Quoting holy verses, doc gets Muslim men to plan family

He traverses like a nomad advocating birth control among rural Muslims and has done yeoman’s service to society by motivating over 30,000 men, nearly 43% of whom are Muslim, to go for sterilisation.

Prof Ilias Ali is truly on a ‘holy’ mission. The associate professor of surgery at the Gauhati Medical College uses verses from the holy Quran and the Hadith to encourage rural Muslim husbands to go for ‘no scalpel vasectomy’ (NSV) ever since its application in Assam a few years back.

Male sterilisation is a very sensitive issue in India but Prof Ali’s unusual methods have done the trick. NSV can be performed by making a small and single hole in the scrotum. The knife (scalpel) is not used in this method and hence it is called NSV.

“Popularising NSV, especially among non-indigenous Muslims, was a daunting task for us. Not only are they superstitious, they believe children are the gift of God and so, birth control lacks religious sanction,” says Prof Ali, Assam’s nodal officer of NSV programme. “So, I tell them that sterilisation is not adversative to the Quran,” he adds.

What has gone down well with this doctor is perhaps his approach. His way of promoting birth control is based on sustained dialogues with religious leaders and elders.

“I never confront them (clerics). Rather, I sit with them before every camp. I tell them that birth control is not un-Islamic,” says Prof Ali. He adds that contrary to what many, including non-Muslims, believe Islam does not profess or endorse large families.

In every single village that the doctor explores, he chants “wa hamluhu wa fisaluhu salasuna sahran” from the Quran urging families to keep a gap of  at least two and a half years between their children

Prof Ali attributes rising population among Assam’s non-indigenous Muslims to childhood marriages, polygamy, superstitious beliefs and the lack of medical facilities and awareness about contraception.

“The growth of population affects the nature most — trees are felled and forests destroyed. So, I recite verses from the holy books telling people that everyone has the right to live,” he says. Not just NSV, he also propagates other forms of birth control.

Prof Ali has braved a lot of challenges so far but threats from religious leaders and politicians alike could not deter him. “Not only was I threatened, even people opting for sterilisation were told their janaza (last rites) won’t be allowed to be performed when they die.”