The tale of two Muslim women in India

Submitted by Prashant (India), Oct 12, 2022 at 13:32

Dear Readers, In the last three or four months two Muslim women staged single handed protests. The first woman was Muskan (ref1). Muskan did not like that her college was instituting a no-hijab policy so all students subscribe to the same college uniform. The issue became a huge political football in India for a few days and on one of those days, Muskan broke away from the crowd in her head-to-toe burkha, shouted allah-ho-akbar, and walked into the college premises. India is a peaceful civilized society. Nothing much happened to Muskan but her story was picked up by the entire Muslim world and she became a darling of Muslim men. Lot of people called her a sherni (lioness). Although, there was no violent crowd around her. And, probably no police were firing guns and no one was pelting stones on any one.

Just a few months later Iranian moral police arrested and caused the death of Mahsa Amini (#mahsaamini). Lots of Iranian women organized protests against the morality police in 150 cities of the world. Mumbai is also a world city. But no one came to protest (Indian Muslims are very committed to Islam, I guess). Here our second woman comes into picture. This woman is an Indo-Iranian Muslim actor named Mandana Karimi. Ms Karimi did not like the idea that no one in India was standing up for Mahsa Amini. So, she went to the famous Bandra Bandstand in Mumbai and protested alone with a single poster in her two hands and a few young men watching her and an ocean behind her. Karimi did not become an Islamic hero. No one called her a lioness. The liberal media did not pick her story. The gulf media ignored her story.

Two women stood up in protest. One towed the tagline of Muslim men. The other stood apart. One is the way of the past. The other is the way of the future. While this is going on, Muslim men are busy apologizing for the Prophet, for Islam, and for themselves.

I thought, I should let the world know.

Ref1 (Muskan's solo protest): https://gulfnews.com/world/asia/india/india-meet-19-year-old-muskan-the-poster-girl-of-pro-hijab-protests-1.85594367

Ref2 (Mandana Karimi's solo protest):
https://www.hindustantimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/mandana-karimi-protests-solo-for-iran-after-friends-disappointing-responses-101664791246538.html

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