Let's Burn The Burqa-----Belief that Quran prescibes Burqa

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Let's Burn The Burqa
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The Quran does prescribe purdah. That doesn't mean women should obey it.

TASLIMA NASRIN

http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20070122&fname=Col+Taslima+%28F%29&sid=1&pn=1

My mother used purdah. She wore a burqa with a net cover in front of the face. It reminded me of the meatsafes in my grandmother's house. One had a net door made of cloth, the other of metal. But the objective was the same: keeping the meat safe. My mother was put under a burqa by her conservative family. They told her that wearing a burqa would meantrobeying Allah. And if you obey Allah, He would be happy with you and not let you burn in hellfire. My mother was afraid of Allah and also of her own father. He would threaten her with grave consequences if she didn't wear the burqa.

She was also afraid of the men in the neighbourhood, who could have shamed her. Even her husband was a source of fear, for he could do anything to her if she disobeyed him. As a young girl, I used to nag her: Ma, don't you suffocate in this veil? Don't you feel all dark inside? Don't you feel breathless? Don't you feel angry? Don't you ever feel like throwing it off? My mother kept mum. She couldn't do anything about it. But I did. When I was sixteen, I was presented a burqa by one of my relatives. I threw it away.

The custom of purdah is not new. It dates back to 300 BC. The women of aristocratic Assyrian families used purdah. Ordinary women and prostitutes were not allowed purdah. In the middle ages, even Anglo-Saxon women used to cover their hair and chin and hide their faces behind a cloth or similar object. This purdah system was obviously not religious. The religious purdah is used by Catholic nuns and Mormons, though for the latter only during religious ceremonies and rituals. For Muslim women, however, such religious purdah is not limited to specific rituals but mandatory for their daily life outside the purview of religion.

A couple of months ago, at the height of the purdah controversy, Shabana Azmi asserted that the Quran doesn't say anything about wearing the burqa. She's mistaken. This is what the Quran says:

"Tell the faithful women that they must keep their gaze focused below/on the ground and cover their sexual organs. They must not put their beauty and their jewellery on display. They must hide their breasts behind a purdah. They must not exhibit their beauty to anybody except their husbands, brothers, nephews, womenfolk, servants, eunuch employees and children. They must not move their legs briskly while walking because then much of their bodies can get exposed." (Sura Al Noor 24:31)

"Oh nabi, please tell your wives and daughters and faithful women to wear a covering dress on their bodies. That would be good. Then nobody can recognise them and harrass them. Allah is merciful and kind." (Sura Al Hijaab 33: 59)

Even the Hadis�a collection of the words of Prophet Mohammed, his opinion on various subjects and also about his work, written by those close to him�talks extensively of the purdah for women. Women must cover their whole body before going out, they should not go before unknown men, they should not go to the mosque to read the namaaz, they should not go for any funeral.

There are many views on why and how the Islamic purdah started. One view has it that Prophet Mohammed became very poor after spending all the wealth of his first wife. At that time, in Arabia, the poor had to go to the open desert and plains for relieving themselves and even their sexual needs. The Prophet's wives too had to do the same. He had told his wives that "I give you permission to go out and carry out your natural work". (Bukhari Hadis first volume book 4 No. 149). And this is what his wives started doing accordingly. One day, Prophet Mohammed's disciple Uman complained to him that these women were very uncomfortable because they were instantly recognisable while relieving themselves.

