Meerut: In a fresh fatwa, Darul Uloom’s fatwa department has stated that “application of mehendi on women’s hands by unknown men is not accepted in the eyes of Sharia law”.Known for delivering controversial diktats, the Deoband-based Islamic seminary said, “Giving one’s hand to an unknown man for application of mehendi is un-Islamic and it doesn’t show the woman in good light. Women should steer clear of such a possibility.”The instruction came in the form of a reply to a query raised by a Deoband-based man who had asked whether it was all right if a woman goes to the market and gets mehendi applied on her hands by professional mehendi artists.Clerics of Deoband-based Islamic institutions have supported the statement. “There is a special importance of the purdah system in Islam, and if any woman allows an unknown man to touch her on the pretext of applying mehendi, then it is not right in the light of Hadees. Woman must remain within purdah,” said Mufti Athar Qazmi, senior cleric at Madrasa Asharfia.Since the advent of 2018, several fatwas have been issued by the Deoband ulemas. Earlier, one fatwa issued by them stated that women wearing designer and body-hugging burqa is ‘haraam’ and this is not allowed in Islam.A bench of muftis had after religious celebrations issued a fatwa on the issue stating, “The veil and burqa are supposed to protect a woman from prying eyes. So, a women wearing a designer burqa or body-hugging outfit is strictly not allowed in Islam.”In yet another development, Deoband ulemas had criticized 15-year-old Alia Khan of Meerut for reciting Bhagwad Gita ‘slokas’ at a contest organized by the state government in Lucknow. She won a prize at the contest.After that, they issued another controversial fatwa, in which it had asked Muslim families to avoid marrying men or women working in banks as the money earned through interest is illegitimate in the eyes of Islam. Recently, they had even termed installation of CCTV cameras as un-Islamic.

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