Flowers for the Women Wearing Veils - Volume II — Page 157
157 did do quite a bit of work, but regretfully much of the history of this era’s civilizational aspect is not available and because of this, we have been cut off from our gran d past and traditions. However, i t is imperative that we preserve whatever we have left and establish a connection with it so that our example becomes that of a bridge and not that of boats with out ropes to bind them, drifting along with the currents and use less. I was saying that Muslims did not hold th is kind of ceremon y and if they did, they did not benefit from them. Europeans celebrate these occasions and they have taken great advantage from them. On these occasions, they invite not only the student s , but parents and relatives of the students as well. As they do not observe purdah , both mothers and fathers attend these functions. Since we observe purdah , so according to : ُﺧ ﺬ َﻣ ﺎ َﺻ َﻔ ﺎ َو َد ْع َﻣ ﺎ َﻛ ِﺪ ر [ Take what is good and leave what is bad ] [ Imam Sayyid Abd Allah ibn Alawi al - Haddad ] it would be appropriate to invite mothers t o the girls ’ institutions and fathers to the boys ’ institutions. In t his way, the parents and relatives of the students can understand their child’s lives behind the school’s four walls. Since we do not have such functions where paren ts or relatives are given the opportunity to be made familiar with what goes on in their children’s or dear one’s school life, the result is that for the first ten or fifteen years of school , they remain ignorant of their children’s school life just like a man is ignorant of the life of a purdah observing woman. Thus , the father - son relationship, which is a source of guidance, is cut off. In the same way, mothers are as ignorant of their daughters ’ education as they are of a woman from a foreign country even though they could easily visit the schools as they are all - women schools and are close by. They do not know what the girls are learning or how they are being taught. To avoid these problems, the European nations have established some ceremonies. They require mothers to visit the schools or colleges o nce or twice a year so that the mother can see with her own eyes w hat her daughter is studyin g. Is she cooking food ? O r if s omeone among the students gets a prize, it becomes an incentive for the mother to encourage her daughter to work hard and do the same. O r she may notice that college girls are polite and well - behaved, whereas her daughter is stubborn. “ Her