Is Wearing Burqa A Human Right Or Social Compulsion?

Let me begin by tracing the origins of the burqa. Contrary to what the Islamists say and which a very large number of half-educated liberals say, the burqa does not have an Islamic origin and its wearing is not necessarily a matter of human right or freedom of choice. 

On the contrary, it was a practice prevalent among the aristocracy of the Sassanid Persian Empire who, like many other civilisations, created their own type of Harem. 

The status of the generals, men of means and status, aristocracy and nobility were known by them having the choicest women in their harem. The larger the harem and the more beautiful and variegated the women in the harem the greater was the status of the Master.

Moreover, having a pale skin, as white as possible, was also a value and the Persians (Iranians) saw to it that their women were not exposed to the sun when they travelled. The Burqa type dress evolved with the travelling harem. 

The Sassanid-Persian practice began to be emulated by the Byzantines who fought prolonged wars with the former. There is nothing surprising about it. People fight wars but also start imitating one another’s practices and aesthetics tend to be contagious.

Now, if we come to the Hejaz, where the story of Islam was born, we learn from the Moroccan sociologist Fatima Mernissi in her seminal work, Beyond the Veil, that before the Arabs became Muslims powerful women leading an independent life were a feature of the society which was transforming from idyllic matriarchal features to a settled life of urban types. They could invite men into their tents freely and have relations with them on their own terms. 

There was no Burqa culture at that time.

Fatima Mernissi mentions that Hazrat Khadija was an example of such an independent woman as were many others. 

However, with Hejaz society converted to Islam, like all other great religions patriarchal values transplanted the old matriarchal ones. The Quran prescribed at most modesty to pious women but no dress code. 

 

The Sassanid-Persian practice began to be emulated by the Byzantines who fought prolonged wars with the former. There is nothing surprising about it. People fight wars but also start imitating one another’s practices and aesthetics tend to be contagious.

Since the Arabs who were still a very primitive people consisting of tribes and clans conquered Sassanid Persia and expanded into Byzantine territories, they began to be differentiated by the uneven distribution of the Maal-e-Ghanimat (war booty) which the Arab-Islamic armies acquired. 

Consequently, Arab rudimentary egalitarianism gave way to social classes and hierarchy. 

The prosperous sections of Arab societies began to copy the practices prevalent among the more advanced but defeated Sassanids and Byzantines. Their women, wives as well as concubines or slave women acquired through warfare and from the market, were placed in the harem and when they travelled, they had to wear a burqa.

The harem and the burqa when outside the harem were meant to symbolise the possession of the owner or master who did not want others to see their women. 

These changes took place rapidly and Islamic law which evolved upheld the segregation of men and women and burqa in different forms became a social status.

Working class women, servants and older slave women did not wear any such clothing.

Even today, working women in our villages do not wear any burqa. It is essentially an urban value which the lower middle class and upwards wears.

How much of wearing the Burqa is a human right, a matter of individual choice and so on we can discuss.

To me, it is indicative of women being chattel whose choices are determined by patriarchy and concomitant religious sanctions.