Where Did the Burqa Come From?

Posted byalaiwahPosted inClash of Civilizations, IslamTags:, , , , , , ,

by Shazia Nawaz

We all know that burqa does not have its roots in religion. Religion only asks women to dress modestly. Where did the burqa or veil come from then? Why do so many women in the world cover their faces?
Burqa is a mobile jail invented by men to hide the women they love. If love was involved, I would accept it. That makes the jail a little more acceptable in a twisted kind of way.

But then what kind of man will keep a person he loves in a jail?
So then, Burqa is more a jail to keep in the women they “own”.
Brain washing starts very early. At a very young age, you are told that you have to hide yourself from men. It is ‘piety’ to hide your face. You are also taught to fear men. From a very young age, you are told that men are dangerous and should not be trusted. Only your father and brother are the ones you can trust. As someone put it eloquently the other day, ‘In Pakistan, women are told that men are wolves and women are sheep’ and due to this teaching , most men do indeed start acting like wolves and women as sheep.

Our men say that women should cover up, so we would not have ‘thoughts’ about them. Thoughts of harming women and thoughts of raping them. So, they want to put me in a mobile jail just so their mind would stay clean?! What a twisted logic!

But then does it really stop their ‘thoughts’? In the real world, they do not care if you are in a burqa, they will harass you. Covering my face never protected me from street harassment.

In a smaller city in Pakistan, always either my father or brother had to accompany us on the streets, or in spite of all the layers of clothes on us, men would yell taunts, follow, and even try to rub against us when were passing by. Due to this reason, women cannot leave houses alone, and always have to have a male with them. Men have to protect their women from each other in Pakistan and in all muslim countries.

When we moved to a bigger city, Lahore, and got rid of the big chador, sexual harassment, believe it or not, was less. Men around us there were used to women who walked around without covering their heads and faces. Men were more educated and their own sisters and mothers had more freedom too.

Coming to USA and experiencing the behavior of their men on the streets was an amazing experience. I can walk around wearing whatever I want. No one dares to harass me. That told me that it is not the burqa that keeps the dangerous men away, it is the mindset of a society and it is the implementation of the laws that keep women safe in any country.

My first experience of the cool breeze touching my skin on a beautiful beach in Hawaii was wonderful . Men rob women of their basic right of enjoying the nice weather by putting them in a tent called burqa. It is dark in there and it is hot in there. Just because you do not have ‘thoughts’ about me, I should be suffocated?

Doctors consider ‘thoughts’ a God made healthy phenomenon. Acting on your thoughts without other person’s consent would put you in a jail for 10-20 years in any civilized country.

It is difficult to understand for a man of an oppressed society that in a free world men indeed learn to control their ‘thoughts’ and do not blame women for it. When it comes to France Burqa ban, the argument that ‘women should be allowed to wear whatever they want to wear and that is freedom’ does not work. Every society has to have a dress code and limitation to freedom. Your freedom ends where it starts taking mine away. Nudist frequently demand their right to walk naked on the streets. They cannot be allowed to walk around completely naked just to protect the other members of the society.

The same way, a person covered from head to toe is a security risk. You do not know what is inside. It has become a dangerous world. You cannot let your kids play in a park where people are sitting completely covered from head to toe.

Also, what right do muslims have to ask France to not ban Niqab when a western woman cannot walk around freely in a muslim country wearing shorts?

You expect them to respect your culture when they come to your country, you should respect their culture too when you move to theirs.

Published by alaiwah

ALAIWAH'S PHILOSOPHY About 12 years ago, while studying Arabic in Cairo, I became friends with some Egyptian students. As we got to know each other better we also became concerned about each other’s way of life. They wanted to save my soul from eternally burning in hell by converting me to Islam. I wanted to save them from wasting their real life for an illusory afterlife by converting them to the secular worldview I grew up with. In one of our discussions they asked me if I was sure that there is no proof for God’s existence. The question took me by surprise. Where I had been intellectually socialized it was taken for granted that there was none. I tried to remember Kant’s critique of the ontological proof for God. “Fine,” Muhammad said, “but what about this table, does its existence depend on a cause?” “Of course,” I answered. “And its cause depends on a further cause?” Muhammad was referring to the metaphysical proof for God’s existence, first formulated by the Muslim philosopher Avicenna. Avicenna argues, things that depend on a cause for their existence must have something that exists through itself as their first cause. And this necessary existent is God. I had a counter-argument to that to which they in turn had a rejoinder. The discussion ended inconclusively. I did not convert to Islam, nor did my Egyptian friends become atheists. But I learned an important lesson from our discussions: that I hadn’t properly thought through some of the most basic convictions underlying my way of life and worldview — from God’s existence to the human good. The challenge of my Egyptian friends forced me to think hard about these issues and defend views that had never been questioned in the milieu where I came from. These discussions gave me first-hand insight into how deeply divided we are on fundamental moral, religious and philosophical questions. While many find these disagreements disheartening, I will argue that they can be a good thing — if we manage to make them fruitful for a culture debate. Can we be sure that our beliefs about the world match how the world actually is and that our subjective preferences match what is objectively in our best interest? If the truth is important to us these are pressing questions. We might value the truth for different reasons: because we want to live a life that is good and doesn’t just appear so; because we take knowing the truth to be an important component of the good life; because we consider living by the truth a moral obligation independent of any consequences; or because we want to come closer to God who is the Truth. Of course we wouldn’t hold our beliefs and values if we weren’t convinced that they are true. But that’s no evidence that they are. Weren’t my Egyptian friends just as convinced of their views as I was of mine? More generally: don’t we find a bewildering diversity of beliefs and values, all held with great conviction, across different times and cultures? If considerations such as these lead you to concede that your present convictions could be false, then you are a fallibilist. And if you are a fallibilist you can see why valuing the truth and valuing a culture of debate are related: because you will want to critically examine your beliefs and values, for which a culture of debate offers an excellent setting.

4 thoughts on “Where Did the Burqa Come From?”

  1. I believe that strayed women too much impressed from the western style of living are so-called independent that hates religion and commandments of Allah.

    I have lived 8 years in USA and believe me those women who are compelled to go to work and make a living hate themselves and the system.

    I have noticed that they merely are machines and a lot of them said it on my face.

    Reply

    1. I have one comment, a healthy society grows when women are equal to men.

      Look at third world countries compared to first world. There is a high difference of well being in both situations. I live in a country where I can grow up without repression. I am not wealthy, but I can go to school, earn a living, choose my own partner and be happy. I am very happy, I have nothing to complain about. In the future, the children I have, will be in good health, because they too will have good role models and choose their own futures.

      The burqa serves nothing more then to isolate and degrade woman.

      Reply

    2. You’re full of crap Ali and even if true the look of a machine is far better then the look of a terrified, broken women only breathing not living as the property of a man or an abusive man in most cases every day they sink deeper into despair you can see it in their eyes, eyes void of happiness. Yes I say a machines look would be much better but I have failed to see this in the USA maybe it was only through your eyes t
      his can be seen the sickest and most disgusting aspect of your culture is how you treat your women, we treat are dogs better then you treat your women.

      Reply

  2. very true. This kind of a social thinking is prevelant in some parts of Asia, including my country (India), where women are often harassed, be it they are in burqa..be it not. Upbringing also matters. I have even seen the same attitude from minor boys towards girls/women.
    The more the suppression and isolation, the more men would behave like wolves.

    Reply

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