Viral Video Shows Cleric Criticising Muskan Khan, Poster Girl For Hijab Protest, For Shaking Hands With Men

A video is going viral on social media in which an Islamic cleric is seen criticising Muskan Khan — the Karnataka student hailed for shouting back Allahu Akbar chants to a crowd of saffron-clad students while donning burqa — for not following Islam enough.

For her act of standing up to the crowd that was apparently trying to bully her for wearing a burqa amid a ban on religious attire in state-run schools in Karnataka, Khan earned praise from Muslim groups not only in India but also outside India. The spokesperson of radical Islamist group Taliban, Inamullah Samangani, praised Khan through his Twitter account.

The cleric in the video that is now going viral is seen saying that while he is appreciative of Muskan for her “daring act”, he is upset with her conduct at other times.

”She touches his hand. The man puts his hand on Muskan’s shoulder and even touches her waist. Muskan does not appear to have any problem with this,” the cleric says.

He continues, “Muskan has fear of Allah. She is going to the college in purdah alright. But her father did not teach her that it’s not acceptable to do musafa [shake hands] with gair-mehram [men outside of family]. Even if the man is in his fifties, he is still a gair-mehram for her. This means that the father gave Muskan taleem [education] but not tarbiyat [good upbringing].”

Watch the video here:

The cleric is Sheikh Abdul Gaffar Salafi Hafizahullah, a Salafi Alim from Varanasi district of Uttar Pradesh.

Salafis in Islam are descendants of the first three generations of Muslims. They are the closest both in time and proximity to Islam’s founder Muhammad. Often described as ultra-conservatives, Salafis are known for trying to imitate the habits of initial Muslims such as cuffing their trousers at ankle-length.

As per his Facebook account, Gaffar is a PhD degree holder in Modern Arabic from Banaras Hindu University.

He is a prominent speaker on Islamic issues in northern India. His videos on his YouTube channel are viewed in thousands.

In a recent talk, Gaffar said that hijab (widely understood as headscarf) and burqa (full-body veil) are just the same.

He said the veil separates Muslim women from non-Muslim women. Through the hijab, people get to know that the woman in purdah is a Muslim woman and they have no right to tease her, he said.

In the same speech, Gaffar, like other clerics, compared Muslim women with mobile phones.

He said that there are two types of mobile phones — expensive ones and inexpensive ones. People tend to take care of the more expensive ones. For instance, people take extra care of an iPhone than a usual one, he said.

He further said that just like people take extra care of things that are dear to them, Islam takes extra care of women as women are most precious beings in Islam. Hijab protects them, he said.

Watch the videos here and here.