The Darul Uloom, Deoband, India’s foremost Islamic seminary, on Wednesday denied that it had asked Muslim women not to work alongside men, saying it had only suggested that working women should dress properly.  “We had only given an opinion based on Sharia that women need to be properly covered in government and private offices,” said Maulana Adnan Munshi, spokesman for the seminary in Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh.He denied a media report that the seminary was opposed to men and women working together. “No new fatwa was issued,” Maulana Munshi said, adding that the opinion was to a query on whether women could go to work without a veil, and issued over a month ago.Earlier, in the day, activists and lawyers criticised the fatwa  saying Muslim women should not work since in doing so, they would interacting with men, which was against Islamic tenets.Former minister for women and child development Renuka Choudhary ridiculed the dictat, saying women don’t need fatwas on how to conduct themselves.

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“Women are sensible enough and have inherent common sense when it comes to dealing with men or conducting themselves. In fact, it is men who need fatwas on how to conduct themselves before women and how to behave with us. Men like these maulvis (religious teachers) who issue fatwas must respect our independence,” she said. Professor Zoya Hasan of Centre for Political Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, pointed out that fatwas do not matter since they have no utility. “Nobody quits jobs and sits at home just because a fatwa has been issued to stay away from men or women and not talk to each other,” she added.Meanwhile, an Allahabad high court judgment that held a marriage between a Muslim and a non-Muslim was invalid unless the non-Muslim first converted to Islam evoked mixed reactions.Well known lawyer Yusuf Muchhala pointed out that a nikaah, or marriage as per slamic religious laws, can only be between two Muslims. “That is why we have the Special Marriage Act, so that if a non-Muslim and a Muslim want to marry without converting, they can do so. But for a nikaah to be valid, both have to be Muslims,” he averred.Yet, some would say it is time to move and a broader view needed. “There are many instances where people have retained their religion despite marrying a person of another religion,” said Urvashi Butalia, a historian and founder of Zubaan, a publishing house. “People operating in the present time have to keep up with modern time.”Incidentally, the court had also quoted the Hadiths (traditions), which lists nine conditions for a bride. One of them is being a virgin, which means any marriage to a widow or divorcee, both permitted and practised in Muslim societies, would also be illegal. Clearly the last on this judgment hasn’t been heard.  With agency inputs