Ahmadiyyat or The True Islam — Page 228
228 women, or such boys as are not yet aware of the relations between the sexes; and let them not strike their feet so as to make their hidden beauty known; and turn to God all ye who believe so that you may be successful. ' 128 These verses command men and women to close all those avenues through which passionate and sinful thoughts enter the mind. One of these avenues is the eye, and the believers are told to cast down their eyes. Another of them is the ear, and the believers are told that men and women should not listen to each other’s voices in song and merriment, etc. , and should not listen to tales of each other’s beauty. They are also told not to touch each other unless there is a legitimate necessity to do so, and women are told that when they go out they should cover their bosom, and the face, i. e. , the neck, head, and those parts of the face which it is not neces- sary to keep exposed for seeing or breathing. No one who would consider these injunctions with a mind free from bias and prejudice can help admiring their wis- dom, for they remove all possibility of vice resulting from the relations of the sexes. These regulations will sound strange in Western ears, but this is due entirely to habit and custom, for it is not at all difficult to carry them out in practice. Islam does not by any means confine women to the four walls of the house, as ap- pears to be the prevalent notion. In the early history of Islam we find that women accompanied men to the field of battle, looked after the sick and the wounded, rode, 128 Al-N u r, 24:31,32.