Lucknow:
In a large classroom at Lucknow's Karamat Girls College, there are girls in veils, and there are girls without. The latter category does not have new converts.
Earlier this week, Egypt's Al-Azhar university banned the niqab from all-female classes and dormitories. Now, India's largest Islamic seminary, Darul-ul-loom, has allowed women to remove their veil in women-only classrooms.
The rules may have been relaxed in Lucknow, but it will take time for attitudes to change.
Hameeda works with young Muslim girls who drop out of school. She travels to conservative neighbourhoods to give them vocational training, computer classes, anything that could help them to earn a living. Hameeda says, "It's unfortunate that we constantly get stuck in the debate over the purdah, and as a result, the real needs of the Muslim women take a backseat."
Many young students we meet at Karamat Girls College say the right to choose must rest with them.
Azmin Rizvi, in a burqa, explains her stand. "It is popularly believed that the veil is a prohibitive and restrictive tool to women empowerment, but this is not true. For progressive women, this is no hindrance at all, she can do anything she wants even with the veil."
As a minority within a minority, Azmeen says her real liberation will come not from life without a veil, but a life in which she can earn a living, and support herself.
Earlier this week, Egypt's Al-Azhar university banned the niqab from all-female classes and dormitories. Now, India's largest Islamic seminary, Darul-ul-loom, has allowed women to remove their veil in women-only classrooms.
The rules may have been relaxed in Lucknow, but it will take time for attitudes to change.
Hameeda works with young Muslim girls who drop out of school. She travels to conservative neighbourhoods to give them vocational training, computer classes, anything that could help them to earn a living. Hameeda says, "It's unfortunate that we constantly get stuck in the debate over the purdah, and as a result, the real needs of the Muslim women take a backseat."
Many young students we meet at Karamat Girls College say the right to choose must rest with them.
Azmin Rizvi, in a burqa, explains her stand. "It is popularly believed that the veil is a prohibitive and restrictive tool to women empowerment, but this is not true. For progressive women, this is no hindrance at all, she can do anything she wants even with the veil."
As a minority within a minority, Azmeen says her real liberation will come not from life without a veil, but a life in which she can earn a living, and support herself.