Umar proposed a cover but Prophet Mohammed ignored it. Then the Prophet asked Allah for advice and he laid down the Ayat (33:59) (Bukhari Hadis Book 026 No. 5397).
This is the history of the purdah, according to the Hadis. But the question is: since Arab men too relieved themselves in the open, why didn't Allah start the purdah for men? Clearly, Allah doesn't treat men and women as equals, else there would be purdah for both! Men are higher than women. So women have to be made walking prisons and men can remain free birds.
Another view is that the purdah was introduced to separate women from servants. This originates from stories in the Hadis. One story in the Bukhari Hadis goes thus: After winning the Khyber War, Prophet Mohammed took over all the properties of the enemy, including their women. One of these women was called Safia. One of the Prophet's disciples sought to know her status. He replied: "If tomorrow you see that Safia is going around covered, under purdah, then she is going to be a wife. If you see her uncovered, that means I've decided to make her my servant."
The third view comes from this story. Prophet Mohammed's wife Ayesha was very beautiful. His friends were often found staring at her with fascination. This clearly upset the Prophet. So the Quran has an Ayat that says, "Oh friends of the prophet or holy men, never go to your friend's house without an invitation. And if you do go, don't go and ask anything of their wives". It is to resist the greedy eyes of friends, disciples or male guests that the purdah system came into being. First it was applicable to only the wives of the holy men, and later it was extended to all Muslim women. Purdah means covering the entire body except for the eyes, wrist and feet. Nowadays, some women practise the purdah by only covering their hair. That is not what is written in the Hadis Quran. Frankly, covering just the hair is not Islamic purdah in the strict sense.
In the early Islamic period, Prophet Mohammed started the practice of covering the feet of women. Within 100 years of his death, purdah spread across the entire Middle East. Women were covered by an extra layer of clothing. They were forbidden to go out of the house, or in front of unknown men. Their lives were hemmed into a tight regime: stay at home, cook, clean the house, bear children and bring them up. In this way, one section of the people was separated by purdah, quarantined and covered.
Why are women covered? Because they are sex objects. Because when men see them, they are roused. Why should women have to be penalised for men's sexual problems? Even women have sexual urges. But men are not covered for that. In no religion formulated by men are women considered to have a separate existence, or as human beings having desires and opinions separate from men's. The purdah rules humiliate not only women but men too. If women walk about without purdah, it's as if men will look at them with lustful eyes, or pounce on them, or rape them. Do they lose all their senses when they see any woman without burqa?
My question to Shabana and her supporters, who argue that the Quran says nothing about purdah is: If the Quran advises women to use purdah, should they do so? My answer is, No. Irrespective of which book says it, which person advises, whoever commands, women should not have purdah. No veil, no chador, no hijab, no burqa, no headscarf. Women should not use any of these things because all these are instruments of disrespect.
These are symbols of women's oppression. Through them, women are told that they are but the property of men, objects for their use. These coverings are used to keep women passive and submissive. Women are told to wear them so that they cannot exist with their self-respect, honour, confidence, separate identity, own opinion and ideals intact. So that they cannot stand on their own two feet and live with their head held high and their spine strong and erect.
Some 1,500 years ago, it was decided for an individual's personal reasons that women should have purdah and since then millions of Muslim women all over the world have had to suffer it. So many old customs have died a natural death, but not purdah. Instead, of late, there has been a mad craze to revive it. Covering a woman's head means covering her brain and ensuring that it doesn't work. If women's brains worked properly, they'd have long ago thrown off these veils and burqas imposed on them by a religious and patriarchal regime.
What should women do? They should protest against this discrimination. They should proclaim a war against the wrongs and ill-treatment meted out to them for hundreds of years. They should snatch from the men their freedom and their rights. They should throw away this apparel of discrimination and burn their burqas.
(Nasrin from Bangladeshi, currently living in Calcutta)

[Dr. Shabbir]

Women like Taslima are disenchanted with N2I. Unfortunately, they do not have the true picture.

The Quran does NOT prescribe a burqa or purdah at all.

24:31 And tell the believing women to lower their gaze, and guard their modesty. That they should not display their beauty and ornament beyond what is decently and spontaneously apparent in daily lives. Hence, let them cover their bosoms with their sash (Dupatta, a light covering). And let them not display their beauty in the presence of anyone other than their husbands or fathers or husbands’ fathers, or their sons or their husbands’ sons, or their brothers, or their brothers’ sons or sisters’ sons, or their womenfolk, or their close dependents and attendants free of sexual desires. Or children who know nothing of women’s privacy; and they should not strike their feet so as to reveal their hidden beauty and ornaments. And, turn to Allah together, O Believers, in order that you may succeed (in establishing a benevolent society 33:59).

