Farhat Khan[i]
11/09/2026
The problem of the status of Muslim women in society has again emerged as a topic of discussion after the statement of Kerala’s Sunni cleric Kanthapuram A.P. Aboobacker Musliyar that women should stay at home and not claim public spaces or even participate in public religious events. The statement has been criticised by various political figures and once again brought the question of women’s participation in public spaces into discussion. (Source)
But when we look at the lives of Muslim women themselves, the picture is not so simple. Muslim women have entered public life in many different ways and have occupied spaces that were once considered unimaginable for them. Bangladesh, for example, has had Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina as Prime Ministers.
There are also women like Begum Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain, who came from what was then Bengal and is now Bangladesh. She grew up in a conservative Muslim family where she herself did not receive formal schooling, yet she went on to become a writer, educationist and social reformer. In 1911, she established the Sakhawat Memorial Girls’ School in Calcutta for Muslim girls and spent years working to make education accessible to them. She also organised Muslim women and worked for their education and economic independence.
Another example is Sania Mirza, one of India’s most successful women tennis players. A Muslim woman who entered a sport where women were still fighting for acceptance, she became India’s first woman to win a WTA singles title and later became the first Indian woman to win a Grand Slam title. Her career also brought questions about her clothing, her religion and whether playing tennis was compatible with being a Muslim woman. Yet she continued to play, compete and occupy a space that was very much in the public eye. Her journey is another example of a Muslim woman defining her own place in public life rather than allowing others to define it for her.
These examples matter to me because they show that the question is not simply about whether Muslim women can enter public spaces. Muslim women already have. They have entered politics, education, social reform, sports and public life in different ways and in different periods of history.
I think about this particularly because of my own experience working with Muslim girls at Parcham.
I come from a conservative family myself, so I understand that restrictions on girls do not always come in the form of someone explicitly saying, “You cannot do this.” Sometimes they come through expectations. Through what is considered appropriate. Through what a girl is supposed to wear, where she is supposed to go, how late she can stay outside, what kind of people she can interact with and what kind of life she is expected to have.
At Parcham, I worked with Muslim girls through football. I remember a girl who wore a burkha and played football. She stepped onto the same playground as everyone else and played the game. Slowly, she became comfortable enough to play in shorts and pants as well. To someone looking from outside, it may simply look like a girl playing football. But for her, there was much more happening. She was claiming a space.
She was not being asked to give up being Muslim in order to play football. She was simply discovering that being Muslim did not have to mean that she could not play football.
I saw similar changes in many of the girls I worked with. Girls who were initially hesitant slowly became more confident. They started speaking up, travelling, taking responsibility, playing, leading and making decisions for themselves. And becoming first licensed women football coaches in Mumbra.
This is why the phrase “public space” means something very personal to me. A public space can be a parliament. It can be a classroom. It can be a workplace. It can also simply be a football ground.
And sometimes, for a girl who has grown up being told where she can and cannot go, stepping onto that ground is already a significant act.
This brings me back to what Islam itself says about women and their place in society.
I thought it would be interesting to look at what the Quran itself has to say. Because whenever the question of Muslim women arises, the entire discussion revolves around modesty, hijab and restrictions. But the Quran also speaks of equality, responsibilities and morals, and it talks about both men and women.
The first verse I want to quote is Chapter 49, Verse 13:
“O mankind! We created you from a single pair of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes so that you may know one another, not so that you may despise one another. Truly, the most honored of you in the sight of Allah is the one who is the most righteous among you. And Allah has full knowledge and is well aware of all things.”
What I understand from this verse is that Allah has created both men and women, and the difference between them is not presented as a basis for superiority. The Bible describes Eve as being created from Adam’s rib, while the Quran speaks of the creation of a male and a female as a pair. For me, this is significant because it presents men and women as having a shared origin rather than placing one above the other. The verse says that the most honoured in the sight of Allah is the one who is most righteous. It does not say that a man is more honoured than a woman simply because he is a man. If men and women are equal in their worth before Allah, then there is no basis for denying women the same opportunities and access to public spaces as men.
