Darul Uloom Deoband, which said chanting BMKJ was 'unIslamic', now bans women from watching football!

Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband has yet again issued a bizarre statement concerning women. This time, it’s about a game of football and women watching the same.

Mufti Athar Kasmi of Darul Uloom Deoband on Monday said that it was against religious belief for women to watch men playing football games. His concern is about women watching men playing with bare knees.

“Football is played wearing shorts, so watching men playing with bare knees is forbidden for women, it’s against religious belief,” said Mufti Athar Kasmi.

Among its more bizarre fatwas include those against trimming eyebrows and haircuts, tight salwars, jazzy burkhas and western clothing.

A committee had said: “Prophet Mohammed had cautioned that Muslim women are to be saved from the outer world. Until and unless it is necessary, they should not step out of the house since Satans stare at them when they go out. They should wear loose and simple burkhas to cover all parts of their body if it is necessary to go out. Islam does not allow Muslim women to wear tight salwars and burkhas which attract dirty stares from other males. Wearing such tight dresses is a sin under Islam.”

In the past, Darul Uloom Deoband had said chanting Bharat Mata Ki Jai was un-Islamic.

 A bench of eight 'muftis' (Islamic scholars) has issued a signed statement on the issue after the seminary received numerous queries from Muslims asking for clarity on the contentious issue. The statement clearly says that chanting "Bharat maata ki jai" would be against the tenets of Islam as it is "akin to idol-worship".

"We love our country as we and our generations before us were born here. But we do not consider it our God / Goddess," the statement says pointedly. The 'muftis' likened the latest controversy to another one which erupted some years ago when singing "Vande Mataram" was being made mandatory in all schools.

"We received thousands of queries on the issue so Darul Uloom Deoband has issued a 'fatwa' saying 'Bharat mata ki Jai' is not in consonance with Islam and we will not say it. But we love our country immensely as our 'Madre Vatan' (motherland) and we can raise slogans like 'Hindustan Zindabad'," the seminary spokesman Ashraf Usmani told reporters. "It is not allowed in Islam to represent the country as a Goddess' idol and raise slogans hailing her," he added. The fatwa reasoned that only a human can give birth to a human, "so how can the country be called mother".