Mumbai: Haji Ali
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Women's entry to the sanctum sanctorum
The Times of India, Jan 30 2016
Mohammed Wajihuddin
Haji Ali curbs on women a recent move, not tradition
Women's entry to the sanctum sanctorum of Mumbai's iconic Haji Ali Dargah. Activists are protesting the curbs on women accessing key parts of the Haji Ali Dargah that had been allowed for almost 400 years. In 2012 BMMA members found that the trustees of Haji Ali Dargah had restricted women's entry to the revered Saint's shrine. “Suddenly we found the saint's grave had been barricaded. Women were allowed to offer prayers from near the barricade. Men could go in, even touch the saint's tomb,“ said Niaz. “We never stopped women from the shrine. We separated entry-exit routes for men and women to avoid their mixing and protect women,“ said SohailKhandwani, a trustee at the Dargah. A 2012 BMMA survey found that of Mumbai's 19 Sufi shrines, seven, including Haji Ali dargah, barred women. Other famous dargahs, including Mumbai's MahimDargah and KhwajaMoinuddin Chishti Dargah in Ajmer, allow unrestricted entry of women.
2016: Women allowed in Hali Ali Shah's mausoleum
The Times of India, Aug 27 2016
Rosy Sequeira
The Bombay high court struck down a ban on entry of women into one of Mumbai's most popular Sufi shrines, the Haji Ali dargah, on Friday . It directed that women be allowed into the sanctum of 15th century saint Haji Ali Shah's mausoleum, just as they were before the trust managing the dargah imposed a ban five years ago. A bench of Justices Vidyasagar Kanade and Revati Mohite-Dere said the ban “contravenes Article 14 (right to equ ality), 15 (prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion) and 25 (right to religion).
The verdict came on a PIL by activists Noorjehan Niaz and Zakia Soman of Bharati ya Mahila Andolan. The trust sought to defend the ban saying the presence of women in close proximity to the tomb of a male saint was a grievous sin in Islam. But the court said the Qu ranic verses cited for the ban ran contrary to what was being contended. In a bold order evoking liberal Islamic principles, the Bombay high court on Friday said the religion does not deny women entry into mosques or dargahs.
Throwing open the doors of saint Hali Ali Shah's mausoleum to women, the court also directed the state and the trust managing the shrine to take steps to ensure safety and security of women at the dargah.“The state is equally under an obligation to ensure fundamental rights guaranteed under Articles14, 15 and 25 of the Constitution are protected and that the right of access into the sanctum sanctorum of the Haji Ali Dargah is not denied to women,“ said Justice Revati Mohite-Dere, who wrote the 56page judgment for the bench.
The reminder to the state stemmed from the fact that the land on which the dargah is situated is leased by the government to the Trust by a November 28, 1931 deed and occupation is subject to terms and conditions specified in it.Even trustees are to be appointed only with permission of the advocate general. Thus the government has control over the Haji Ali Dargah Trust as it is a public charitable trust.The trust, represented by advocate Shoaib Memon, defended the ban saying entry of women in close proximity to the tomb of a male saint was a grievous sin under Islam and that menstruating women were considered unclean. He cited Quranic verses, sayings of Prophet Mohammed and Hadiths to argue against free mixing of men and women.
Activists Noorjehan Niaz and Zakia Soman of the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan, who filed a PIL in 2014, against the ban, said they did a survey which showed 12 out of 19 dargahs in Mumbai allowed women into the sanctum.The petitioners' advocate, Raju Moray , said unlike Sabari mala and Shani Shingnapur, the case of Haji Ali Dargah was peculiar as women were allowed for 147 years until they were stopped in 2012 only because the trustees were told by certain religious scholars that it was un-Islamic and a sin for women to touch the grave of a male saint.
To this, the trust had replied that they were not aware of provisions of Sharia till then and had therefore taken steps to rectify the situation.On the advice of Muslim scholars and acting under the apex court's directions that sexual harassment of women should be prevented in places of worship, the trust said it thought it fit to segregate women from men, in order to protect them.
The HC characterised the trust's claim as “completely misplaced and misconceived“ and its reliance on a SC judg ment as completely out of context. “The Trust under the guise of providing security and ensuring safety of women from sexual harassment, cannot justify the ban and prevent women from entering the sanctum sanctorum of the Haji Ali Dargah. It is always at liberty to take steps to prevent sexual harassment of women, not by banning their entry in the sanctum sanctorum, but by taking effective steps and making provisions for their safety and security e.g. by having separate queues for men and women, as was done earlier.“
The Trust had asserted that under Article 26 it has a fundamental right to manage its own affairs in matters of religion. But the court said the protection under Article 26 is “misconceived.“ It noted that it is a public charitable trust and land was leased to it by the government. Further, that object of the Trust framed under a scheme by the HC (in a suit) are in respect of purely secular activities of a non-religious nature, such as giving loans, education, medical facilities, etc. Neither the objects nor the scheme vest any power in the trustees to determine matters of religion, on the basis of which entry of woman is being restricted. “The Trust has no right to discriminate entry of women into a public place of worship under the guise of `managing the affairs of religion' under Article 26 and as such, the State will have to ensure protection of rights of all its citizens guaranteed under the Constitution, and to protect against discrimination based on gender,“ the court said.
The verdict has been stayed for six weeks to enable the trust to appeal in the Supreme Court.
