From: gagrawal@cs.tamu.edu (Gopal Agrawal)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.pakistan
Subject: Re: Women and Burqa: Analyzing the recent discussion
Date: 9 Apr 92 06:38:53 GMT
Organization: Computer Science Dept., Texas A&M University

In article <ku6geqINNt4h@pageboy.cs.utexas.edu>, hyder@cs.utexas.edu (Syed Irfan Hyder) writes:

|> No wonder, Ms. Yasmin had to write:
|>            ========================
|> 	I found it a little difficult to understand the details of your
|> 	message, but I believe the gist of it was to convince me of the
|> 	holiness of purdah,....    ===================================
	====================
|> Let's see the points which are being raised by Ms. Yasmin. 
==============================================================
|> 1: What is "proven" Islamically about Hijab or purdah?
=========================================================
|> 2: What are the "proven" limits of Hijab or purdah?
======================================================
|> 3: Some of the current positions can not be corroborated
|>     by Quran and Hadith?
|> 4: If the position of ulemas about "purdah" can not be supported
|>    by Quran and Hadith, then they are an addition ("biddah").
|>    There is no need to obey them. They can be discarded because
|>    they are some "male-oriented" views without proper 
|>    substantiation.


|> ys3359@sarah.albany.edu (Yazmasterj) writes:
|> 
|> >for the sole purpose of procreation, therefore birth control renders
|> >them without purpose.  Again a decision by a man.  I have never read
							===============
|> >a passage in the Quran which declared women to be solely for procreation.
================================================================
|> > Certainly Khadija (raa), the wife of the Prophet was not
|> >solely a procreative force in her husband's life.  

|> >their women suppressed.  The Quran gave unprecedented rights to 
|> >women which were later ignored.  Consent in marriage, rights to 
|> >inheritance, control of their earnings have all been curtailed by
|> >men.  These are rights which have been specifically granted to women
          ===============================================================
|> >in the Quran.  
===============
|> >Yasmin




Though this question may seem to be specifically for Ms. Yasmin, I think
it applies equally well to all the female netters on SCP. 

Ms Yasmin,

The following question may seem offensive, depending upon your attitude
towards your faith. If you do not wish to reply to it - don't. 

I see that you have been waging a constant war against the Purdah (hijab)
system for quite some time. Being an anti-purdah-ist myself, I should 
perhaps congradulate you. But before I do, would you like to consider a 
thought experiment (the kind which was found offensive by another SCPier) 
which will give me a clearer picture as to what exactly you are up against. 

I think the underlined sentences in the above posts should indicate what 
I am getting at. All your arguments seem to be based on the fact that there
is no clear evidence that Islam forbids women from discarding purdah in any
given era. Hence it is ok for you to not wear the purdah these days. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------
The Thought Experiment: 
			Now ASSUME that the Quran explicitly (I mean 
really explicitly in big bold CAP fonts) mentioned that all women MUST 
(100%/definetely/under all circumstances) follow the hijab or purdah 
system, covering your entire body from head to toe at all times (forever). 
I mean showing any part of your body is an ABSOLUTE NO NO. Its worded 
in such a way so that there can be absolutely no doubt as to its meaning.

WOULD YOU WEAR THE PURDAH THEN ?  
-------------------------------------------------------------------

I have once posted a similar question on the net. The kind of response
I got was "But its not conceivable that the Quran will say such a thing
because it doesn't.... Its illogical to imagine things about what the 
Quran says if it does not say it... Since it does not say this, your 
question is invalid" etc. 

Clearly they did not understand the meaning of 'thought experiment'. 
I hope you do. Or if you feel this is offending to Quran, maybe you 
could assume that you belong to some religion X (not Islam) and your 
faith in X is just as strong as it is now in Islam. Then assume that 
the holy book of X says the above thing.  (Is it too unimaginable
for you as being born in another religion?).  

regards,
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