33:59 O Prophet! Tell your wives, your daughters, and women of the believers that they should draw loose fitting garments over their person (when in public). This is easy and proper, so that they may be recognized and not bothered. Allah is Absolver of imperfections, Merciful. (24:31)


THE WORD KHIMAAR IN THE QUR'AN: "Khimaar" is an Arabic word that can be found in the Qur'an 24:31. Dress Code For Women can be found in 24:31. Some Muslims quote verse 31 of Surah 24 as containing the Hijab, or head cover by pointing to the word, khomoorehenna, (from Khimaar), forgetting that God already used the word Hijab, several times in the Qur'an. Those blessed by God can see that the use of the word "Khimaar" in this verse is not for "Hijab" or for head cover. Those who quote this verse usually add (Head cover or veil) after the word Khomoorehenna, and usually between ( ), because it is their addition to the verse, not God's.

Most of the translators, obviously influenced by Hadith (fabrications) translate the word as VEIL and thus mislead people to believe that this verse is advocating the covering of the head.

In 24:31, God is asking the women to use their cover (khimaar, being a dress, a coat, a shawl, a shirt, a blouse, a tie, a scarf . . . etc.) to cover their bosoms, not their heads or their hair. If God willed to order the women to cover their heads or their hair, He would have simply said, "Cover your hair." God is neither vague nor forgetful! God does not run out of words. He does not wait for a scholar to put the correct words for Him!

The Arabic word for Chest (Jayb) is in the verse 24:31, but the Arabic words for Head (Ra’s) or Hair (Sha'r) are NOT in the verse. The Commandment in the verse is clear - Cover your chest or bosoms, but also the fabrication of the scholars and most of the translators is clear by claiming-cover your head or hair.

The last part of the verse 24:31 translates as, "They shall not strike their feet when they walk in order to shake and reveal certain details of their bodies. The details of the body can be revealed or not revealed by the dress you wear, not by your head cover. The word Zeenatahunna in this verse refers to the woman's body parts (beauty) and not to ornaments and decorations as some people interpret it or translate it. At the end of the verse, God tells the women not to strike with their feet to show their Zeenat. You do not need to strike your feet to show your ornaments but the way you strike your feet while walking can expose or shake certain parts of the body that do not need to be emphasized.

Accepting orders from anybody but God means idol-worship. That is how serious the matter of Hijab/Khimaar is. Women who wear Hijab because they think God ordered it are committing idol-worship, as God did not order it, the scholars did. These women have found for them another god than the One who revealed the Qur'an, complete, perfect and fully detailed. Idol-worship is the only unforgivable sin, if maintained till death. (4:48)

LENGTHEN YOUR GARMENTS: The first regulation of the Dress Code for Muslim women is in 7:26, the second in 24:31 and the third is in 33:59.

33:59 O Prophet! Tell your wives, your daughters, and the wives of the believers that they shall lengthen their garments. Thus, they will be recognized and avoid being insulted. God is Forgiver, Most Merciful."

Here God sets the other regulation for the dress code for women during the Prophet's life. This verse does not only address the wives of the Prophet, but also wives of the believers, and therefore, to all believing women.
If you reflect on this verse, you would understand the great wisdom of the Most Wise, the Most Merciful. In this verse, God never said how long is long. God could have said to lengthen their garments to their ankles or to their mid-calf or to their knees, but He did not. He did not, out of His Mercy, not because He forgot. God knows that we will be living in different communities, times and cultures, so the minor details of the dress code are left for the people of every community to decide for themselves. Modesty for a woman who lives in New York may not be accepted by a woman who lives in Cairo. Modesty of a woman who lives in Cairo may not be accepted by a woman who lives in Saudi Arabia. Modesty of a woman who lives in Jeddah may not be accepted by a woman who lives in a desert oasis in the same country. This difference in the way we perceive modesty is well-known to God. He created us, and He put NO hardship on us in this great religion. He left it to us to decide what modesty would be.