Wearing My Religion

As I walked through Belfast last week I saw a man with a skull cap, a man with a skull cap and a very precisely trimmed beard with a baggy dress-like top and baggy trousers, a woman with a hijab tightly wrapped around her face and a man with a rather large cross on his chest. When I got home, I began to ask myself why people wear their religion. I grew up with parents both of whom were Hindu and began to embrace western dress after migrating here. Dad’s principle was when in Rome do what the Romans do, except for all the bad stuff like the persecution of entire people, murder etc. He was not a great believer in the outward expression of faith and said to me “Dil Ek Mandir” which means that your heart is your temple and your service to your fellow human being is the most important way that your faith should be expressed. Wearing your faith to me is like wearing a sandwich board and telling me no more about a person wearing a faded pair of jeans.

I am writing this short piece after being blown away by the revolutionary zeal and courage of the young women in Iran, who are pushing back against the subjugation of women by their country’s authoritarian theocracy. The murder of Mahsa Amini for showing a few strands of hair from under her hijab has triggered an uprising among girls and women throughout Iran. Young women and teenagers have been killed by the security forces including, according to Amnesty International, Sarina Esmailzadeh, a 16-year-old girl. She posted popular vlogs on YouTube and was killed when the security forces, beat her with batons at a protest in Gohardasht on 23^rd September. 

The imposition of a dress code for women can also be seen in Afghanistan, throughout the middle east and in patriarchal communities here in the UK. Over centuries men have defined their piety through the subjugation of women, either through a dress code interpreted through doggy religious text, access to education as in the case of the Taliban, gender-specific roles or the denial of freedom of movement and association. 

As I sit in my comfortable home watching news reports, I am amazed at the continuing courage shown by these young women, who have ripped off their hijabs, cut their hair and protesting daily, for something rather modest, the freedom of expression. Some 250 young women and men have been killed by the thugs of the morality police and the revolutionary guard, with the blessing of the iron-fisted Supreme Leader Khamenei,” Mashallah”, what God has willed has happened.   Due to the harsh crackdown by the authorities, the uprising is no longer about personal freedoms but the removal of a corrupt theocracy. The middle classes that rose during the green evolution demanding reform now must join the uprising, which is no longer simply about reform but whether Iran should remain an Islamic State or become a secular democracy where all citizens can practice their faith, in their own way, free from persecution.

Finally, I was driving through Belfast last week and saw a man of Asian descent and took little notice. A few days later I saw the same man with his daughter in a school uniform and a hijab wrapped around her face. Well, I now know he is a Muslim, not because of what he wore, but because of what his child was wearing, a hijab. This is at a time when many young Iranian women are being killed, to allow his daughter, in the future, to embrace her individuality and enjoy the simple freedom of expression, that we take for granted. SHAME ON HIM.

Let me know in the commnets below what you think 👇

Suneil Sharma