Talibanisation nipped in the bud

‘Taliban’ rap for beard
OUR LEGAL CORRESPONDENT
New Delhi, March 30: A Supreme Court judge today told a Muslim boy he would not permit Talibanisation and threw out his plea against his school that expelled him for wearing a beard against rules.

Justice Markandeya Katju, one of the judges on the bench, chastised Mohammed Salim and his lawyer, saying: “We don’t want to have Taliban in the country. Tomorrow a girl student may come and say that she wants to wear a burqa, can we allow it?”

B.A. Khan, Salim’s counsel, said keeping a beard was essential to a Muslim’s religious beliefs. But the judge shot back, telling Khan: “But you don’t sport a beard.”

I would like to congratulate Justice Markandaya Karju for a very appropriate and wise judgment.
There is nothing religious about keeping a beard.
If it was so then the terrorists who downed the twin towers of the World Trade Centres would have sported beards, but if you noticed, they were all clean shaven.
All rituals and dresses have come down for generations because our forefathers followed them because of geographical and historical necessities
We do not question the context in which they did what they did.
The beard was sported in Mohammed's time for two reasons.
1) Water is very scarce in Saudi Arabia and all the areas where Mohammed lived. If they did not conserve water and used it for shaving, they would not have any water for drinking.
2) Mohammed was always at war with the other tribes. If people wasted time in shaving, the war effort would suffer.
So out of necessity, they kept beards.
But now, living in India and living a peaceful life, they continue to grow beards citing faith, it is untenable in general schools.
They can do so in schools run by their communities and the madarasars. But they should not be allowed so in generals schools run by the government to stand out as sore thumbs.
They should learn to merge with the population instead of separately.
During my last visit to Ahmedabad, a Muslim family also travelled with us.
Their habits, dress and get up did not give away the fact that they were muslims. It was only when the children called their father Abbu, that we realized that they were Muslims.
People should learn to live like the Muslim family and merge with everybody as one family and not divide India on the basis of religion, caste and language.
It is good that the spark of talibanisation has been nipped in the bud.

Radheshyam