Al-Qaeda chief Ayman Al-Zawahiri on Tuesday released a nine-minute video criticising the recent hijab controversy in India and offering his support for Muslim students’ fight against the ban.
The video entirely focused on the recent hijab controversy and called on Indian Muslims to fight against the “intellectual” assault on Islam in India through “media” and “weapons on the battlefield.” In this regard, he urged the Muslim community to unite and “shake off the delusions” surrounding the “Hindu democracy of India,” which he claimed is a “tool to oppress Muslims.”
Published in Arabic with English subtitles on the group’s As-Sahab media outlet, the video was verified by the American SITE intelligence group. It also disproves accounts that Zawahiri, who took over Al-Qaeda after the death of Osama Bin Laden in 2011, had died of natural causes in 2020.
The Al-Qaeda leader applauded the bravery of a Karnataka student, Muskan Khan, for standing up to a right-wing Hindu mob outside her university, describing her as “the noble woman in India.” When the controversy reached its peak in February, Khan’s video outside PES College in Karnataka went viral after she was confronted by a mob of students wearing saffron shawls. As she tried to enter the college premises, they heckled her with loud chants of “Jai Shri Ram,” to which Muskan retorted, “Allah-hu-Akbar.”
Referring to this clip, Zawahiri applauded her “brave feat,” saying that she should be rewarded for “exposing the reality of Hindu India and the deception of its pagan democracy.” He celebrated her “defiant slogan of takbeer” as she confronted “a mob of Hindu polytheists.” Her actions, he claimed, had “emboldened the spirit of jihad,” and was an example for other Muslim women who were “plagued by an inferiority complex vis-a-vis the decadent Western World.”
Also Read: Will the Hijab Row Dent India’s Relations With Muslim Countries?
He accused India, along with Western countries such as France and Switzerland, of using this “scheme of deception” to ban hijabs. He called those who “vilify the hijab” as “enemies” of the Muslim community who had declared a “war on Islam.” The Al-Qaeda chief also criticised the governments of Muslim-majority countries such as Pakistan and Bangladesh for failing to defend the Islamic community and instead supporting the “very enemies” that have empowered the fight against Muslims.
Responding to the video, Karnataka’s Minister of Home Department, Araga Jnanendra, stated that the video proves the government’s claim that there were “unseen hands at work to engineer social unrest.” “The Home Department and the police are going after this video to ascertain where that came from, where it is going, and what the link here is,” he added.
Along the same lines, a senior security official cited by The Indian Express also raised concern that while such groups often made references to India, Zawahiri’s video “devoting so much time on a single issue” could prospectively be a cause for concern. “It shows Al-Qaeda views India as a serious ground for recruitment and may channelise its resources with greater vigour for the same,” he added.
Meanwhile, Khan’s father claimed that the family was not aware of the video, which he said is “unnecessarily causing trouble” and is merely “an attempt” to create divisions between Hindus and Muslims.
The hijab controversy in India was first instigated by the decision of an educational institution in Udupi, Karnataka to ban hijabs on its premises in January. In February, the state government passed an order mandating uniforms in educational institutions and banning symbols that “disturb equality, integrity, and public order.” Subsequently, several Muslim women and rights activists gathered outside educational institutions to protest the decision.
A hijab-wearing student at PES College in Mandya, after being heckled with 'Jai Sri Ram' slogans, retorted by saying Allahu Akbar or Allah is great.
— Express Bengaluru (@IEBengaluru) February 8, 2022
Meanwhile, the college management tried to resolve the matter.#Karnataka #hijabhttps://t.co/4eqkTBa6ko pic.twitter.com/KHO9sv7Civ
Meanwhile, Hindu students supported the ban and were seen entering campuses and classrooms wearing saffron scarves, which have evolved to be symbols of radical Hindu groups. These confrontations led to widespread protests across the state, forcing the government to close educational institutions for several days.
New College students in Chennai protest against the Karnataka HC #HijabBan judgement. pic.twitter.com/ysjdtkCynJ
— Mugilan Chandrakumar (@Mugilan__C) March 15, 2022
Numerous Muslim women approached the state’s High Court, claiming that the principles of freedom of religion enshrined in the Constitution give them the right to wear hijabs. However, in March, the Karnataka High Court said that wearing the hijab is not an “essential” practice in Islam, thereby upholding the state government’s ban on headscarves in schools and colleges. Aggrieved by the judgement, the petitioners will now appeal the decision before the Supreme Court.