• About Us
  • The TFT Story
  • Team
  • Write for TFT
  • Online advertisement tariff
  • Donate To Us
Wednesday, July 6, 2022
  • Home
  • Editorials
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Features
  • Spotlight
  • Videos
  • Citizens’ Voice
  • Lifestyle
  • Editor’s Picks
  • Good Times
  • More
    • About Us
    • Team
    • Write for TFT
    • The TFT Story
    • Donate To Us
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Editorials
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Features
  • Spotlight
  • Videos
  • Citizens’ Voice
  • Lifestyle
  • Editor’s Picks
  • Good Times
  • More
    • About Us
    • Team
    • Write for TFT
    • The TFT Story
    • Donate To Us
No Result
View All Result
No Result
View All Result
Home Analysis

Is Wearing Burqa A Human Right Or Social Compulsion?

The status of the generals, men of means and status, aristocracy and nobility were known by them having the choicest women in their harem.

Ishtiaq Ahmed by Ishtiaq Ahmed
September 21, 2021
in Analysis
Is Wearing Burqa A Human Right Or Social Compulsion?
935
SHARES
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

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.

Also Read:

How Can Pakistan Surf The Waves Of Inflation Successfully?

SPOTLIGHT | PDM Govt Just As Incapable Of Ending Enforced Disappearances As Its Predecessor

Tags: burkaabayaburka culture
Previous Post

Who Is Glenn Beck? Social Media Debate Erupts Over ‘Islamophobic’ US Right-Wing Icon’s Praise For Pakistani Assistance

Next Post

No Place To Call Home: Afghan Hazara Refugees Being Deported From Pakistan

Ishtiaq Ahmed

Ishtiaq Ahmed

The writer is Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Stockholm University; Honorary Senior Fellow, Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore. He can be reached at: billumian@gmail.com

Next Post

No Place To Call Home: Afghan Hazara Refugees Being Deported From Pakistan

Comments 3

  1. Karim Dad says:
    10 months ago

    thank you the enlightened author for educating us on such contemporary critical issues as usual in historical context

  2. K P Fabian says:
    10 months ago

    It is good to dig into history and find out how patriarchy exploited a practice for its own ends.
    The Taliban should be sent this article.
    Ambassador K P Fabian

  3. Shamsul Islam says:
    10 months ago

    Thanks to Professor for penning an enlightening piece based on the historical verifiable facts on the origin of wearing burqa and its use . It demolishes the myth that it originated with Islam or is an integral part of Islamic way of life. In India it was in vogue long before Islam reached India, in fact, even before the origin of Islam. It was restricted to the high Castes.

Search

No Result
View All Result

Recent News

Women And Political Power In Pakistan

Women And Political Power In Pakistan

July 6, 2022
Hunters Become Hunted As Thar Villagers Chase Illegal Killers Of Deer

Hunters Become Hunted As Thar Villagers Chase Illegal Killers Of Deer

July 6, 2022
‘PM Shehbaz Stopped Mohsin Dawar From Asking Tough Questions To Gen Faiz During NSC Meeting’

‘PM Shehbaz Stopped Mohsin Dawar From Asking Tough Questions To Gen Faiz During NSC Meeting’

July 6, 2022

Twitter

Donate Us

Subscribe
The Friday Times – Naya Daur

News and views which are not fit to print.


The Friday Times is Pakistan’s first independent weekly, founded in 1989. In 2021, the publication went into collaboration with digital news platform Naya Daur Media to publish under a daily cycle.


Social Media

Latest News

  • All
  • News
  • Editorials
  • Features
  • Analysis
  • Lifestyle
Women And Political Power In Pakistan

Women And Political Power In Pakistan

by Saad Hafiz
July 6, 2022
0

Developing countries are increasingly recognising that including women...

Hunters Become Hunted As Thar Villagers Chase Illegal Killers Of Deer

Hunters Become Hunted As Thar Villagers Chase Illegal Killers Of Deer

by Hanif Samoon
July 6, 2022
0

A Thari youth Uttam Singh, without caring for...

Follow Us on Instagram

Follow

    The Instagram Access Token is expired, Go to the Customizer > JNews : Social, Like & View > Instagram Feed Setting, to refresh it.
  • About Us
  • The TFT Story
  • Team
  • Write for TFT
  • Online advertisement tariff
  • Donate To Us

© 2022 All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Editorials
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Features
  • Spotlight
  • Videos
  • Citizens’ Voice
  • Lifestyle
  • Editor’s Picks
  • Good Times
  • More
    • About Us
    • Team
    • Write for TFT
    • The TFT Story
    • Donate To Us

© 2022 All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Add New Playlist