Kerala scholar's remarks on women spark criticism

Prominent Islamic scholar Kanthapuram AP Aboobacker Musliyar has sparked widespread criticism in Kerala after stating that women should remain confined to their homes and that their presence on public platforms would lead to "great destruction." The remarks, delivered at an Islamic conference in Kochi on Sunday, August 30, 2026, intensified a debate over women's participation in public life that began with a controversial organizational circular issued days earlier. Kanthapuram, the 95-year-old general secretary of the Samastha Kerala Jamiyyathul Ulama, defended the purdah system as a religious mandate to prevent such destruction. He asserted that the Holy Quran instructs women to live within their homes and avoid public appearances. "It is precisely recognising that bringing women onto public platforms in this manner causes great destruction that Islam mandated purdah for women," he said. He framed his comments as a religious obligation, stating that scholars who have studied the faith have a duty to explain its teachings, and vowed not to withdraw his position despite objections.