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 ------ 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. ----- 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 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism