Kanthapuram asks followers to stay calm amid row over women remarks
Facing criticism over alleged anti-women remarks, Kanthapuram A.P. Aboobacker Musliyar urged followers not to be provoked into controversy.
Islamic scholar Kanthapuram A.P. Aboobacker Musliyar has urged his followers to exercise restraint and not be drawn into controversy, following widespread criticism of his recent comments on women. In a Facebook post on Friday, he said spiritual discussions should provide healthy platforms for objective assessment and learning, and cautioned against those seeking to divert such conversations toward division.
He alleged that certain vested interests were deliberately attempting to undermine the pursuit of knowledge and create societal rifts. Calling for vigilance, he advised his followers to respond to provocation with maturity and wisdom rather than emotion. "The tradition of Sunni believers has always been to confront all evils only with goodness," he wrote, urging discipline and restraint.
The appeal came a day after the veteran leader clarified his earlier remarks, asserting that he did not advocate confining or burying women. Speaking at a programme in Thrissur on Thursday, he said women were not being given a second place and highlighted the establishment of girls' schools and madrassas, along with institutions providing education and care for orphaned girls.
His earlier suggestion that women should remain confined to their homes had drawn sharp criticism, including from Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan, who dismissed it as a 19th-century view unfit for progressive Keralam. The Chief Minister's remarks prompted a strong response from organisations linked to Kanthapuram's Sunni group, which also demanded an apology.