Hairless Kitten
03-11-2009, 18:45
The clothing requirements of the Quran repress the woman and have had their time
First, the wearing of the hijab (the veil), or any other signs which clearly refer to a worldview, shouldn’t be allowed for representatives of the government (of course, in the performance of their duties). It seems to me something as very obvious, they would lose their neutrality and integrity. By instance:
• Veil wearing police officers or judges.
• A veiled clerk in the city house.
• A veiled member of a jury in a courtroom.
Just a few people in my country propose a general ban on the veil (and I do not either), the focus is rather on representatives of the government and by instance school girls.
The young girls that wear the veil, claim that they made their choice in full liberty. I have no reason to doubt their sincerity. However, if you want to know why they have decided, they often reply: ‘God is asking this from me’.
How do they know that God asked for a veil? They are, in general, not Islam experts and I don’t believe they discovered the veiling rules just on their own (it’s not possible either, as we will see later). Let us therefore not harass longer these poor girls, but annoy the ones that are telling the young girls that they have to wear a veil: the imams. If you ask the question ‘Why?’, the male imams will reply that it’s written in the Quran.
Which is strange, because that is a contradiction of the truth:
The Quran does not talk about the veil.
There are some passages that deal about the clothes of women and no one disputes the general submission:
Outdoors, a woman is fully covered, in such way that her attractions are not visible.
For centuries, within the Muslim tradition there was discussion on one point: the majority felt that the face should be covered (burqa or the Arabian niqab) and according a minority (the Hanafi) it’s acceptable if the face and hands remain visible (chador).
When the body should be almost fully completely covered then it doesn’t have any meaning to reason about a separated ‘veil’ because the Quran isn’t talking about this separated veil either.
Anyway, imams who literally want to follow the Quran, should counsel the girls to wear or a burqa or a chador. Now you sometimes see Muslim women with a hijab and a tight jeans and t-shirt. That is in total contradiction with the spirit of the Quran.
If they want to be completely honest, the imams should explain to the girls that the God in the Quran also says the following:
1. God privileged the man above the woman (Sura 4, 34)
2. The woman can have sexual relations only with her husband, her man with an unlimited number of women (S. 23, 1-6)
3. The man can repudiate his wife, the reverse is not possible (65, 1)
4. The wife gets half the inheritance of the male (S. 4 176)
5. A testimony of a woman is only worth half as much as that of a man (S. 2, 282)
6. The woman must be obedient to her husband (S. 4, 34)…
7. …when continued disobedience, the man has to kick & smash his wife (S. 4, 34).
Thus we come to the core of this whole debate. These, seven examples of women discriminations are written with an absolute clarity in the Quran, but it is also clear that they radically violate the universal human rights. One can not expect that we have to consider a religion in our time as respectable when it wants to keep this seven discriminations.
It’s not necessary either. As with the Bible happened, certain texts can be interpreted as time-bounded, so that in a modern society they no longer apply. Starting from the early Mecca Sura, which achieved a high level on both literary and social matters, it is possible to distillate a version of Islam, which can inspire many people in a positive way in our times. But then we have to abandon the idea that a mere reference to a Quran text would be sufficient grounds for a decree of prohibition (the veil, homosexuality, …).
The ones that are following the path of the human rights can not ignore that especial the clothing requirements of the Quran had their time. Their basis is that the woman as a woman, with all her attractions, just exists for her own husband. For the rest of the community it is a creature without a body, or even without a face. The man, however, can fully run in his wild world.
Can anyone hear anything else than oppression and flagrant discrimination?
For the first emancipated Muslim women, the release of their veils was not only a symbol, but also an experience of the essential part of their liberation. Both aspects are inextricably linked with each other.
Those responsible for the Islamic community must realize that if they stick to the letter of the Quran in relation to clothing, they inevitably suggest, that they also wish to maintain the seven discriminations of that Quran.
Some so-called progressive ones believe that this discussion is only about a piece of clothing.
I hope they have this position only due a radical ignorance. Because the issue is whether we -together with modern Muslims- build a beautiful society, where everyone is equal and everyone can be a full human towards his fellow human beings. Or whether we pronounce to people that stand for a literal interpretation of the Quran:
Here our ways will separate. In our culture, human rights come first.
