Flowers for the Women Wearing Veils - Volume II — Page 174
174 Islamic Purdah Excerpt from Friday Sermon Delivered by Hazrat Mirza Bashir - ud - D in Mahmud Ahmad, Khalifat - ul - Masih II ra Karachi, Pakistan June 25, 1954 “…First ly , I would like to briefly give some advice on what I just witnessed here outside the m osque. Since the passengers of the cars ahead of us were stepping out, our car was stopped behind them for a short while. While sitting in the car, I looked in front of me and I saw three or four ladies arriving for Jum u ‘ a h prayer wearing a burqa , but the way they covered their faces could not be considered proper purdah. It is a great problem that in this age, such strong views have taken root against purdah that it is ver y difficult to explain [proper purdah ] to those women who are already aware of [these ] concepts , let alone other women. And then, these da ys so much emphasis is laid on health concerns that there are attempts made to alter the requirements of purdah by u sing this reason. Some women [use the excuse of not ] being able to breath e to wear their veils in such a manner that cannot be considered full purdah. And when they are reminded of this, their reply is that Islam ’s actual requirement [for purdah ] is ghoongat [ hiding part of face by drawing down fabric from a large wrap/shawl ]. Although, there is a world of difference between the ghoongat of a veil [of a burqa ] and that of a chaadar [large wrap /shawl]. Ghoongat drawn from a chaadar stays a hand’s span away from the face, due to which it casts a shadow on the face so that the face cannot be seen by others. Ghoongat of a veil [of a burqa ] is made of very thin material and it is wrapped so closely to the face that it does not cast a shadow on the face. Whether it is the educated women or the uneducated ones [who make this mistake] , that which is undesirable remains in any case undesirable. There is no doubt that the actual purdah , which was established in Islam , was that of drawing a ghoongat and that is the real purdah. H azrat Khalifat - ul - Masih I ra always used to say that purdah [of the earlier days] was much safer than the purdah which has become established in our