India Today

The purdah of the mind

Gandhi's words are as true today: The outward purdah is bad enough; what is worse is the purdah of minds.

Born a Muslim and raised a momin, a believer, I am struck each time people link deen or faith with externals-be it beard or burqa. I am struck also by our pro­p­e­nsity to not want a debate on anything that questions this entirely specious link between true faith and the observance of certain practices. Is it, I ask myself,

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