Thiruvananthapuram, Sept. 1 -- A prominent Muslim cleric in Keralam has drawn criticism after exhorting women to remain confined to their homes and claiming that their entry into the public sphere would "lead to destruction".

The controversial remarks were made on Sunday by 95-year-old Kanthapuram AP Aboobacker Musaliyar, general secretary of the AP faction of the Samastha Kerala Jem-iyyathul Ulama, a prominent body of Sunni Muslim clerics in the state, at an Islamic conference in Kochi.

"If women enter the public sphere, it will lead to destruction. To avoid this, Islam instituted the concept of 'purdah'. The holy Quran states that women must remain confined inside their homes and avoid coming out in public. It was the right decision,"...