UNDER POLICE PROTECTION FOR 28 YEARS AND EXCOMMUNICATING HER FOR SIMPLY HAVING A JOB,SO SHE DOES NOT HAVE TO LIVE IN POVERTY,WAITING FOR GOVERNMENT HANDOUTS LIKE MAJORITY OF MUSLIMS IN INDIA.
READ MORE
0 comments:
Post a Comment