Gachsaran’s Friday imam has spoken out against women riding horses following the 2015 Mashk and Malar Game Festival, which took place on May 28 and 29.
As the website Rostaha.ir reported, women took part in popular horse-riding events as part of the games, hosted by a number of villages across the county.
But Aminollah Hejazi, the county’s Friday imam, objected to the events, saying that they encouraged women to dress inappropriately and ignore Islamic rules on “proper hejab.”
“Public money should not be spent on religiously forbidden ceremonies,” Hejazi said. “Currently, some of these funds are spent toward women riding horses while not covered properly. The organization of these festivals should be revised.”
The Kebna news website said that clerics from Kohgiluyeh and Boyer Ahmad province met with the deputy of the Ministry of the Interior for Clerical Affairs to discuss the festival. “All facilities required for fighting the infiltration of our enemies should be ready,” Hejazi told officials. “We should not allow any gathering in which bad hejab is promoted."
But, according to local authorities, these types of festivals were organized to “cultivate and promote traditional sports and local games and to increase sympathy and solidarity among people.”
The governor general of the provinces of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer Ahmad and Gachsaran attended the closing ceremony in the village of Sarabnazir on May 29, along with the member of parliament for Basht.
Hejazi also spoke out against live music at the event. "With the support of the government, the member of parliament and certain provincial authorities, this festival is held in an air of jubilation with music being played. Such gatherings are religiously forbidden because people become oblivious of God.”
The Mashk and Malar Game Festival takes its name from the sheepskin bag used for making the popular Iranian yogurt drink doogh (mashk) and the stand made out of twigs that holds the bag (malar).
Read the original article in Persian
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