Ramazan is to be attentive towards religious obligations and avoid wastefulness said Qazi Syed Fazil

BHOPAL: On Saturday many Muslim women shopping at the city’s busy Chowk area were taken by surprise when some youths, who seemed aged between 18 and 25, approached them and sternly told them to “go back home”.

According to eyewitnesses, the youths claimed to be enforcing the preaching of the Bhopal city Qazi, Syed Fazil Qasmi, whose Friday sermon had advised women against shopping alone or without the purdah (veil).

The Qazi is said to have urged men to be more attentive and ensure that their women did not venture out to shop alone during Ramazan, when the faithful are expected to fast and read the Quran.

A sheepish Qasmi today said his sermon had been of a “general” nature and was not meant to provoke anyone. He said he was against any coercion or anyone taking the law into their hands. “I condemn the incident,” Qasmi said.

The police have registered a case of looting against 12 unidentified people on a shopkeeper’s complaint. “So far, no one has been arrested,” senior superintendent of police Adarsh Katiyar said.

Opinion within the local Muslim community is divided. While there is wide condemnation of the youths’ “unbecoming conduct”, some are prepared to believe that the young men had acted out of “some misunderstanding”.

A local leader who did not want to be named said: “When the city Qazi told men to stop Muslim women from going out shopping unaccompanied by a male family member or without wearing the veil, some overzealous youths misread the sermon and sought to enforce it.”

In Bhopal’s dense Muslim quarters, women are known to “while away” the long hours of fasting at the Chowk and other shopping districts. Qazi Qasmi said this was one of the common errors many Muslims make during Ramazan.

Qazi sahab said that according to Islam, Ramazan should be a time to avoid wastefulness and pay more attention to one’s religious obligations, such as the reading of the Quran and offering prayers regularly. Some people also have a tendency to sleep during the day and stay awake late into the night during Ramazan, and to spend more time socialising.