The Veil Holds Muslim Women Back
By Shaukat M Malik CPA • Jan 23rd, 2010 • Category: Misc, Worth A Second Look • 21 CommentsTo wear the Hijab is certainly NOT an Islamic obligation on women. It is an innovation of men suffering from a piety complex who are so weak spiritually that they just cannot trust themselves! The prophet had instructed Muslim women to use the extra cloth in their headscarves to cover their breasts. Nowhere was their any instruction to cover your face like Darth Vader.
Muslim men have cleverly exploited their interpretation of Sharia laws to limit a women’s role in Muslim countries. Laws of Hadood, the Islamic marriage contract, plus legalized polygamy, all lead to treating women as if they were living in Arabia 1,400 years ago, and had no idea about today’s world. A women believing in these interpretations will fall victim to these relgious predators and end up wearing a Hijab, when all she needs to do is to dress modestly.
The Hijab or burqa are not required by Islam. The only requirement is to dress modestly. Today in Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Middle East, Iran, Somalia, Afghanistan, Turkey and throughout the world, most Muslim women have no choice but to wear the Hijab or burqa with only thier eyes showing due to cultural and Man-made traditions.
Now, covering one’s head as is done even amongst Orthodox Jews and women in India and Pakistan that still allows them to participate in all activities is not at issue here.
It is the total Hijab and burqa as worn by many Muslim women in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere that clearly isolates them from society while also violating their rights. Essentially her divine right to breath normally and not be forced to inhale her own exhaled air, the right to work in the same environment as men, the right to run a business or pursue any profession she is qualified to pursue, the right to travel alone, the right to participate in a sport of her liking, or just exercise.
The object of the Hijab and burqa is essentially to control women. This idea may have worked in medieval times. However, in today’s world, where contribution by both sexes is essential, it ends up violating a woman’s rights.
Morality of the self and cleanliness of conscience are far better than the morality of the Hijab/veil/burqa. No goodness can come from pretence. Imposing the hijab on women is the ultimate proof that men suspect their mothers, daughters, wives and sisters of being potential traitors to them. How can Muslim men meet non-Muslim women who are not veiled and treat them respectfully, but not accord the same respectful treatment to Muslim women? This confirms the hypocrisy of Muslim male behavior reinforced by culture and selfish traditions.
I am reproducing for you translations by three renowned translators of verses in the Quran that make reference towards Hijab/covering one’s body.
These verses must be read and their meaning interpreted in the context of Arabia 1,400 years ago, when the holy prophet was alive. This was a time when girls were buried at birth and the outside world was very dangerous for a woman venturing out.
033.059
YUSUFALI: O Prophet! Tell thy wives and daughters, and the believing women, that they should cast their outer garments over their persons (when abroad): that is most convenient, that they should be known (as such) and not molested. And Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.
PICKTHAL: O Prophet! Tell thy wives and thy daughters and the women of the believers to draw their cloaks close round them (when they go abroad). That will be better, so that they may be recognized and not annoyed. Allah is ever Forgiving, Merciful.
SHAKIR: O Prophet! Say to your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers that they let down upon them their over-garments; this will be more proper, that they may be known, and thus they will not be given trouble; and Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.
24.060
YUSUFALI: Such elderly women as are past the prospect of marriage,– there is no blame on them if they lay aside their (outer) garments, provided they make not a wanton display of their beauty: but it is best for them to be modest: and Allah is One Who sees and knows all things.
PICKTHAL: As for women past childbearing, who have no hope of marriage, it is no sin for them if they discard their (outer) clothing in such a way as not to show adornment. But to refrain is better for them. Allah is Hearer, Knower.
SHAKIR: And (as for) women advanced in years who do not hope for a marriage, it is no sin for them if they put off their clothes without displaying their ornaments; and if they restrain themselves it is better for them; and Allah is Hearing, Knowing.
Verse 33. 59 of Surah Al-Ahzaab reads: “O Prophet! Tell thy wives and daughters and the believing women, that they should cast their outer garments over their persons (when outside): so that they should be known (as such) and not molested.”
According to the Quran, the reason why Muslim women should wear an outer garment when going out of their homes is that they may be recognized as “Believing” women and differentiated from streetwalkers for whom sexual harassment is an occupational hazard. The purpose of this verse was not to confine women to their homes, but to make it safe for them to go about their daily business without attracting unsavory attention.
