Gujarat cleric criticises Muslim women in election with sexist remark, "No men left?"

Ahmedabad: A day before the second phase of Gujarat elections, the chief cleric of the Jama Masjid in Ahmedabad, Shabbir Ahmed Siddiqui, said those who select Muslim women to run for office are against Islam and are weakening the religion.

His sexist remark continued and asked, "Are there no men left that you are bringing in women?" He added that if women are made MLAs and councillors, Muslims won't be able to defend the hijab.

He further said: "If you talk about Islam, see there's nothing more important in this religion than namaz. Did you see any women here reading the namaz? If it were okay for women in Islam to come in front of everyone, they wouldn't have been stopped from doing so. They are stopped from coming to mosques to read the namaz because women have a particular position in Islam. That's why, those who give election tickets to Muslim women, are rebelling against Islam," reported ANI.

In the video tweeted by ANI, he was seen smiling and looking for validation when he continued explaining why he is against women contesting in elections. "To fight elections, one must meet people door-to-door, both Hindus and Muslims... Therefore, I am staunchly against it. You can give election tickets to men. The reason they are giving tickets to women is that these days women have a greater say in things. So if you take women in, the entire family will come in too. I can see no other reason than this," he added.

Muslims are around 10% of Gujarat's 6.4 crore population and Muslim women have very little representation in the legislature.