On Sunday evening, 13th September, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim met Kerala’s Islamic cleric Kanthapuram A.P. Aboobacker Musliyar in Kozhikode. The meeting comes days after the cleric said women should remain within their homes and stay away from public life.
Anwar met Aboobacker Musliyar at the Markaz campus in Karanthur during his five-day visit to India. The Malaysian prime minister had arrived in India after attending the BRICS Summit in New Delhi and reached the Markaz campus at around 5.40 pm.
He was welcomed by Markaz working secretary Dr Mohammed Abdul Hakeem Azhari, secretary C Mohammed Faizy and others before holding discussions with Aboobacker Musliyar.
The talks covered cooperation in education, culture and academic activities. They also included discussions on educational exchange programmes between Markaz and Malaysian higher education institutions, as well as the welfare of the Indian community in Malaysia.
At a reception at the Markaz Convention Centre, Anwar received the Excellence Award instituted by the Sheikh Abubakar Foundation. Aboobacker Musliyar also presented him with a handwritten manuscript of Sahih al-Bukhari, the well-known collection of Hadith. The manuscript was given in recognition of international Hadith recitation gatherings organised under a Malaysian government initiative over the past three years.
What Aboobacker Musliyar said about women
The meeting comes shortly after Aboobacker Musliyar, Kerala’s grand mufti, made remarks about women’s role in public life at the Hubbul Rasool conference in Kochi.
He said women should stay within their homes and should not enter the public sphere. He said the Quran directs women not to enter public life and described the Islamic purdah system as a way of protecting women and preserving their dignity.
The cleric used the example of gold jewellery to explain his position. He said a valuable gold necklace is kept safely inside a box because leaving it outside could affect its beauty and value. He compared this with women and argued that they should similarly be protected from the public sphere.
He also warned that bringing women into public life could lead to “great destruction”.
Aboobacker Musliyar said religious scholars, particularly the Samastha Kerala Jamiyyathul Ulama, had followed this position for around 100 years. At the same time, he said Islam had improved the status of women by ending practices such as female infanticide and giving women property and inheritance rights.
Defending his right to make such statements, he said religious scholars have a duty to explain Islamic teachings. He is the general secretary of both the All-India Sunni Jamiyyathul Ulama and the Samastha Kerala Jamiyyathul Ulama.
Malaysia and Zakir Naik
Anwar’s meeting with Kanthapuram also brings attention to Malaysia’s earlier decision to provide refuge to another controversial Islamic preacher from India, Zakir Naik.
Naik has been living in Malaysia as a permanent resident since moving there in 2016, after Indian authorities began investigations into him and organisations linked to him, including the Islamic Research Foundation and Peace TV. He remains wanted in India in connection with money laundering and hate speech charges.
India has formally sought his extradition. Malaysia, however, has said it would cooperate through established legal channels if concrete and credible evidence is provided. Interpol had earlier declined to issue a Red Notice against Naik, citing insufficient evidence.
Naik has also faced controversy inside Malaysia. In 2019, he came under strong political and public criticism after making remarks about Malaysia’s ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities that were seen as racially sensitive. He later apologised to Malaysians, and Malaysian authorities temporarily barred him from public speaking in several states.
Anwar’s meeting with Aboobacker Musliyar therefore comes against the wider backdrop of Malaysia’s engagement with prominent Islamic figures, while the Kerala cleric’s recent comments on women have also drawn attention.
