Zaira Wasim Calls Karnataka Hijab Row 'Absolute Injustice', Says It's 'Not A Choice But An Obligation In Islam'

She tweeted a long post talking about the rulings in Islam concerning hijab and shedding light on 'the inherited notion of hijab being a choice' as an ill informed one. 

Picture Courtesy: Instagram

New Delhi: 'The Sky Is Pink' actress Zaira Wasim took to her social media account on Saturday, to share her views on the on-going Hijab row controversy, taking place in Karnataka.

Amid the on-going row in Karnataka, over whether students should be permitted to wear hijab in educational institutions has caught the attention of many celebrities including veteran lyricist Javed Akhtar and actress Sonam Kapoor, among others. The latest to express her views on the same is former actress Zaira Wasim, who took to her Twitter handle to share her opinion.

She tweeted a long post talking about the rulings in Islam concerning hijab and shedding light on 'the inherited notion of hijab being a choice' as an ill informed one. 

She wrote, "The inherited notion of hijab being a choice is an ill informed one. 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 further continued by questioning the real meaning of empowerment as the government puts forth their bias against muslim women, making them choose between their education and religious identity. 

Zaira wrote, "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."

She concluded her statement by writing, "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."

Check out her tweet here:

Amid the ongoing Hijab controversy, the Karnataka government on Friday submitted before the Karnataka High Court that Hijab is not an essential religious practice of the Muslim faith and preventing it does not violate the constitutional guarantee of religious freedom.

A bench of the three-judge bench of Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi and Justices Krishna S Dixit and JM Khazi was hearing the various petitions challenging the ban on Hijab in educational institutions in the state.

Advocate General Prabhuling Navadgi, appearing for the Karnataka government, said that the state has taken the stand that Hijab does not come under the essential religious practice of Islam.