'Faith is beyond attire': MP Nusrat Jahan refuses to toe the line of clerics

Agencies

June 30, 2019

Kolkata, Jun 30: Newly elected MP and actor Nusrat Jahan has said no one should comment on what she chooses to wear as "faith is beyond any attire", refusing to toe the line of hardline Muslim clerics who criticised her for wearing vermilion and mangalsutra.

A section of Deoband-based clerics reportedly also issued a 'fatwa' (diktat) against the Trinamool Congress lawmaker. The first-time MP from West Bengal's Basirhat came to Parliament on June 25 wearing vermilion and sporting a 'mangalsutra', and said 'Vande Matram' after taking oath.

Jahan, 29, married businessman Nikhil Jain at a ceremony in Turkey earlier in June and took oath a few days later.

The clerics claimed Jahan disrespected Islam by marrying into the Jain religion and called her attire "un-Islamic".

"Muslims can only marry Muslims and are only allowed to bend before Allah. Islam has no place for Vande Matram, mangalsutra and vermilion and they are against the religion," claimed Mufti Asad Kasami of Jamia Shaikh-ul Hind.

Responding to the criticism, Jahan on Saturday night tweeted, "Paying heed or reacting to comments made by hardliners of any religion only breeds hatred and violence, and history bears testimony to that."

Affirming that she represents an "inclusive India...Which is beyond the barriers of caste, Creed and religion," she said, ".....I still remain a Muslim....And none should comment on what I choose to wear.....Faith is beyond attire."

She commented on her tweet that faith "is more about believing and practicing the invaluable doctrines of religion."

Many people have come in Jahan's support, including women leaders of the ruling BJP at the Centre.

Comments

yes... your absolutely right Mr. Abdulla

She is digging her own grave by following parth of Iblees. None can stop her if she does so coz there is no compulsion or force in Islam. Islam or Muslims will not lose anything if she selects hell fire. May Allah bless her with right way of thinking.

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Reopening of mosques in Turkey creates spectacular scenes

News Network

May 30,2020

Istanbul: Mosques in Turkey reopened on Friday for mass prayers after more than two months as the government further eased strict restrictions to stop the spread of the new coronavirus.

Turkey has been shifting since May to a "new normal" by easing lockdown measures and opening shopping malls, barbershops and hair salons.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said many other sites -- restaurants and cafes as well as libraries, parks and beaches -- will reopen from Monday.

Hundreds of worshippers wearing protective masks performed mass prayers outside Istanbul's historic Blue Mosque for the first time since mosques were shut down in March.

In the Ottoman-era Fatih mosque, worshippers prayed both inside and outside, with the municipality handing out disinfectants and disposable carpets.

"I have waited a lot for this, I have prayed a lot. I can say it's like a new birth, thanks to God, he has brought us back here," he said.

Another worshipper, Asum Tekif, 50, said: "It has a been a long time... we missed the mosques."

Turkey, a country of 83 million, has so far recorded 4,489 coronavirus-related deaths and 162,120 confirmed cases.

Prayers in Hagia Sophia

Muslim clerics on Friday recited prayers in the Hagia Sophia, the world famous Istanbul landmark which is now a museum after serving as a church and a mosque.

The prayers were held to celebrate the anniversary of the conquest of Constantinople, today's Istanbul, by the Ottomans in 1453.

"It is very important to commemorate the 567th anniversary of the conquest ... through prayers in the Hagia Sophia," said President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who attended the ceremony via videoconference.

The stunning edifice was first built as a church in the sixth century under the Byzantine Empire as the centrepiece of its capital Constantinople.

After the Ottoman conquest, it was converted into a mosque before being turned into a museum during the rule of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, in the 1930s.

But there have been hints about reconverting the Hagia Sophia into a mosque. Last year, Erdogan himself mooted the possibility of turning Hagia Sofia museum into a mosque.

Such calls have sparked anger among Christians and raised tensions with neighbouring Greece.

In 2015, a Muslim cleric recited the Koran in the Hagia Sophia for the first time in 85 years to mark the opening of an exhibition.

After Friday prayers at the Blue Mosque, a small group of Muslim worshippers shouted: "Let the chains break and let the Hagia Sophia open".

The group was later dispersed by the police who stopped them from protesting near Hagia Sophia that sits immediately opposite the Blue Mosque.

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