Screengrab from video | Photo Credit: Times Now

Kozhikode: A controversy related to azaan, the ritual call to prayer in Islam, has erupted in Kerala. As part of this year’s Kerala Schools Art Festival, a play was presented in the Kozhikode district on November 24, calling for Muslim women’s right to participate in religious rituals.

The play narrates the story of a girl, who dreams of calling out the azaan, which is normally done by a muezzin or male mukri. Called ‘Kithab’, the play was presented by students of Memunda Higher Secondary School, Kozhikode, at Vadakara.

In the drama, a girl, who plays the role of the daughter of a mukri, says she wants to perform azaan like her father. He rejects the idea at first but later permits her to do so.

Albeit the drama, which was an adaptation of writer R Unni’s short story "Vaang", won prizes at the sub-district level, yet it infuriated many Muslim organisations. The protesters said the play "insults the Muslim way of life".

Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) activists protested at the festival venue, calling the play as an insult to the Muslim way of life.

However, a cleric, named Haji Mohammad Salish, said, “Organisations like SDPI should be banned in India. This is a secular country. Our Constitution has given the right to practise religion freely. If a girl has performed azaan in a play, it is not against Islam. Does this SDPI want this country to become an Islamist state? India will always remain as a secular country.”