Verse 24.60 refers to Older Muslim women who are past the prospect of marriage are not required to wear “the outer garment.” “Such elderly women as are past the prospect of marriage, there is no blame on them if they lay aside their (outer) garments, provided they make not wanton display of their beauty; but it is best for them to be modest; and Allah is One Who sees and knows all things.”
The Quran does not suggest that women should be veiled or they should be kept apart from the world of men. On the contrary, the Quran is insistent on the full participation of women in society and in the religious practices. I think Western culture has embraced the essence of the message in the Quran by according equal status to women in all matters legal and social.
Muslim women remained in mixed company with men until the late sixth century A.H. (11th century A.D.). They received guests, held meetings and went to wars to help their brothers and husbands, and they defended their castles and bastions. It is ironical to note that a Muslim women’s counterpart in Europe had none of these rights. She was part of her husband’s estate to be passed on to his heirs on his death. Similarly a Hindu woman was also considered mortally tied to her husband and was burnt alive with him in the funeral fire on the pretext of religious tradition. This practice referred to as “Sati” was mainly practiced to usurp her property rights and thankfully was abolished by the British in the 19th century.
Muslim Women living in Western Countries
Partly as a reaction to racial profiling and prejudice in the western world, especially after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and the resurgence of the Taliban and their own version of made-up Islam, and reinforced by referenda on minarets and public condemnation of Islam by leaders of democracies sworn to freedom of religion and free speech, some young men and women who were born in the West to Muslim families feel that they no longer wish to identify with the West, and that reaffirmation of their identity as Muslims requires the kind of visible sign that adoption of conservative clothing implies. For these women, the issue is not that they have to dress conservatively, but that they choose to. Some of these women will wear a total burqa with only their eyes showing. They indeed resemble the infamous throat-slitters seen on television murdering captives in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Although, Western constitutions guarantee freedom of religion, displays of religiosity by wearing the Jewish yarmulke, or the Christian cross is not encouraged.
Unlike Pakistan or India, where every woman is subjected to an “eye-exam”, in the West people are not really bothered, unless someone is wearing very little clothing. A Muslim woman by covering her head and dressing up in loose fitting clothes will hardly be noticed and can go about her business.
However, a full burqa will have the exact opposite effect on the majority population. Unfortunately, the Hijab covering the face, with each breath visible with the movement of the area covering the mouth, bears a close resemblance to the Darth Vader character of the Star Wars films. It draws unwanted attention and ignites the hatred of bigots.
In the United States, under civil liberties guaranteed by the separation of church and state, wearing a Hijab is a woman’s choice. But why stand out in a safe society?
You do not suddenly acquire good morals by putting on a Hijab. Your environment and where you live and work more or less dictates how you dress. Muslim women in the West who wear a Hijab, especially of the type worn by Darth Vader, are incorrectly and criminally identifying Islam with this crazy outfit. They are dragging Islam into the gutter of hatred. As if the throat-cutting Taliban and Lal Masjid-type mullahs have not done enough damage already. Videos of Muslim men shouting, “God is great and beheading innocent people, show them wearing the Hijab mask where only their eyes are showing. What nonsense! Do we want to project Islam as a religion where the women must hide or is a source of evil that must be enclosed inside a garment, just because Muslim men are sexually out of control?
Muslim women living in Muslim countries
For years, most progressive Muslim scholars have accused traditional and literalist interpretations of the faith on this issue. They practically propagate that it is women who alone are responsible for the lack of moral probity and modesty in society, and not men’s obsession with sex.
There have been cases in various Muslim countries where men after assaulting or raping a woman said that they did so because “she was asking for it,” meaning that not observing the veil amounted to an invitation to abuse. Such thinking unfortunately is not uncommon amongst many men in Muslim countries. While we busy ourselves in discussing the veil issue in western counties like France and secular Muslim republics like Turkey, bemoaning the discrimination faced by Muslim women there who observe the veil, we conveniently forget that in most Muslim countries like Iran, Saudi Arabia and increasingly, Pakistan, women who believe that modest dressing can be demonstrated without observing Hijab are coming under pressure.
Much of this pressure, of course, is coming from men — most of whom blame an unveiled woman for their own sinful thoughts. Yet unveiled women also face a telling pressure from the ever-increasing numbers of veiled women. This begs the question: is it really liberation that a woman feels behind a veil, or is this liberation only about freeing oneself from the thought of ever daring to challenge male-dominated interpretations of exactly how a Muslim woman should dress and behave?
It is time Muslim women stood up for their rights and refuse to wear the burqa. We can make a start in Afghanistan by teaching Afghan men to allow their women to go out without the suffocating “tent burqa” they must wear when they go out.
