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Mirza in Trouble With Muslims Again

I love the complete lack of context here by protesters.  The girl was just trying to help out at an AIDS prevention thing (an admirable choice) and mumbled some vague words about sex.  She's just turned 19 and is still new to her role as a public speaker.  Obviously there was no intent to "corrupt Muslim youth." 

It does, however, sound as if the media are exaggerating the intensity of the protests a bit - just enjoying stirring up controversy.

From the AP:  Tennis star under fire

Indian tennis star Sania Mirza insists she opposes premarital sex, a statement that came as crowds burned effigies of the 19-year-old Muslim over her earlier remarks advocating safe sex.

Mirza already has been criticized for her tennis clothing, usually a short skirt and midriff-revealing T-shirt. Sections of orthodox Muslim clergy say she is leading astray young Muslims, especially girls.

"I would like to clearly say on record that I could not possibly justify premarital sex, as it is a very big sin in Islam and one which I believe will not be forgiven by Allah," Mirza said Friday.

The protests were triggered by her remarks at a leadership summit earlier this week in New Delhi.

"So there are two issues here, safe sex and sex before marriage," she said. "You don't want me to tell you that you have safe sex, whether it is before or after marriage. Everyone must know what he or she is doing."

Her statement angered Muslim clergy.

"If she has said these things, she would have nothing to do with Islam," Haseeb Hasan Siddiqui of the Sunni Ulema [religious leaders] Board was quoted as saying by the Pioneer newspaper.

Earlier in the day, small groups of protesters from the student wings of mainstream Hindu nationalist political parties demonstrated and burned paper effigies of her in Hyderabad and three other towns.

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