[Reader-list] Brouhaha Over the Veil

[Iram Ghufran]

I agree Fatima. Now to bring some poetry (also prose) into the 
discussion :-)

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Princess Zeib un Nissa, eldest daughter of Emperor Aurangzeb
(b.1637 - d. 1702)

http://persian.packhum.org/persian/

I will not lift my veil,

For, if I did, who knows?

The bulbul might forget the rose,

The Brahmin worshipper

Adoring Lakshmi’s grace

Might turn, forsaking her,

To see my face;

My beauty might prevail.

Think how within the flower

Hidden as in a bower

Her fragrant soul must be

And none can look on it;

So me the world can see

Only within the verses I have writ –

I will not lift the veil.

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Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain
(b.1880 - d. 1932)

Report Fourteen

The following incident happened about twenty-two years ago. An aunt, 
twice removed of my husband, was going to Patna from Bhagalpor; she was 
accompanied by her maid only. At Kiul railway junction, they had to 
change trains. While boarding the train, my aunt-in-law stumbled against 
her voluminous burqa and fell on the railway track. Except her maid, 
there was no woman at the station. The railway porters rushed to help 
her up but the maid immediately stopped them by imploring in God’s name 
not to touch her mistress. She tried to drag her mistress up by herself 
but was unable to do so. The train waited for only half an hour but no more.

The Begum’s body was smashed - her burqa torn. A whole stationful of men 
witnessed this horrible accident - yet none of them was permitted to 
assist her. Finally her mangled body was taken to a luggage shed. Her 
maid waited piteously. After eleven hours of unspeakable agony she died. 
What a gruesome way to die!

From: The Secluded Ones, a collection of humorous essays on ridiculous 
consequences of the practice of Purdah.

(from http://www.english.emory.edu/Bahri/Hossain.html )

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A short poem by Akbar Allahabadi (I think).
(b. 1846 - d.1921)

Be- purdah nazar aayein jo chand biwiyaan

Dekh kar Akbar ghairat- e- qaum se garh gaya,

Poocha ke aapka purdah kidhar gaya

Boli ki aqal pe mardon ki par gaya.


Seeing some women without a veil

Akbar bowed his head in shame for the community,

When asked where their veil has gone -

They said it now veils men’s wisdom.

(translation from Urdu by a friend)

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S Fatima wrote:
> While one finds Yogi's justifications for the veil
> unacceptable, it would also be utterly insensitive and
> prejudiced to call it a "criminal looking black burqua
> where you do not know what is inside that". What is
> the crime of a woman who has been conditioned by her
> family to wear it whenever she goes out. To call all
> burqa-clad woman Islamic fundamentalist is like saying
> that all women with bindis on forehead are members of
> RSS. Let's be a little more sensitive.
>
> Having said that, I refuse to accept the definition of
> DIGNITY given by Mr.Sikand, and I refuse to wear a
> burqa to liberate myself.
>
>
>