Many women in the tent camps of Pakistan were forced to remain inside these canvas ovens during the military offensive in Swat during the summer of 2009. Many women suffered from serious skin rashes and poor lungs because of not being able to inhale fresh air and being forced to remain inside all day in their tent jail.
We must enlighten Muslim men to be more accepting of women in the marketplace and place of work and not just think of them as a sex objects persons who are inferior and must be subdued and shown their lower status. Cultural traditions rooted in illiteracy and folklore must be uprooted and replaced by reason and enlightenment. The clergy in Afghanistan and the frontier regions of Pakistan must be re-educated to teach them the correct status of women in the holy Quran and also what women have accomplished elsewhere in today’s world in almost every field of endeavor.
Female U.S. soldiers serving in Afghanistan can play a very important role in this regard by gaining access to Afghan households in villages where they are stationed and engaging and teaching the Afghan women about their rights. They should also engage the Afghan men by sharing with them their role as combat soldiers. If nothing else, it can be hoped that this will make the Afghan think.
In conclusion, in a free society we are free to wear what we like, as long as we are cognizant of its effect on society and what message we are giving.
Muslim women should focus more on their personal and intellectual development so they are better able to cope with today’s competitive world as opposed to isolating themselves behind the Hijab shield.
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Shaukat Malik is a US trained Certified Public Accountant(CPA). He is also an entrepreneur and a business and political strategist.
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Most of Muslim countries are neglecting half of their population and that is a big blow to the overall development of Umma.
So you’re willing to show your women?
Dear Shaukat,
Are you aware of the death of Hazrat Fatima R.A daughter of the Prophet PBUH?
Do you know about the instructions she gave to her servant before her death?
Do you know who gave her ghusal after her death?
Do you know the time when her jinaza was taken out of the house?
She was the daughter of the Prophet PBUH, who do you think raised her?
Whose influence was on ther the greatest?
Search for these answers and you will get to the bottom of your misconception.
Having said that, it is every woman’s own will to chose whta she wears. Islam has never forced anyone to do somthing, everyone has the right to what he/she feels is correct.
And Only Allah Knows What’s Best.
Best Regards
IN NUMBER 3
its
Whose influence was on her the greatest?
Regards
This is a common practice of all the so called hot shots in the Muslim world that to show off their piety they pose to be in full possessiion of their women folks. It is considered as ideal that specie of women remains confined to four walls of the house and when they are let out—-should preferably be seen in a shape of a box— with only an opening left for the eyes to see.
For them women is a demon and considered to be the source of all the evils.
This phenomenon has no place in Islam. What a paradox that these nitwits are caught in?
Baig Sahib, it seems that you are afraid to show your women !!!
Check:-
http://submission.org/dress.html
Check:
“http://submission.org/dress.html”
I am not a Muslim. But i found curious is that ALL MUSLIM WOMEN who ruled like Benazir and ruling now like Sheikh haseena ,WIVES OF Syrian,turkish leaders or those Muslim women like MNAs in your country marvi memon etc all show their faces.
BUT THE BOTTOM PIT OF ANY MUSLIM COUNTRY HAVE WOMEN WHO HAVE TO WEAR FULL HIJAB AS ORDERED BY CLERICS.
Bible also says women must cover their heads as also it says one must not kill,commit adultery, steal etc etc.But christian women exercise their personal choice and NO COMPULSION. Why a Muslim women even if that is ordained in the holy tests is COMPELLED by CLERICS WHO ARE MEN?
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2,6,should not comment like that
this is realy an issue,
when you go abroad and see likely a fully exposed lady,what can you do to her?could you be able to harass her? NO
Purpose is to make the thoughts Modest and intellectualy both sexes should go side by side,
Implement Sharia in case of Age specified for marriage,the problem is no more…………
Plz dont think like that,if some one,s lady is exposed to you,you can also believe her as your mother,sister or daughter instead of allowing your inner Evil to dominate your positive thoughts……..
The trouble with the Muslim world is that we still languish in the Middle Ages. It’s just turned 1431 on our clanader, for crying out loud. We are still stuck up in the primitive mind-set where we can not dare to think beyond the strictures implied in our scriptures. We still have not emancipated ourselves from the child-like magical thinking and supernatural superstitions that the bulk of the Christian West started getting rid off a few centuries earlier and, by the 20th century, they had largely unemcumbered itself from. All this nonsesnse about what is or is not permissible in this or that script should be largly irrelevent in this day and age.
