In a bizarre incident, a Muslim family of Thrithala, Palakkad district in Kerala has been boycotted by a local mosque committee as women of the family posed publicly for photographs during a wedding function in the family and for organizing a musical programme at the event.
The wedding reception of Abdul Hai, a native of Aloor in Thrithala, was held in an auditorium in Edappal town of Malappuram district on December 28. On Monday, a month after the wedding, Abdul’s brother Danish Riyaz in his Facebook post has alleged that Aloor Mahallu has imposed a ban on his family after the wedding. The mosque committee has penalised Danish Riyaz and his family for not only hosting a wedding reception but also letting women pose for photographs and sing at the wedding, a practice they claim went against their mosque rules.
In his Facebook post, Riyaz has alleged that Mahallu committee (mosque committee) has boycotted his family citing four reasons as women and girls posed for photographs during reception function, children were dancing on stage, a musical programme with the orchestra was organized during the function and women and girls spoke at the function using a microphone.
He further added that the Mahallu committee is yet to lift the ban despite family members apologized before the committee. Demanding the Kerala government to take a proper step in the issue, Danish said that his family respects all believes and customs of the religion and traditionally follows all decisions of the committee.
“It was my brother’s wedding party and I knew that our Mahallu has some traditional rules which are not followed in most other parts of Kerala, including in our neighbouring village. We shifted the wedding reception to Viva Palace in Edappal, Malappuram, which is nowhere close to Aloor or the mosque to avoid any conflict with the Aloor Committee,” Danish wrote in a Facebook post.
Danish added that the mosque has boycotted the family completely and has also stopped collecting monthly maintenance free from the family. Further, the family has also been disallowed from entertaining the Ustads of the mosque for lunch, a practice held every three months.
The mosque has also summoned both Danish and his brother to inform about the punishment. Disturbed by the boycott, Danish has now decided to take full responsibility for the wedding reception, stating that his family was not aware of the arrangements made for the celebrations and hence, must be exempted from it.
Meanwhile, secretary of the Mahallu Committee Azees Aloor contended that there was no ban for the family instead there was only non-cooperation from the mosque committee. “We cannot agree with the violations of the instructions regarding the wedding functions, given by the committee. The committee has its own decisions as a religious institution and we cannot change it for a single person or a family”, he said.