Remove This Facial Lingerie!
By
Sumit Paul, New Age Islam
20
September 2022
“The plant
of revolution is irrigated with the blood of innocents,” wrote the executed PM
of Pakistan Z. A. Bhutto in a clandestine manuscript that was smuggled out of
Rawalpindi Jail and later published as, ' If I'm assassinated.' Though Bhutto
was no saint, his opening statement makes enormous sense, following the
unfortunate death of a 22-yr-old Iranian woman Mahsa Amini by the moral police (Gasht-e-Ershad)
over improper hijab.
File Photo: Niqab
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Now Iranian
women are on the streets protesting over the draconian moral policing and
hijab. The same moral policing by the Mutaween in Saudi Arabia is making
the life of Muslim women really difficult and excruciatingly painful.
Recently, a
Shia Muslim woman in Iran (Iran is predominantly a Shia Muslim country) was
hanged for killing her abusive husband who kept torturing her. Her 13-yr-old
daughter was brought to the gallows and asked to kick the chair her mother was
standing upon with the noose tightened around her neck!
Coming back
to the hijab row, why on earth should men decide how and what should a woman
wear?
Elizabeth
Mead of the University of Reading, South England, recently wrote in The Daily
Mail that, ' Hijab has nothing to do with Islam and Quran. It's a symbol of
oppression devised by primitive men that falls in the category of equally
disgusting virginity test.'
The great
female mystic Rabia Basri never wore a veil. Once a male mystic asked her why
she never wore a hijab, her classic (in today's parlance 'epic'!) reply
rendered the male mystic speechless. She said, ' Displaying modesty through a
piece of cloth is hypocrisy. Chastity is beyond body.
To be
unveiled is to be free in thinking, spirit and action.' Imagine, centuries ago,
a Muslim female mystic thought in a way that even today's 'educated' Muslim
woman dare not emulate her and still wear (in India) a hijab, extolling it as a
sign of emancipation. This is indeed unfortunate. On the contrary, hijab is a
glaring manifestation of a hapless woman's timid resignation to male chauvinism
in the garb of Islam.
A New
York-based Arab female activist stated a few years ago, “Man can mentally
DENUDE a woman even when she's hiding her whole body behind a black cloak of
oppression and obscurity." So very true!
“Barhana
Dekhna Hoga Jise/ Hijab Mein Bhi Dekh Lega Use,” (If one's determined to
see a woman disrobed/ Her hijab will not be an impediment), tellingly wrote
Firaq Gorakhpuri.
It's time
for the Muslim women of all countries and continents to further the ongoing
Iranian protest by Muslim women to its logical end and abolish the asinine
practice of donning a hijab and all sorts of sartorial restrictions. Remove
this facial lingerie and heave a sigh of relief.
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A
regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a researcher in comparative
religions, with special reference to Islam. He has contributed articles to
world's premier publications in several languages including Persian.
URL: https://newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/facial-lingerie-hijab-niqab-mahsa-mutaween/d/127988
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