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on 14-10-2002 00:18
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By Zeba Khan
To: The Western World,
For the past few years, even before the WTC turned the world’s eye to Afghanistan, the world community has thought it all the rage to cry over the ‘veiled’ and ‘oppressed’ status of women in Afghanistan under the Taaliban. For years, I’ve shaken my own ‘veiled’ head after reading anti-veil, anti-Islam articles, and quietly fumed at the repeated misinterpretation of Islam and the situation. Well, I’m done quietly fuming, now I’m fuming on paper.
Strange how talk show after talk show, paper after paper laments the status of women in Islam without fully knowing it. The skewed world view of what Islam offers women by way of human rights is appalling; no freedom to have their voices heard, no opportunity to work, no chance of being held in esteem anything less than ten leagues below the feet of men. The correct and fully authenticated view of what Islam offers women is nowhere near the uncivilized darkness that the world assumes.
In accusing Islamic Law of forbidding women to work or seek education, the West has apparently forgotten that the beloved wife of the Prophet, Khadija, was a well-to-do business woman both before and after she married him. Also forgotten (or ignored for purposes of propaganda) is that according to the Prophet Muhammad, Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him, “Seeking knowledge is compulsory for each and every male and female Muslim.” (Baihaqee)
The Prophet also said, “Oh Allah! I declare it a great sin to harm, do injustice, hurt, or waste the rights of two persons who appear to be weak, the orphan and the woman.” (Nasaiee)
Little would the western world imagine that the Prophet also said, “Only and honorable man treats women with honor and integrity. And only a mean, deceitful, and dishonest man humiliates and insults women.” (Ibn Asaker)
The sayings and traditions of the Prophet make clear the status of women in Islam, and the Qur’an makes it even more lucid, espousing spiritual, financial, and moral equality. The Qur’an also commands men to be kind, merciful, and loving to their wives, a far cry from what the Taaliban is accused of. “…and of his signs is this: he created for you spouses from yourselves that you might find tranquility in them, and he ordained between you love and mercy. Lo, herein indeed are signs for folk who reflect." Quran-Surah Ar-Rum (30):21
"And whoso does good works, whether of male or female, and he (or she) is a believer, such will enter paradise and they will not be wronged the dint in a date stone." Quran-Surah Al-Nissa(4):124.
Contrary to popular belief, the social/gender-oriented problems that the Taaliban have are not due to strict application of Islam, but rather, to insufficient application of Islam. The cruelty, oppression, and iniquity that the women are exposed to are a result of NOT following the Qur’an and Sunnah and are reminiscent of the Pre-Islamic days of darkness in the Arabian Peninsula. Had the Taaliban practiced what they preached, then we would see that in Afghanistan “….the believers, men and women, are protecting friends one of another; they enjoin the right and forbid the wrong, and they establish worship and they pay the poor-due, and they obey Allah and His messenger. As for these, Allah will have mercy on them. Lo! Allah is Mighty, Wise." (9):71
Permit me to draw your attention again to the first line of that verse. Notice the phrase “protecting friends” and think about whether the actions of some Afghani men to the Afghani women seem protecting or friendly.
Dear Western World: I challenge you to find a verse in the Qur’an that orders women to wear ‘burkhas’. I myself know of verses where women are ordered to act modestly, dress modestly, and to wear veils on their heads and over their chests, but you’d be hard pressed to find the word ‘burkha’ in the Qur’an or a description of anything like that. If you paid any attention to Islamic history you’d find that most of the women of the Prophet’s time only owned one or two articles of clothing, and neither of them were burkhas. When the order for ‘veiling’ was announced, some took the curtains from their windows and turned them into head scarves.
The burkha is a cultural symbol of modesty, not an Islamic one. Islamically speaking, a woman’s clothes must be loose, non-revealing, non-opaque, and able to cover her up to her wrist and ankles. On top of that the woman is required to wear a scarf that covers her chest and all of her head, except for her face. Nowhere, in any verse, in any hadith, is a woman required to wear clothes on top of her clothes.
There is no need for a burkha when your clothes already fit the Islamic standards. For examples of this you need only to look at any Muslim woman in a long skirt, long sleeves, and a scarf. You can find Pakistani women in shalwar kameez, Malaysian women in baju kurong, Arab women in jilbayahs, all with no burkha, and so long as their clothing fits the Islamic requirements, they are fulfilling the tenets of dressing modestly.
The West has a tendency to place value on the worthless and treat worthlessly the valuable. Fashion is held in high esteem while faith is viewed as backwards. It’s no surprise then that truly valued principals (freedom of fashion) and being propagated by the West at the cost of primitive, backwards ones like faith and ensuing modesty.
There is a certain irony in this situation, that both the Muslim world and the Western world has strayed from the religious principles that they once bound themselves to, and in doing so, women in the west benefited and women in the east suffered. If Westerners were still practicing strict Christianity then you would find women with no legal rights (Numbers. 30:2-15), spiritual inequality (Ecclesiastics 7:26-28), and no freedom to teach or speak publicly (1 Timothy 2:11-14). You would also find them subject to their husbands in all things (Ephesians 5:22-24), but hey, at least you’d find them with their heads covered (I Corinthians 11:3-10). If the Muslim world was still adhering to Islamic principles then you would find the equality, enlightenment, and social harmony that prevailed during the time of the Prophet Muhammad and the Golden Age of the Four Enlightened Caliphs.
It is a sad joke that Western women, curtaining their windows and painting their faces, cry for Afghani women when they are forced to paint their windows and curtain their faces. These same compassionate, caring women would support the embargo, starving an entire nation for the non-convicted crimes of one man. The world cries not for an Afghani lack of meals, but for an Afghani lack of mini-skirts. Living, breathing humans in Afghanistan are dying wholesale and the world unites; not to save them, but to save large, inanimate stones carved into giant Buddhas.
Dear Western World: My utmost sympathies go out to the Afghani women, as do my prayers, but my sympathies and yours are as dissimilar as the sun and the moon. You cry for their wardrobe, I’ll cry for their welfare. You donate for dead stone, I’ll donate for dying flesh. Afghanistan is a sinking ship, and you’re rescuing deck chairs while the passengers drown.
Last update : 14-10-2002 00:18
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