Morality vs Calamity

Maulana Tariq Jameel, one of the renowned preachers in Pakistan and a prominent member of the Tableeghi Jamaat, recently got embroiled into a controversy during Prime Minister's telethon. In the telethon, Maulana took the liberty to label the entire media as liars and opportunists who would twist the facts to their own advantage. Media, being the powerful industry it is, and Maulana, for being the wise man he is, came to a truce where Maulana apologized for his remarks and termed it as a mere 'slip of the tongue'. I won't ramble much about the media issue, but a round of catharsis is due for Maulana calling women's 'Be-Haya-ee' as the cause of the pandemic. The anchors had their own ax to grind, but it was shameful that they didn't ask Maulana to clear his stance on the issue of women's morality.

 A cursory perusal of the ancient history shows that women often held power and were regarded the same as men. From Greek mythological characters like Athena & Rhea to Egyptian ruler Cleopatra, ancient history abounds with such strong female characters. Even in the early centuries of Christianity & Islam, women held positions of power and reverence e.g. Mary Magdalene, Hazrat Khadija, etc. All this changed when the clergymen found women as a threat to their power and ever since then, the persecution of women continues. From the early persecution of witch-hunts in the 15th-17th century to the flogging of women for adultery in the Taliban era, women have been at the mercy of men. The western society that we idealize hasn't been merciful either. It hurts to know that women had been deprived of their right to vote until the suffragette movement of 20th century, just because they were deemed as of lesser intellect.

Maulana Tariq Jameel insinuated in his sermon that immorality of women has called for the wrath of God and thus the Corona Pandemic. Maulana's heart might be in the right place but his insinuation can have dangerous repercussions in a conservative society like ours. In a country where thousands of women are killed in the name of honor and where men have wrongly affiliated their honor to the body of women, such sermons can have disastrous consequences.

Morality is a twisted and relative term in a global world like ours. The parameters of morality are different in America as compared to Saudi Arabia. Similarly, morality parameters are different in a conservative province like Baluchistan as compared to that in Lahore. A woman roaming without a Duppata/Headcover in Lahore is deemed normal, but the same scenario would be termed as an act of indecency in Quetta. Maulana Tariq Jameel has millions of followers and many consider him a voice of sanity, unlike other firebrand preachers e.g Khadim Rizvi. Therefore, Maulana should be careful with his words so as not to incite the fragile masculine honor in this depraved society and make life hell for women of this country.