Kerala leads with surge in Muslim women going alone for Haj from India

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Muslim women going alone for Haj surges

By Our Special Correspondent

New Delhi, May 28: The Haj Committee of India has said that there is a sharp rise in the Muslim women going alone for Haj this year. The Haj committee said that 4665 Muslim women will go for Haj this year alone.

The Haj committee of India had reported 4000 Muslim women travelling for Haj last year alone. It may be recalled that Saudi Arabia had last year amended rule to allow women to go for Haj without a male companion.

“This year 4665 Muslim women are going for Haj from India without male companions. This is about 10 per cent higher than the last year’s figure of 4000,” AP Abdullakutty, the chairman of the Haj Committee of India, told the Arab News.

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It may be noted that India had also amended rules concerning the Haj pilgrimage to allow the Muslim women to travel alone to Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia has been relaxing norms for women in an incremental manner.

The Islamic nation is also allowing the women to take part in sports. Saudi Arabia is also promoting modern outlook for the women in its bid to shed the conservative perception as the Islamic nation embarks on an image makeover.

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Abdullakutty told the Arab News that the larger participation of the women in Haj pilgrimage shows that the efforts for the empowerment of the women are working. The Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre claims to have worked for the empowerment of the women.

The Modi government had also criminalized the prevalent practice of triple talaq wherein the Muslim women were being divorced instantly. Modi claims that the Muslim women have supported his party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, after his government criminalized the practice of triple talaq.

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Abdullakutti was quoted by the Arab News, saying that “women are asserting their independence more than before”. He was also quoted having said that the growing number of Muslim women Haj pilgrims assert the empowerment.

But the data showed that the larger contribution in the number of the Muslim women going for Haj is coming from Kerala. The Union Territory of Puducherry also accounts for a large number of Muslim women going alone for Haj.

Media reports said that the Muslim going alone for Haj may give a wrong impressions, as they mostly go in homogenous groups and are not surely travelling alone. The women travel in groups which are organised at the district or the state levels.

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