One problem with religious belief is that sometimes it's practice can be hypocritical. What we preach I may hate to practice. A month or two ago there was a debate over madrasah education in Bangladrsh. I am sure many of the fathers who support madrasah education will never send their kids to madrasah. Same argument applies to borqa or veil or hijab. My mother used to put veil on her head but my does not. No preaching will oblige her to do it. Hypocritically we preach that other women should wear hijab or veil.
Poor people cannot afford to be veiled as they have to engage in physical work outside home--, even under open sky , to earn and support the family. Only the women of rich families can be pampered. Poor families who follow the preachers deprive themselves of the opportunity to earn money.
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Veiling of women or 'purdah' system has always been associated with upper class from the beginning of civilization everywhere in the world. It is funny that the Islamists politics is claiming it to be a paradigmatic Islamic dress code. Other than bland, mildly toned general advice to women on modesty, the Qur'an surprisingly says nothing about mandating hijab or niqab for women. That rogue, Abul Ala Moududi, the father of modern Islamic fundamentalism, was quite annoyed at the fact that the Qur'an does not mandate hijab.
It is said that the Bedouin society in Arabia, where Jews, Christians and Muslims, men and women, wore dresses covering their heads, they did not practice 'purdah' in the way we know it now, and that it was imported from the more cosmopolitan Sassanians as a status symbol for women by the fledgling Muslim community.
Anyway, you can see it in the women of Bangali society of all religions -- lower class working women have more freedom of movement than the middle caste or class. In our warm and humid climate, an extra item of clothing is burdensome and uncomfortable, not always desirable by choice.
[I have an article on the subject where I analyze the verses in the Qur'an pertaining to women and hijab, published in 2004 both in Dhaka and Pakistan, blogged in numerous sites and is archived in Islamic Research Foundation Information]
Farida Majid
To: mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com
From: subimal@yahoo.com
Date: Fri, 9 Mar 2012 22:40:52 -0500
Subject: Re: [mukto-mona] Burqa banning after RAJUK, now Syedpur's Lions school and college: Minority Islam in Muslim majority Bangladesh
I read somewhere (maybe K, Armstrong) that veil was a sign of aristocracy and that's why prophet's wives and other women had to wear it. I believe every sura has to be analyzed in the light of the given context.
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The 'wahi' on the imposition of 'Burkha' came to Umar (RA), not to the prophet (pbuh).>>>>>>> You are wrong AGAIN! Get a grip on yourself.....
"O; Prophet (Muhammad)! Tell thy wives and thy daughters and the women of the believers to draw their cloaks close round them (when they go outside)........
[ Source: Al Qur'an 33:59 ]
For basic info on this topic, click on the link below..
By: Prof. Maqsood Jafri
Shalom!-----Original Message-----
From: Kamal Das <kamalctgu@gmail.com>
To: mukto-mona <mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Fri, Mar 9, 2012 6:10 am
Subject: Re: [mukto-mona] Burqa banning after RAJUK, now Syedpur's Lions school and college: Minority Islam in Muslim majority Bangladesh
The 'wahi' on the imposition of 'Burkha' came to Umar (RA), not to the prophet (pbuh). Across the history of Islam, the use of burkha or other versions of purdah by Muslim women was never universal.2012/3/8 Nayan Khan <udarakash08@yahoo.com>
What is going on in Bangladesh one after another?