Women need only “cover their head and a little of their face.” There now, don’t you feel better?
“Islam against Talibani veil: Sadiq,” by M Hasan in the Hindustan Times:
SENIOR VICE-CHAIRMAN of the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) and renowned Islamic scholar Dr Kalbe Sadiq today announced that Islam was against “˜Talibani Purdah (rigid purdah system imposed by the Taliban in Afghanistan)”.
Coming to the rescue of film star Shabana Azmi over her statement on “˜purdah” (veil), Dr Sadiq said Shabana was right in her interpretation of veil in Islam, as Islam never talked about the purdah system as prevalent in Afghanistan.
While mullahs have been trying to hound out Shabana for her comment that there was no Quranic injunction about the present form of veil, Dr Sadiq said, “There is no mention of Talibani “˜purdah” in the holy book.”
Dr Sadiq said while dealing with the issue, the Quran had only said that women should cover their head and a little of their face. He said there was no need to cover the whole face.
Actually, this is all the Qur’an says about it. It has been variously interpreted, although most scholars agree that it does involve a head covering: “And say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty; that they should not display their beauty and ornaments except what (must ordinarily) appear thereof; that they should draw their veils over their bosoms and not display their beauty except to their husbands, their fathers, their husband’s fathers, their sons, their husbands’ sons, their brothers or their brothers’ sons, or their sisters’ sons, or their women, or the slaves whom their right hands possess, or male servants free of physical needs, or small children who have no sense of the shame of sex; and that they should not strike their feet in order to draw attention to their hidden ornaments. And O ye Believers! turn ye all together towards Allah, that ye may attain Bliss” (24:31).