Comments against cricketer Shami disgusting
There are pig-headed people on all ends of the spectrum, and their misplaced remarks need not generally be taken with seriousness. But it is necessary at times to rebut them forcefully and shame them into silence — as in the recent case of a fusillade of abuse that cricketer Mohammed Shami has faced after he posted a picture of his wife Hasin Jahan in Western attire, on a social media site. Shami shared the picture with a sense of pride and happiness, and indeed his wife was grace personified. But there were enough people out there in the virtual world with demented mindsets; people who just could not sense, let alone appreciate, the happy moment which the cricketer wanted to share. One person, who by name shares his religion, was outraged enough to advise Shami to not play around with his wife's dignity in the public sphere! Another went a step ahead and saw in the social media post an attempt to defame Allah and Islam! A third called Hasin Jahan the cricketer's “private property” who must not be put for public display. But then, such disgusting comments reflect the patriarchal mindset of people, not to mention the very parochial understanding they have of religion and decency. In fact, they have no understanding — else they would not have stooped to such levels. But fortunately for Shami, and for all sensible-minded people, there were far bigger numbers of people who lent support to the Indian cricketer. Farhan Akhtar, Javed Akhtar, Mohammed Kaif and many others lashed out at the critics. We are living in a modern era, come on! And India is certainly not a closed society. Extreme positions, whether they are from one religious community or the other, have no place in a free and tolerant society. Those who trolled Shami must look out for more meaningful work to remain occupied.
But Shami is not the first celebrity — nor will he be the last — to be a target of such vicious attacks. Indian tennis player Sania Mirza had to contend with a fatwa in 2005, believe it or not, issued by a local cleric, who directed that she be covered from head to toe while playing the game! Perhaps the learned cleric believed that tennis could be handled with such a dress. He seemed all worked up over the fact that Sania Mirza wore short skirts and played, and seemed agitated that the dress she wore “left nothing to imagination”. But why should he have wanted to imagine something that the dress denied him a chance toIJ Suffice it to say that no one is even aware of or cares about that misguided cleric's existence or of the Sunni Ulema Board which he was associated with, while Sania Mirza is an internationally toasted player. Such nastiness goes beyond India, though. The Malaysian gymnast, Farah Ann Abdul Hadi, was recently condemned for wearing a leotard at the Southeast Asia games, where she won a clutch of medals. Pakistani model Qandeel Baloch was, a few months ago, killed because she had ‘dishonoured’ her family and Islam in general.