Not until we get to that point will we be in any position to start recognizing the REAL issues (as opposed to IMAGINARY ones) that face us collectively.
…SR
I found the following article in SPEIGEL concerning the burqa with BLUE TOOTH.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,537517,00.html
Well!
Yes i’m afraid to show my women. It’s because I have knowledge about the hijab. I fear ALLAH’s wrath. I fear that taking the commandments of RasooluLLAH (saw) lightly will make me a disbeliever. I fear to even think that I’m more pious than RasooluLLAH (saw) or his Sahaba (ra). So I don’t want to cross the line. If Hijab is made mendatory to us, we have to follow it,period. It’s the logic of faith.
If you’re happy that your women are strip searched at the US airports… well, I can’t force you but that’s what the “free society” is doing to you. You may close your eyes and look elsewhere but the other person may not!
It may raise a few eye brows but to me the writer of this article is in complete disarray, conjuring up baseless theories about the veil’s scientific and health hazards. Quoting out of context verses from Al-Quran, and well, to put it simply, wasting his time and ours writing an article about something that he should have left to more learned people.
The word for Woman in arabic is “Imrah”, it’s plural is Nisa. “Aurat” in arabic means something “hidden”. So by definition, woman IS something to be hidden. Putting something at its proper place is not degrading, it’s apt!
And in any case, the ONLY difference between all the Muslim sects is whether or not the fact should be covered. That’s it. This difference in no way means that the Ummah is divided on the question of Hijab. It’s not! No proper aalim will say that this small difference allows the women to show off their beauty the way they are showing to non-mehram people.
FARAZ BEG:
I think you would be happier living in Saudi Arabia where you need not show your face in public.
I challenge you to spend a day inside the tent Burqa or Hijab. When you cover your face you are blocking the amount of air that enters your mouth and nose. This is simple common sense.
If youstill like to wear it, Please wear it all the time but stop connecting it to the holy prophet and an obligation.
In Pakistan Burqa was worn for cultural and not religious reasons. Mohtaramh Fatima Jinnah, Mrs Liaqat ali Khan and other prominent women did not wear a hijab. My Mother who was a baloch wore the Burqa with the face showing when she went back to her village in Mianwalli. This was purely because of the Pathan/Baloch culture of people who had settled in that area, It partly comes from the Nomadic lifestyle of Baloch traders who would live in tent during their journeys. It had nothing to do with her Muslim faith.. She always taught me that Sharam is in the eyes.
All robbers, and Terrorists wear the kind of Hijab worn by our Lal Masjid women. The Lal Masjid woment indeed look like angels of death.
When I was growing up in pre-Islamization Pakistan in the 60’s and early 70’s Burqa was worn by prostittutes to hide their identity when hanging out with clients in public.
The Hijab is an import from the Middle East along with the Madrassas and the angry mullahs funded by Saudi money. The veil does help a man with two, three or four wives to hide their identity because someone will think the other two or three are his daughters. Stop treating women like sheep
Please stop referring to Arabic words to impress us with faith-based arguments.
We are Pakistanis; we are not Arabs. Taliban and their supporters the Mullahs want to take us back 1400 years and subtract all that we have learned since the time of our Holy Prophet (peace be upon him). As Pakistanis we have a history that is rich in culture and traditions. We are blessed with music, poetry art and a faith that needs no intermediaries. The beauty of Islam is that you have a direct relationship with God and he knows what you are about.
A small minority of Mullah’s and Taliban are holding 170 million Pakistanis hostage, whose future is being hijacked by God’s self-appointed dispensers of justice on earth. Who has given them this right? The Taliban and the Islamic parties are falsely using the ideology behind the creation of Pakistan as a separate homeland for the Muslims to impose Sharia law on Pakistan and grab power like their counterparts elsewhere. Like the Ten Commandments, Sharia laws were never intended by God to violate human rights. Any interpretation that does so runs contrary to divine human rights given to us by God.
Pakistan’s founding father was a modern man who believed in a secular Islamic set up along the same lines as Kamal Ataturk of Turkey. It is ironic to imagine that if Quaid-i-Azam were alive today, the Taliban for not being a good Muslim would have flogged him. His first crime would have been having his sister Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah alongside him without a “Burka”. Quaid-i-Azam was not supported by the mullahs and is not held in high esteem by them. You will never hear the Jamat-e-Islami or the Taliban refer to him while supporting their call for “Sharia”. They are fully aware of Quaid-i-Azam’s views. I would not put it past our Mullahs to destroy the Quaid’s mausoleum.
