Riyas Azeez, a 43 -year -old countryman from Wayanad, never had a hint of what was waiting for him in his ancestors when he got there to attend his father’s funeral a few years ago.
His father was buried before his arrival. Even worse, his mourning mother and siblings interrupted family ties with him for no apparent reason. Azeez could feel the restlessness of the building when he tried to establish an interview with his relatives; Many of them ignored him or even behaved as if they hadn’t seen him. He soon realized that he was in force in the valid social boycott.
The reason he suspected was his decision to leave Naqshbandi Thaneqath, a religious group based in Codvally, Kozhikode, in which he was once a member.
“My mother, a keen follower of this order, asked me not to return home again. She was even suspended from the organization of claiming that she had tried to contact me once by phone. I wasn’t even allowed to mourn my father’s death,” Azeez says.
However, Lubna and Shibil, his wife and sister -in -law, refused to be sliced by alleged dictations of the group and broadcast their concerns with the media. They also approached the authorities against the alleged social security, which slapped it.
“We were hunger when we visited our parents back in their village. The crowd of nearly 100 people quickly gathered in front of our house when we learned that we arrived. The angry crowd demanded our move from the house,” they say.
“Even our older parents have not been spared for us abandoning the group. They also face the risk of isolation.”
Also, a young Kizhisseri woman was allegedly facing the anger of the group for choosing her groom from the outside of Naqshbandi Thareeqath. After being excluded from the group, she was cut off from her family in Malappurama and had to leave her studies.
“The love of marriage and alliances outside the community is forbidden. Novey women are forbidden to use smartphones or social media. Men must not grow beard,” another woman says on condition of anonymity.
Exclusion practices allegedly stored by some Muslim society segments focused sharply on incidents regarding Naqshbandi Thareeqath.
There are cases of excommunication, rejection of marriage registration, burial ground and education in Madras, and cancellation or rejecting Mahal membership for those who have fallen out with organized and powerful parts of the community. Several complainants also manifested themselves with the Council of Keral Waqf.
If it was a reported decision to leave a group that proved to be expensive to Azeez and other, the struggle to end social injustice and security by far not for PS Shajahan and about 200 Muslims in Changanassery in Kottayam, who belong to the Ossan community.
The Mahal Committee (administrative body of Jamaata) denied membership to those who belong to the social segment for more than two centuries, because their ancestors were once employed as a barber.
In another case, the man was socially boycotted by the Mahal Committee in Thiruvananthapurama after his daughter married Muslim.
Abdul Faisal, a young caravan entrepreneur, is fighting the legal struggle against alleged social discrimination deposited by his family after his father allegedly questioned some actions of the Mahal Committee.
Naqshbandi case
Mohammed Fazil, a native of Kizhisseri, who helped many victims to legally take over Thaneqath, says those who left the organization had to face a strange social restriction issued by its leader. Many families insist on termination of the order, he says.
The State Commission for Human Rights has already registered the case. A fair investigation of the functioning of the group and the victims should be carried out. It is also necessary to investigate suicide attempts of some people who have left the group, says Fazil.
However, those who are associated with a group reject the accusation as false and unfounded.
“No one calls for social boycott. Hundreds of people, including women and children, are involved in the activities of the group,” says PV Shahul Hameed, patron of the organization.
Hameed claims that the organization is least concerned about those who have left.
“Why should we bother with those who are no longer with us? We don’t go for those who have left the group. All accusations raised against the group are fake and invent,” Hameed says.
PUTHOOREPPALLY CHESSE
It was a legal battle led by PS Shajahan, the owner of the ration, and 11 others, which ended more than two centuries, followed last year in Puthorppall Muslim Jamaat, Changanassery and confirmed its right to lead a dignified life last year. At the turn of the events, however, are far from being happy.
“Although we have received membership in Mahal, there are still certain obstacles that prevent us from attacking the elections to the Mahal Committee and becoming its wearers of the office. We are not satisfied with the provision of membership and the right to participate in general bodies, but we are determined to fight for all our rights,” Shajahan says.
PP Abdul Hameed, President of the Mahal Committee, is aware of the resistance awaiting him from those who call fundamentalist elements in the community while standing for the rights of the affected families.
“From the beginning, we have supported the cause of Shajahan and others. It is not possible to return to the fight to ensure their rights,” says Hameed, who recently won the Mahal elections after defeating some of the community members that opposed the Ossans and other membership.
“We argued that the idea of segregation and social isolation was an alien to Islam. It is a reality that there are still glass ceilings in the community, and the one that was in PUTHORPPALLY has been such a discriminatory practice,” says TP Sajid, a lawyer who represented them on the Ceral Waqf.
Almost three generations, the community members were engaged as a barber. Most community members changed their social profile. Nevertheless, ghosts of social discrimination chase them, he says.
Caragod case
According to Faisal, his family was denied the right to participate in some religious functions after his father filed a case against the Mahal Committee and managed to provoke some financial discrepancies.
“It hurts when you’re scared. But I won’t take it lying down; I decided to defend myself,” Faisal says.
But Abdul Hameed, president of the Kulikkunna Committee Muhiyudheen Jamaat, denies the accusations of social boycott. Membership in Mahal was restored to his father, who was suspended after a legal dispute over the road with the committee. Faisal, who claims to have secured a favorable order regarding his membership, did not appear to the Committee for the restoration of membership. The appeal submitted by the Committee is waiting against the court order, says Hameed.
Social critic Mn Karassery feels that social security is a form of edict published by the spiritual of all religions. “Quarts uses social boycott to prevent the community members from participating in social events such as marriage and funerals. The priesthood will pull out the weapon of security when it believes that its authority is questioned by individuals,” says prof. Karassery.
“The marriage between faith is one of the common reasons for spirituals to cause a social boycott. However, it looks elsewhere when community members are convicted of drug trafficking, Hawala agreements and abominable crimes such as rape or murder or corruption.
The Chairman of the Board of Directors of Kerala State Waqf MK Sakeer says that the Board of Directors has effectively affected in several cases of social boycott, including the Puthorplyla case and the case of the Father of the Young Girl in Thiruvananthapuram, who married outside religion. Several cases of disciplinary events initiated by the Mahal committees against individuals were also depicted as social boycott, he says.
“The Board of Directors can only intervene in the cases of Mahal Committees associated with the registered WAQFS on which it has supervision control. In such cases, the Council issued a Directive on discriminatory practices and restoration of individuals.
The Board of Directors also issued a circle for the Mahal Committees against Excomignation, Rejection of Marriage Registration, Funeral and Madras’ Education and Cancellation, or rejecting Mahal Membership. They were also warned against prosecution. The Board of Directors has initiated measures against the prosecution against the Mahal Committee of the Puthorppally Muslim Jamaat after the complaint, he says.
Legal use
A number of legal means are available for victims of social discrimination, says Sajid. They can approach the relevant civil courts to restore their rights, says.
However, the suffering of the victims of social security, however, often often does not reach the corridors of justice and their muted shouts are unnoticed.
(With Mitosh Joseph in Kozhikode)
