RE: Mixed sex handshakes banned in somalia
January 13, 2011 at 4:13 pm
(This post was last modified: January 13, 2011 at 4:22 pm by Rayaan.)
Thor Wrote:More stupidity! Why aren't you worried that a woman will "feel something" when she sees a man walking down the street? Why are women the only ones forced to wear sacks over their heads? Men should wear them as well! Otherwise, women could see an attractive man and "feel something"!
I asked this before and you never answered. Why don't men have to wear sacks over their heads? Why just the women?
I'll give a short answer to your question, but I'll elaborate on this in a separate thread in a few days later in which I'll discuss the topic of gender issues in Islam.
The answer is that both men and women are told to dress modestly when they go outside and not to show off their beauty (according to the Quran). And there's a verse in the Quran which specifically tells women to "draw over their veils (khimar)" so that it covers their chest as well (in Surah 23:41). That's why many of the Muslim women will cover their face and body as a way of obeying this command. In another verse, it says:
"O Prophet, tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to draw their cloaks close round them (when they go abroad). That will be better, so that they may be recognized and not annoyed. Allah is ever Forgiving, Merciful." (Surah 33:59)
However, I should also point out that the headcover was something that was wore by women in Arabia before Islam, and this implies that there is a cultural root in wearing the headcover, not only Islamic. The only difference was that they wouldn't cover their chests and thus revealing a part of their bodies (i.e. the chest). So that's why the Quran is asking women to take their headcover and to use it to cover their chests as well. Also, there are varying opinions on the importance of wearing the veil. Some of the scholars say that it is compulsory (fard) to wear it while others believe that it is only recommended (mustahab) in Islam.
Now the question is, why don't the men have to wear a sack over their heads? The answer is simply because the men and women are not the same biologically, intellectually, and emotionally as Allah says in the Quran, "wa laysa zakaru kal unsa" ("the male is not like the female"). And that's why there are certain differences in the requirements between the two genders.
In Islam, men have their own roles and women have their own roles. Men have been given a role that they are more capable of doing, and women have been given a role that they are more capable of doing. Neither of these roles is inherently better than the other or "looked down" upon in Islam. For a Muslim, equality is a religious and spiritual equality which means that when we do good deeds, whether a male or a female, we are both rewarded equally. And this is the meaning of equality in Islam. Women have to prove their worth in the sight of Allah, not in the sight of men. And the same goes for men.
See the two links below for more explanation on the reasons for wearing the hijab (or veil) and it's historical and religious applications:
http://www.islamreligion.com/articles/2770/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/...ab_1.shtml
