Flowers for the Women Wearing Veils - Volume I — Page 232
! ! 232 Letter to Women Regarding their P u rdah Written by Hazrat Mirza Bashir - ud - din Mahmud Ahmad, Khalifat - ul - Masih II ra Dear … As - S alamu ‘ Alaikum wa R ahmatullahe wa B arakatuhu. In response to your letter dated January 23, 1928, I would like to state that currently , p u rdah is practiced in varying forms among Muslims. In some communities and in some areas , p u rdah is of such a nature that even a doli ! [a curtained carriage carried by men on shoulders to transport wome n] is veiled by curtains. Amongst other communities or areas, p u rdah is even more severe. In their eyes , a woman who enters her home [as a bride] in a doli should only leave upon her funeral. These practices of p u rdah are sheer atrocities, and they have a highly detrimental effect up on women’s health, morals, knowledge, and faith. This type of p u rdah is not found in the Holy Qur’ān or in the Hadith. It can be clearly deduced from the Holy Qur’ān , that women are permitted to go outside their homes. Were they not allowed to go outsi de, there would hardly be the need for the command of G hadd - e - Basar [to keep one’s eyes downcast]. History tells us that during the time of the Holy Prophet Muhammad sa , his own wives and daughters would go outside to go out on to the battle fields, to work on farms , to answer calls of nature, to seek knowledge or to teach. This was evidenced thousands of times and even the slightest account of history proves this to be true. T housands of incidences prove that women did leave their homes. Even human nature cannot accept that a man, who is naturally strong should require the outside air to maintain his good health, but a woman, who is naturally weaker should be deprived of it. It is even evident from Hadith that the Holy Prophet Muhammad sa would race against his wife, Haz rat A’isha h ra in the presence of o ther s. Haz rat A’isha h ra won one race and the Holy Prophet Muhammad sa led the