'We follow Islam, not Modi': AIMPLB on allowing Muslim women to travel for Haj without male guardian

Pune (Maharashtra): For the second time in a week, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) has expressed unhappiness with the decisions of the Modi government, this time over the prime minister’s announcement of allowing the Muslim women to travel for Haj without 'Mehram' or male guardian. Speaking to news agency, a senior official of the AIMPLB said Muslims in the country do not concur with what PM Narendra Modi says. "This is a religious issue, and not something to be brought up in legislation and passed in the parliament," AIMPLB secretary Maulana Abdul Hamid Azhari told ANI, adding, "99 per cent men and Muslims follow their religion in accordance with what their religious authorities say, and not what PM Modi ji or anybody else says." According to Islam, Azhari said, a woman cannot travel longer than three days or more than 78 miles without a male guardian, be it for Haj or to any other place.

A step that will benefit Muslim women. They can proceed on Haj without ‘Mehram.’ #MannKiBaat https://t.co/Ld7wy3Nx10

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) December 31, 2017

Addressing the nation in the 39th edition of his 'Mann ki Baat' radio programme on Sunday, Prime Minister Modi suggested single women pilgrims be excluded from the lottery system implemented to select Haj pilgrims. Azhari, however, countered the suggestion saying single women were not obliged to go for Haj. "If a woman does not have a Mehram (male guardian) and does not have the funds to take a male guardian with her to Haj, then she is exempted from the obligation to go," he told the news agency. Meanwhile, women rights activist Sudha Ramalingam supported the cause, but said the prime minister's announcement were not a change in the existing rules. "This is nothing new at all. Saudi Arabia says women above 45 years can come unaccompanied, but in groups with a letter of permission from her male guardian. This is the condition given by Saudi Arabia," Ramalingam told ANI. Instantly after the Lok Sabha passed the triple talaq bill, the AIMPLB had voiced serious reservations over its provisions and said it would take steps through democratic means to "amend, improve or scrap" the bill.