Darul Uloom Deoband Cleric Says Muslim Women Shouldn’t Watch Men Playing Football With Bare Knees

Lucknow, Jan 30: A senior cleric of Darul Uloom Deoband, Asia's largest Sunni Muslim seminary, said football is a un-Islamic sport and Muslim women should not watch men playing soccer. In his Friday

Lucknow, Jan 30: A senior cleric of Darul Uloom Deoband, Asia’s largest Sunni Muslim seminary, said football is a un-Islamic sport and Muslim women should not watch men playing soccer. In his Friday sermon, Mufti Athar Qasmi said that watching men ‘playing with bare knees’ violates the tenets of Islam, hence it is forbidden for women.

“Why do women need to watch these football matches? What they will gain by looking at footballer’s thighs. Their attention will be on that only and they will even miss the scores,” Qasmi, as reported by Times of India, said. “Do you have no shame? Do you not fear God? You let her watch these kinds of things,” he cried.

Qasmi’s decree comes few days after the Sunni Muslim kingdom of Saudi Arabia allowed women to watch football matches in stadiums. Sahira Nasih, a Muslim women’s rights activist, on Tuesday, slammed the cleric and decried the decree.

“It implies that Muslim women should not watch any athletic event, tennis matches or swimming championships. How it can be immoral for a woman to watch men playing sport?” Nasih asked. Earlier this month, Darul Uloom Deoband issued a fatwa against designer and slim fit burqas.

“In the name of hijab (veil), designer and slim fit burqa is haram and strictly prohibited in Islam,” the fatwa said in response to a query from a person who had asked the muftis if wearing designer burqas, which are sometimes body-hugging and draw male gazes, was permitted in Islam.

The seminary asked Muslims to avoid families that earn their livelihood from working in banks or have earned illegitimate money. It also issued a fatwa against New Year celebrations, observing that it was un-Islamic as the Islamic calendar year starts from Muharram.