Then there is Chapter 33, Verse 35:
“For Muslim men and women, for believing men and women, for devout men and women, for true men and women, for men and women who are patient and constant, for men and women who humble themselves, for men and women who give in charity, for men and women who fast, for men and women who guard their chastity, and for men and women who engage much in Allah’s praise – Allah has prepared forgiveness and a great reward for them.”
It repeatedly mentions both men and women. The expectations are the same and the reward that Allah promises is the same as well. It is remarkable that the Quran, revealed more than 1,400 years ago, addressed men and women together in this way, recognising their equal responsibilities and rewards. Even today, this remains a powerful message about equality between men and women. If the Quran itself addresses both together, there is no reason to question women’s equal place and participation in society.
Another verse that often comes up when we discuss Muslim women is Chapter 24, Verse 31:
“And say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty; that they should not display their beauty and ornaments except what (must ordinarily) appear thereof; that they should draw their veils over their bosoms and not display their beauty except to their husbands, their fathers, their husbands’ fathers, their sons, their husbands’ sons, their brothers or their brothers’ sons, or their sisters’ sons, or their women, or the slaves whom their right hands possess, or male servants free of physical needs, or small children who have no sense of the shame of sex; and that they should not strike their feet in order to draw attention to their hidden ornaments. And O ye Believers! turn ye all together towards Allah, that ye may attain Bliss.”
The verse asks believing women to lower their gaze and observe modesty. I mention this because a similar instruction is also given to believing men, asking them to lower their gaze and observe modesty, reflecting the Quran’s emphasis on equality in expectations for both men and women. The verse also mentions the people before whom women are not required to conceal their beauty. This is important because it shows that women would be going beyond these close relationships and interacting with others outside the home. The instruction, therefore, is about how women should conduct themselves in public and around others, not about preventing them from entering public spaces.
And if we look at Islamic history, women were not absent from public life.
Al-Shifa bint Abdullah is traditionally said to have been given responsibilities by Caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab to oversee the marketplace in Medina. This was a public responsibility and an important one.
Then there is Hazrat Aisha. She was actively involved in the political developments of her time and played a leading role in the Battle of the Camel. A woman being at the centre of such a major political and military event in early Islamic history itself shows that women were not simply expected to remain within the home.
The girls I worked with at Parcham taught me something very simple about this. Freedom does not always look dramatic. Sometimes it looks like a girl entering a football ground for the first time. Sometimes it looks like her deciding what she wants to wear while playing. Sometimes it looks like speaking in front of a group, travelling somewhere on her own, taking responsibility for a team or simply realising that she is capable of doing something she had never imagined herself doing.
For me, that is what claiming public space is really about.
It is not about making Muslim women behave like someone else’s idea of a “modern woman”. It is not about telling them to abandon their faith, their families or their traditions. It is about making sure that faith is not used as a reason to take away their ability to participate, contribute and make choices about their own lives.
Muslim women have been teachers, writers, scholars, political leaders, activists, athletes and community workers. They have been present in public life long before this particular debate began. The question, therefore, is not whether Muslim women belong in public spaces. They already do.
The more important point is that their presence does not make them any less Muslim.
I would like to conclude this article with a beautiful poem by Shehnaaz Shaikh of Awaaz-e-Niswan, titled “मैं अच्छी हूँ, घबराओ नको.” The poem beautifully captures a woman stepping outside her home, taking responsibility for her family and community, and reassuring those at home that they do not need to worry about her.
Source: (Youtube)
“मैं अच्छी हूँ, घबराओ नको, ऐसा ख़त में लिखो।
कोणी मेल्याने ने तुझको लिखा, मैं निकली रोड पर।
अगर तुझको शक है मुझ पर, नहीं निकलूँगी बाहर।
मैं पानी को जाऊँ के नको, ऐसा ख़त में लिखो।
बाबा को आया बुखार–खाँसी, प्राइवेट में गई उसको लेकर।
सौ रुपये लिये, इंजेक्शन दिया, असर नहीं हुआ बच्चे पर।
मैं JJ को जाऊँ के नको, ऐसा ख़त में लिखो।“
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Farhat Khan is a programme coordinator at Centre for Study of Society and Secularism[i]
