The Prime Minister has joined ranks with scores of others who have taken apart Shafi for his sermons.
“I’ve heard Allama Shafi’s statement in TV couple of times. I believe, what he said is terribly disgusting and distasteful,” she said at a programme at the Ganabhaban on Saturday.
Hasina observed women had been granted highest rights and independence in Islam.
“What he (Shafi) said about women was very dirty and despicable,” Hasina said.
Various quarters flayed Shafi after the video clip of his sermon at Hathazari circulated on social websites.
The Hifazat chief forbade women's education and suggested confining them within the four walls.
Critics alleged Shafi’s statements about women were outright offensive.
Hasina said women’s dress would depend on place, time and situation and none have the right to dictate that.
“Doesn’t he have a mother, sister, wife? We have to defend the honour of our mothers-sisters-wives.”
The Hifazat chief has opposed the National Women Policy, including education and employment of women, and what he describes as 'public mixing of sexes'.
Shafi, Director General of Hathazari Madrasa, had spoken for controls on what women wear, insisting they should stay within four walls and take care of children.
He also lashed out at birth control measures.
The Prime Minister shot back at Shafi with examples from the history of Islam.
“Islam is the religion of peace. Bibi Khadiza is the first person to accept Islam, because no one else was brave enough to do so. Shafi should have kept it in mind.”
“Even Islam’s first martyr was a woman – Bibi Sumaiya.”
Hasina also criticised the BNP for patronising the Hifazat.
“The Opposition Leader held a rally on May 4 and served me a
. She had warned that I won’t find an escape route. And the following day, Hifazat carried out a siege of Dhaka," Hasina said.
“We did not oppose so long as they (Hifazat) wanted to protest peacefully. They held their programme at the Shapla Chattar. But then they set fire inside the Baitul Mukarram, prayer mats were
."
“But she (BNP chief Khaleda Zia) did not protest the incident, none did,” Hasina said.
She said the Jamaat-e-Islami student front Islami Chhatra Shibir was involved in the attacks on the national mosque.
“On May 5, hundreds of Holy
down in front of the Baitul Mukarram. I don’t know of another instance in the history of Islam where so many Qurans were burnt to ashes."
“Hifazat, Jamaat and Shibir’s henchmen had done it. Everything was telecast live on TV. The hawkers were crying and begged, asking the attackers not to destroy their livelihood,” the Prime Minister said.
Hasina said how can anyone expect protection of Islam from those who burn Quran in such large numbers.
“How are they supposed to protect the religion, when they showed contempt for it?”
Hifazat-e Islam means the ‘protectorate of Islam’.
She also talked about the
surrounding the Hifazat rally at Motijheel.
“And now, Shafi is so dirty talking about women. Was he not born from the womb of a woman? Doesn’t he have a wife? Will he not keep their honour?” Hasina went on asking.
“His (Shafi) mouth is watered [whenever he sees a woman]. I have nothing to say if his mouth is watered thinking of the female leader (Khaleda) he used to sit by,” she said in a slanted remark to her arch political rival Khaleda Zia.
Hasina hoped the women of the country will protest against the ‘sexist’ statements of the Hifazat chief.
“The people will decide who’ll be in power. There’s nothing to say on the people’s choice," she said, but called upon the people to weigh the realities.
Hasina said she and her party colleagues believed in decent dressing but added that a woman's clothes depends on place, time and situation and none have the right to dictate that.
She said it depends more on the climate. "If I wore winter clothes here and summer clothes in a cold country, it won't do. Where sandstorms are common, there has to be system to cover faces."
She said she had observed the Hajj many times and found covering heads with clothes were enough. “What we want is that everyone will behave decently,” Hasina said.
Hasina alleged that Jamaat-e-Islami uses its female activists in running propagandas.
Chittagong-based Hifazat came into limelight barely five months ago when it first announced a "Long March" to counter the Ganajagaran Mancha, which was pressing for maximum penalty for convicted war criminals.
On Mar 6, the group presented its 13-point charter of demand from a rally in Motijheel.
One of its demands was "prohibiting all imprudence, misconduct, adultery, unrestrained public mixing of men and women, lighting of candles in the name of individual rights and freedom of speech."
