Islams Reformers

moon. On this rare occasion he falls in love with her. The curtain
which this love has put before his eyes and the curtain of veiling of
other Muslim women come together not to show him a prettier
one. In fact, because the second curtain does not show him -let
alone another- the same woman once more, the flame of love gets
fanned. This shows that the woman is so valuable and important in
Muslim countries. What value can women have in society life,
which takes them away from the state of belovedness?
Let us listen about the pitiable situation of the society
women from a great lady poet of France, Madame de Lara
Mardirous, as translated by Cenâb Şihâbuddin Beg in his
magazine Evrâk-i Eyyâm: “Tell your [Muslim] girls to
appreciate the value of their happiness! Let them get used to
living veiled. Living veiled will protect them against so many
inconveniences that... Oh, if they could only know the number
of girls who have sobbed and cried on my shoulder. My ears are
full with the very terrifying and heartrending complaints of the
beloved girls. Yes, it seems as if it were very sweet to be able to
enter a ball full of lights and flowers. But, what a grievous
serpent is the jealousy that gnaws at the heart of the woman who
has gone there with her husband she loves. Could you imagine
it? Each of the balls, theatres and places for meeting is a cell of
torment of ‘Saint office’, a hell for a man who is faithful to his
wife or for a woman who loves her husband. Inform your wives
and sisters well about these facts!”
There is a saying which is chewed like a gum in the mouths:
“The advancement of women is necessary for the advancement
of men, because a nation, one of whose two wings cannot
function, cannot make progress. It can make progress only
together with the women.” Such complicated, vague words
show that those who cannot explain their purposes clearly
attempt to communicate them under helping words. The
advancement of women means not to leave them ignorant, not
to slight their morals and education. Islam says nothing against
having women do fine arts, which are suitable for their delicacy.
It is permissible for women to do the fine works which men
cannot do both in warfare and during peace and to learn them
from other women. But, still they should stay away from men
not related to them.
The strongest thing that attaches the Muslim Turks to their
country is their religious and traditional pure life in the family.
Among them, those who consider this life of women’s and nâ-
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