Skirts and T-shirts are 'un-Islamic'?

First published Sep 29th 2005

Islam has become a sensitive subject. That's rather unfortunate, because any celebrity who claims an affiliation with the religion will always be seen as a Muslim first and a human being second. And judged accordingly, usually by hardcore critics, who probably spend their spare time nitpicking petty details in the Qu'ran.

No sooner had tennis star Sania Mirza become the first Indian woman to enter the world top 50, the Sunni Ulema Board, an unfamiliar "Muslim" organisation in India, released a religious diktat demanding that she cover up during matches. Apparently, her skirts and T-shirts are "un-Islamic" and "corrupting".

I have to stress that these are random Muslim clerics, who nobody's ever heard of before. I'm not sure if they just wanted some publicity or are, indeed, just stupid.

Rather than praising her achievements, they've been chastising her for not dressing modestly. Of course, Muslim women are known for their conservative dress sense, and whether or not they need veiling is a debate I leave for Islamic Soc.

What worries me about the Sunni Ulema Board is that they don't appear to know the meaning of context. Context is the defining line between an extremist and a rational human being.

She's a tennis player, not a glamour model. She's wearing what she feels comfortable playing in ­ and that's her prerogative. It's pure overreaction, and for people who think women should be protected from manly gazes, they went totally the wrong way about it. All this media attention over what Sania Mirza wears does nothing but draw men to her more. Now they'll be looking at bits they never even noticed before. The majority of men, shock, horror, really did just watch Miss Mirza for the tennis before all of this hoo-hah.

My second issue is their lack of faith in their own religion. So she isn't following her religion to the letter, who does? Just because one person refuses to abide by the rules, doesn't mean everyone else will. Are they really convinced that Islam is so weak that it'll crumble because of one girl?
When those four boys came to London and blew up our transport system, everyone was adamant that we should not consider them Muslim, for their actions were not indicative of Islam as a religion.

So why is Sania Mirza treated as though she's the sole symbol of Islam? She's merely one girl wearing a skirt. It doesn't mean that the world will now view Muslim women as evil exhibitionists. If anything, she'll be idolised for her achievements. She'll attain a support that, sadly, her own community failed to give her.

The third strike by the board was to say that she's corrupting the "innocent" minds of young women. That, is a disgustingly presumptuous statement about all women. It implicitly states that women are sheep. "Oh dear, let me rip off my veil and run around in my birthday suit, inviting illicit sex, because that tennis player is showing her legs."

Furthermore, these so called "men of faith" have absolutely no confidence in the women of their society. I'll let you all in on a little secret: women are not robots; we're perfectly capable of thinking for ourselves.

I grew up on a road worked by a few prostitutes, but that never meant that I wanted to be one. People who are predisposed to brainwashing will get brainwashed. Those who aren't? They watch and learn and make up their own minds. It's called being an individual.