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Patna, Bihar, India
Born and brought up in Shillong, Meghalaya.

Monday, December 12, 2011

An encounter with girl students in naqab at Patna Museum

By Mudassir Rizwan, TwoCircles.net,


Patna: The scene was very impressive but rare. Dozens of young Muslim girl students of a private school, in a naqab-like school uniform, were curiously looking at antiques at Patna Museum on Friday. Keeping Islamic dress rule close to their chest, they had ventured out on an educational tour to see the outer world – to have a close encounter with history and present.





“We are here to see old historic items, and learn lessons,” said Darakhshan Javed, VIIIth class student of Hazrat Ali Academy, a prominent Muslim private school in Muzaffarpur.







My next question obviously was about her naqab. Don’t you feel odd or face any difficulty when you come out in naqab? “Not at all. I don’t feel odd. This is our tehzeeb (culture) and a best means to keep ourselves from the evils of the society,” said a confident Darakhshan whose ambition is to become an engineer.





Marwa Iba of Class IX sounded equally confident about her dress. “I feel good when I come out in naqab. I feel safe from bad eyes. As most of women today do not wear naqab, so people think it is bad. In fact, it’s good,” said Iba. She wants to become a doctor.





About 30 students of Classes VIII, IX and X had come along with their teachers in the school bus. Besides Patna Museum, they visited Indira Gandhi Planetarium (popularly known as Tara Mandal) and Sanjay Gandhi Botanical and Zoological Garden (Zoo).





Highlighting the purpose of the visit, their principal Mr. Ehraz Ahmed said: “Quran asks us to move on earth and learn lessons from the fate of past nations and history. It is in our curriculum to take out students on educational tour of historic places so that our children could see the wider world.”