Madrassa takes Sania buff to task

The debate over tennis sensation Sania Mirza's dress code among the Muslim clergy is not even sparing the fans. A senior madrassa student was recently "caught" by the hostel warden when he found one of her posters tacked to the wall of the student's room during a surprise check.

The enraged warden hauled the student to the seminary head's room for an explanation. "How dare you do that," the head quizzed. To which, the boy shot back that he was also an Irfan Pathan fan. "Wasn't he able to distinguish between the dresses the two sported?" Mustering courage, the student said he "admired" Sania for her achievement and nothing else. However, the seminary heads are not convinced.

The Ulemas may be crying foul over Sania's outfits, but she is quite a rage among the sports-loving Muslims in the city. "What is so special about Sania, when scores of Muslim girls are making their mark in fields as diverse as films, television serials and music," they argue.

"Why was there no fuss, no hue and cry when Zeenat Aman captured the imagination of an entire generation of youth nearly 30 years ago? Where were the maulanas and maulvis then," asks Rizwana Vazeer, a teacher.

But not everyone is charitable. The city ulemas are divided over her dress sense. "It is better to ignore Sania and the dress she wears," said Maulana Obeidullah Qasmi, Imam of Iqra Masjid on Ranchi's Main Road.

Maulana Qutbuddin Rizvi, chief of the Edara-e-Sharia, Jharkhand, does a balancing act when he says, "Censure of Sania's dress is not out of place, but at the same time Muslims should also bear in mind that Sania today is an international figure." Maulana Asghar Misbahi, however, sees Sania's sports dresses as "anti-shariat".

"As a Muslim girl, Sania should not flaunt the Islamic dress code that says Muslim women ought to be fully clothed and not expose any part of their bodies. Moreover, a practising Muslim woman cannot prefer sports to Shariat," he said.

One of the reasons attributed to the turmoil in the Muslim world regarding Sania's dress is her traditional Hyderabadi Muslim background. There were reports in the media of her parents being on Haj during one of her landmark victories last year.