Islam's Reformers .pdf

and unknowingly become sacred traditions, they are moredependable than thoughts and theories based on intellect andknowledge. Moreover, it is unfair to assume that fear of Allâhuta’âlâ and the feeling of honesty and chastity based on suchstrong fundamentals as religion and morals are deprived offundamental knowledge.40 - The reformer says:“It is a very weak precaution to form separate groups formen and women or to put silk curtains between them in order toprotect the honesty of women. In Muslim countries, through oursharp imagination we think a Venus of every woman under hercoloured silk dress, and, by deriving meanings from thesewonderful statues, we fill the empty parts of our heart with them.Among the western psychologists, there are many who admirethe imaginative pleasures in the veiling of the east as well as itssunny, flowery horizons.“It is for certain that veiling increases the beauty of woman.The reason is that, while we see the subtleties and perspectivesof everything close to us, distance makes these subtleties andperspectives seem decorated to us. As our eyes do not clearlysee from the distance the things which they are used to seeingclosely, our imagination completes the beauty of the thingswhich we suppose to be beautiful. Things that are ours andwhich we do not esteem today will be valuable when we losethem. Now, when distance and curtains come betweensomething and us, our emotions and sorrows arise proportionalto our desire for that thing. When we see a veiled womanoutside, our imagination wakes up. We imagine what is in ourmind to exist under the veil. In order to arrange our social life,we should give the woman the place she deserves. Islamcommands the woman to veil herself. But it does not explainhow she will be veiled, nor does it prohibit to give the womanthe rights which exist in her nature. If the purpose of veiling is tokeep the generation pure and chaste and to protect it fromadultery and evils, we could provide for it in some other way.For example, we should control ourselves, by training our mindsand intellects, which Allâhu ta’âlâ has endowed on humanbeings. Thus, we should clean and correct the nafs in such amanner that it should desire goodness instead of running afterits bestial desires. A highly learned, educated girl whose reasonand thought function can obtain the spiritual strength to protect- 103 -