Flowers for the Women Wearing Veils - Volume I — Page 238
! ! 238 woman to see the girl’s complexion. If at that time , the face was not covered, then why send a woman to see the complexion? Similarly, Haz rat ‘Umar ra said to a woman, “Umme Hani, I have recognized you. ” This suggests that he recognized her from her walk and not by her face. Saying , ‘ I h ave recognized you by your face’ to a familiar acquaintance is no great feat. Likewise, once when the Holy Prophet Muhammad sa was observing ‘ It i kaf [seclusion for prayers in the last ten days of Ramadhan] , one of his wives came to visit. Evening time approached and when he was escorting her home, he came across two men. They were most likely hypocrites, and in order to prevent any ill t houghts on their part, he removed the veil from his wife’s face and said, “This is my wife, who is with me. ” Had it been custom ary to leave the face exposed, there w ould be no need for the Holy Prophet Muhammad sa to uncover his wife’s face as he did. Similarly, a man said to the Holy Prophet Muhammad sa , “I w ould like to marry a certain girl, but I do not know what she looks like. ” The Holy Prophet Muhammad sa responded , “Se eing her is permissible. You may see her. ” That man went to the girl’s father and told him this. Her father said that he wa s not ready to show his daughter. The daughter, who was also listening to the conversation, said that if the Holy Prophet Muhammad sa had allowed it, then why stop him. If the girl was out and about w ith her face exposed, why ask the Holy Prophet Muhammad sa in the first place, and then ask the girl’s father ? There are many incidents of th is kind that indicate that women did not walk around with their faces exposed. Indeed, they did go out to work, talk to men, and partake in wars. The truth of the matter is that unnecessary coercion regarding p u rdah has resulted in the attempt to extinguish it completely. I myself , have seen women brought in a doli surrounded with curtains as she boarded the train. This was unnecessar il y harsh, but it is also dangerous to pervert the actual issue. I n this way, damage is done to Islam. If our opponents state that Islam commands us to observe p u rdah , but we do n ot, that is another matter. It will be assumed that