On innumerable occasions the founding father of Pakistan Quaid-i-Azam had affirmed his faith in democracy. It will suffice to quote from his broadcast to the USA in February 1948. ” Islam and its idealism have taught us democracy. It has taught us equality of man, justice and fair play to everybody. We are the inheritors to these glorious traditions and are fully alive to our responsibilities and obligations as framers of the future constitution of Pakistan. In any case Pakistan is not going to be a theocratic state –to be ruled by priests with a divine mission. We have many non-Muslims–Hindus, Christians and Parsis–but they are all Pakistanis. They will enjoy the same rights and privileges as any other citizens and will play their rightful role in the affairs of Pakistan.
Bangla Desh today passed a law where religious parties cannot contest elections on the basis of their religious agenda–read taking a country back 1400 years.
We should do the same in Pakistan by folloewing our smart Bengali brothers
Pakistan’s political parties must take the lead and reclaim Pakistan from the clutches of religious vultures. PPP must organize all parties to join them in Pakistan’s war against these looters hiding behind “Sharia’s Burka”. If we do not do this, all will be lost.
I
People,
The buraq,hijab,niqab is very much worn by women when they go to public places i.e., to the local market. This is essentially to cover their ezaat and protect them from unwanted attention of men (we all know men have no shame in staring esp. in the south asian countries).
Its about respecting yourself and adab. The women that have the strenght to do this are commendable and we should’nt tell them to take it off/wear it. Let them be happy as is.
If we abolished Sharia and Hadoood laws Burqa would automatically go away.
oh yes the veil holds the women back …. mayb the writer of this article forgot to mention about those women who dance on polls doing double dice 360’s without any clothes on … but thats not important cause thats called freedom …. the writer is an absolute JAHILL and has no knowledge of Islam and should do what he is best at doing which is trying to imitate the white man… it seems u r in a state of inferiority complex… well i dont blame u cause when i lived in the UK i saw alot of pakistanis in the same shoes as u… too bad they all ended up working up at kfc .. xD … support the kuffar as much as u want but to the kuffar u r nothing but a PAKI
@pisces - The writer was not talking about “women who dance on poles” but about Muslim women in Muslim countries. Why are you thinking about women who dance on poles? I disagree, the writer does have a very good knowledge of Islam as I do and he does not even mention “the kuffar”, as you so insultingly call them. You really do have a chip on your shoulder a mile wide. By your tone, you must be a very angry insecure man. Try wearing around in a burqa all day every day, walking, eating, working - never being able to take it off; then tell me how much you like it. Why don’t you start treating women like intelligent human beings and looking at them as people instead of objects?
@faraz baig, thank you for defending true islam
@others who think hijab/burqa/niqab is not part of islam should ask me about the evidence that it is totally islamic. there are huge ahadith about them , i will post it if some one is willing to know .
@Darakhshanda
you said “Mohtaramh Fatima Jinnah, Mrs Liaqat ali Khan and other prominent women did not wear a hijab”
well .. aisha(r.a) did wear hijab.(again i have proof , ask me), now choose whom to follow.
you said “All robbers, and Terrorists wear the kind of Hijab worn by our Lal Masjid women. The Lal Masjid woment indeed look like angels of death.”
if that is logical reason for not wearing hijab, then referring to statistics, most of prostitutes are not wearing hijab, then what?
you said “As Pakistanis we have a history that is rich in culture and traditions. We are blessed with music, poetry art and a faith that needs no intermediaries. The beauty of Islam is that you have a direct relationship with God and he knows what you are about.”
yes you are right ALLAH is watching you, your music and your culture, yes it is very modest and ALLAh is very pleased with your culture, do you agree? what is our culture, dance to the music, combine mix parties of boys and girls, ,,, hold it before you say what is wrong in that, and think wither islam allows this kind of culture.
you said “Pakistan’s founding father was a modern man who believed in a secular Islamic set up along the same lines as Kamal Ataturk of Turkey.”
SECULAR ISLAM, i guess you want to change the islam with secular islam, OMG, repent now
you said ” Pakistan’s political parties must take the lead and reclaim Pakistan from the clutches of religious vultures. PPP must organize all parties to join them in Pakistan’s war against these looters hiding behind “Sharia’s Burka”. If we do not do this, all will be lost.”
lol so now PPP the most corrupt cult will bring the true islam, well refer to statistics, they are just cheaters and thieves,
and again i say any one intrested in the evidence from ahadith about hijab, can ask me…