In short, it is about the choice between Islam and the veil.
First, the wearing of the hijab (the veil), or any other signs which clearly refer to a worldview, shouldn’t be allowed for representatives of the government (of course, in the performance of their duties). It seems to me something as very obvious, they would lose their neutrality and integrity. By instance:
• Veil wearing police officers or judges.
• A veiled clerk in the city house.
• A veiled member of a jury in a courtroom.
Just a few people in my country propose a general ban on the veil (and I do not either), the focus is rather on representatives of the government and by instance school girls.
The young girls that wear the veil, claim that they made their choice in full liberty. I have no reason to doubt their sincerity. However, if you want to know why they have decided, they often reply: ‘God is asking this from me’.
How do they know that God asked for a veil? They are, in general, not Islam experts and I don’t believe they discovered the veiling rules just on their own (it’s not possible either, as we will see later). Let us therefore not harass longer these poor girls, but annoy the ones that are telling the young girls that they have to wear a veil: the imams. If you ask the question ‘Why?’, the male imams will reply that it’s written in the Quran.
Which is strange, because that is a contradiction of the truth:
The Quran does not talk about the veil.
There are some passages that deal about the clothes of women and no one disputes the general submission:
Outdoors, a woman is fully covered, in such way that her attractions are not visible.
For centuries, within the Muslim tradition there was discussion on one point: the majority felt that the face should be covered (burqa or the Arabian niqab) and according a minority (the Hanafi) it’s acceptable if the face and hands remain visible (chador).
When the body should be almost fully completely covered then it doesn’t have any meaning to reason about a separated ‘veil’ because the Quran isn’t talking about this separated veil either.
Anyway, imams who literally want to follow the Quran, should counsel the girls to wear or a burqa or a chador. Now you sometimes see Muslim women with a hijab and a tight jeans and t-shirt. That is in total contradiction with the spirit of the Quran.
If they want to be completely honest, the imams should explain to the girls that the God in the Quran also says the following:
1. God privileged the man above the woman (Sura 4, 34)
2. The woman can have sexual relations only with her husband, her man with an unlimited number of women (S. 23, 1-6)
3. The man can repudiate his wife, the reverse is not possible (65, 1)
4. The wife gets half the inheritance of the male (S. 4 176)
5. A testimony of a woman is only worth half as much as that of a man (S. 2, 282)
6. The woman must be obedient to her husband (S. 4, 34)…
7. …when continued disobedience, the man has to kick & smash his wife (S. 4, 34).
Thus we come to the core of this whole debate. These, seven examples of women discriminations are written with an absolute clarity in the Quran, but it is also clear that they radically violate the universal human rights. One can not expect that we have to consider a religion in our time as respectable when it wants to keep this seven discriminations.
It’s not necessary either. As with the Bible happened, certain texts can be interpreted as time-bounded, so that in a modern society they no longer apply. Starting from the early Mecca Sura, which achieved a high level on both literary and social matters, it is possible to distillate a version of Islam, which can inspire many people in a positive way in our times. But then we have to abandon the idea that a mere reference to a Quran text would be sufficient grounds for a decree of prohibition (the veil, homosexuality, …).
The ones that are following the path of the human rights can not ignore that especial the clothing requirements of the Quran had their time. Their basis is that the woman as a woman, with all her attractions, just exists for her own husband. For the rest of the community it is a creature without a body, or even without a face. The man, however, can fully run in his wild world.
Can anyone hear anything else than oppression and flagrant discrimination?
For the first emancipated Muslim women, the release of their veils was not only a symbol, but also an experience of the essential part of their liberation. Both aspects are inextricably linked with each other.
Those responsible for the Islamic community must realize that if they stick to the letter of the Quran in relation to clothing, they inevitably suggest, that they also wish to maintain the seven discriminations of that Quran.
Some so-called progressive ones believe that this discussion is only about a piece of clothing.
I hope they have this position only due a radical ignorance. Because the issue is whether we -together with modern Muslims- build a beautiful society, where everyone is equal and everyone can be a full human towards his fellow human beings. Or whether we pronounce to people that stand for a literal interpretation of the Quran:
Here our ways will separate. In our culture, human rights come first.
In short, it is about the choice between Islam and the veil.