Adil Najam
According to a news item in The News, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is going to implement a ban on growing beards – except for French beards – on all male cabin crew:
In a recent notification, PIA administration has announced to have reviewed its policy regarding beards, and said now male cabin crew could not grow beards and they could only have French-cut beards.
Not surprisingly, religious scholars and ulema condemned PIA for this, calling the ban a violation of constitutional and fundamental human rights. Whether this is or is not the most important constitutional violation of our age, the ulema are, in fact, right.
Unless there is a sound technical reason for it (and there seems not to be), forcing someone to take off their beard is deserving of condemnation as much as forcing someone to grow a beard. Especially if either of the act is ideologically motivated; no matter what the ideology. Of course, forcing someone to grow a beard on threat of death or violence is particularly disturbing. But, frankly, a threat to one’s livelihood is also reprehensible.
Right now, I myself do not have a beard. And that is not an ideological statement one way or the other. But my own position remains unchanged from October 2006 when I had commented on facial hair for cricketers:
By way of disclosure I should add that I occasionally sprout facial hair of my own but am mostly clean-shaven. But as a deep and committed adherent of people’s right of expression (how can a blogger not be that!) I stand committed to defend people’s right to facial hair, whether they are grown for stylistic elegance or religious expression.
More pertinent was the June 2006 decision by Habib Bank to ban shalwar kameez and facial hair (by the way, can someone please confirm if that policy was ever implemented). In that case the issue had focused more on the wearing of shalwar kameez to work and the argument that this somehow made the person look less “trustworthy” and less “presentable.” Facial hair were also targeted for the same reason. On the issue of beards, trustworthiness and presentability, my argument was rather simple:
Dr. Abdus Salam? Abdul Sattar Edhi? Sir Syed Ahmed Khan?
Presentable? You bet.
Trustworthy? More than any banker I ever met.
As a rather frequent traveler on PIA – in fact, I read this news item on a PIA plane retruning from Karachi to Islamabad, and one of the cabin staff was supporting a huge beard – I too have noticed that the number of crew members with facial hair, especially large beards, has increased dramatically over the years. But that is a factor of what has been happening in society. PIA has plenty of big problems to deal with, and this seems to be the least of them.
At least in my experience, the quality of service one gets is not at all dependent on the amount of facial hair. Maybe the management should focus on that before it starts following the example of the Swat Taliban in judging people by the length of their facial hair (or not)!
I have a beard myself..a proper one mind you albeit it quite neat….
PIA’s ban on the beard is wrong…ie, if the beard is not causing for whatever reason an operational hazard….and is not violating the laws of the land…which they arent…then this ban is wrong and sends out a message which isn’t helpful especially in the context of the Pakistani mentality right now…
even if PIA has an argument to make…however flimsy it was…the Pakistani public mind in it’s current confused state does not have the capacity to understand it….think about it and THEN say thanks but no thanks…..! hence this was a bad idea by PIA to begin with…
On the other hand….I loathe myself for defending the rights of the damn mullah here…
I feel sick for having to defend the rights of those who would gladly butcher me for wearing my shalwar below my ankle
but the difference between most of us here on this forum and the bearded animal Mullah is Thus:
measured reason….rational thought…respect for the other’s beliefs….versus…blood lust that would put a great white shark to shame!!
Rightly or wrongly – bearded religious men be they orthodox Jewish, Muslim, Hindu or Sikh don’t inspire much confidence in the common folk if they are at the helm of the plane… for obvious reasons. Anyone who would alter their appearance for the sake of faith is likely to be a victim of magical thinking… magical thinking can and would mean that the person’s faculties of rational thought are severely impaired or can be severely impaired. I wouldn’t want to fly in an airline with beardoes anymore than I would want to see them part of a country’s nuclear programme.
In so far as the issue of wearing Shalwar Qameezes to work in Habib Bank is concerned, frankly unless worn with a Sherwani, Shalwar Qameez looks like a sleeping suit… just like one does not allow denim or Jeans to work… one cannot allow Shalwar Qameezes. Sherwanis on the other hand were quite common till recently and look plenty formal.
Frankly if Adil Najam’s concern is simply the freedom to act or dress or wear facial hair as one pleases, this freedom should apply across the board… how about the right of our Pakistani sisters to wear the miniskirt to work? What about allowing Bikinis on the beach?
And if this is about culture… then the bans Adil Najam is fuming against is about corporate culture. So let’s drop it shall we?
On my previous comments, let me repeat that what PIA has done is wrong, just on human basis. Nothing to do with Islam, its just discrimination.
I wish there were only a few mullahs who would defend the rights of other humans as so many of us so-called ‘liberal seculars’ are defending their right to keep unruly beards!
Growing a beard is NOT a requirement in Islam. Nowhere is it a requirement.
Allah may reward but will certainly not punish those who do not have beards. But certainly Allah will burn in the deepest hell the mullahs who have been destroying schools, killing innocent barbers and tailors, and hanging innocents on trees in Allah’s name. Clearly it is they who have sinned most against Allah and against Pakistan.
Since several comments here suggest that growing a beard is an Islamic requirement, could someone please tell us what is the prescribed length and breadth of an Islamic beard, if there is any?