Although we are not like the baboons that use sex as a way of saying hello, but unlike seasonal drives in animals human sexual desire is perennial. To add insult to injury, as opposed to the male 'species' being more gorgeous amongst the animals, humans not only have a more beautiful and tempting female gender to reckon with they have a well decorated fairer sex! Thus, irrespective of the other laws and irrespective of them being right or wrong, the bringing in of the laws on sex to restrict sex by the prophet, yet availing plenty of sex to men both here and in the heavens, and to influence their behaviour even to shame the Sexual Revolution can only be called brilliant. Yes, Islam has unashamedly invoked sex not only in the mundane plane but in the spiritual plane too. Thus, far from being a sin or something filled with guilt as in Christianity, legal sex with multiple wives or slaves is seen as prowess that makes the prophet with many wives as a man with vigour. His attraction to a less dressed adopted son's wife was seen as natural. The consequent marriage, itself changed the rule of adoption. Yes, men are asked to lower their gazes. But with sex seen as prowess as said above, the right to remarry 4 wives invoking a desire to marry/make love, the desire extending to closer relatives, even to a lesser age group and the marriage in practice needing assessment by the mahr giver before his nod men have not quite followed it. In this state of affairs, somebody has to take the brunt to maintain social order. This onus is mostly placed on women who happen to naturally tempt men. They have to try to make society sexless outside the laws – as the punishment is severe. Yes, these ladies, who are entitled to their husbands and the position of a boss of houris in heaven, are given the obligation in this world to say yes to sex inside marriage and no to it outside. For this, she not only has to hide her beauty, she has to hide herself too. Thus, while she is prescribed a dress for the former, she is not allowed to draw attention by raising her voice, singing, dancing or wearing tapping shoes. Because of this, the praise by Muslims of the Muslima yelling in front of the Hindu guys does create a surprise. In terms of her outer clothing, while Muslimas today wear the niqab, ‘hijab’ or no covering, the divided ulema is ok with both the niqab and the ‘hijab’ when they fully know that the niqab needs a lot more sacrifice than the ‘hijab’. Furthermore, the nomenclature itself is not right. Although, outside the Quran, hijab is taken as a head and bosom cover and exposure of the face, in Quran it means a purdah (screen) that is between people and Allah, and that which was between Ayesha and the man, to whom she was demonstrating how her husband showered. The face showing garment is actually called khimar and eyes alone showing loose black garment is called the niqab. Here, however, we take hijab to mean what the ulema understands today - the clothing that shows the face. The Hijab is Not Quite Islamic: Even if the hijab is taken to mean khimar, it is not Islamic; only the niqab is Islamic. This is because of the following reasons: b. Yes, it talks about the cover of the chest but it also asks not to display the beauty and the ornaments. The simple thinking would tell us that the most prominent anatomy that offers beauty is the face. So, logically the face has to be covered. c. When the prophet said cover except what is naturally shown, he was pointing to the eyes and not the face. An intelligent man like him would not have pointed at the anatomy that attracts the most. d. The prophet has praised a woman, who did not remove her niqab when she came to see her dead soldier son. Convinced by her piety even in the difficult and painful circumstances, he said she will go to heaven. e. Like the shaving of moustache and the growing of beard, he wanted Muslims to be different from other people. In this case, the People of the Book (Christians and Jews) ladies were already wearing face showing head covers (hijab) according to their faiths. He would not have just followed their ways. Remember, he also changed the direction of kibla from theirs to his own. Moreover, the hijab (face showing head cover) was prescribed for the Jews and Christians as a sign of subjugation to men. This is because Eve came out of the rib of Adam. Remember women are not allowed to speak in the church or to have authority over men. Islam, on the other hand, sees women as sex gratifying beings in the context of sex seen as prowess in addition to subjugation and believes that her beauty could easily lead men astray. Of course, Islam could limit but could not deny women's adventure outside, so it made sure that let alone lure there was no attention to them. Thus, it also denies them loud voices or tapping shoes that could turn heads while on the road. In this context, the hijab allows the expression of beauty - face, which tempts the most. The verse is clearly about temptation and the instruction is very clear - don't expose what tempts. The fact is, the face showing hijab can even increase women's beauty through contrast!

Hijab

Niqab

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