I see where he is going with this and I feel strongly for Muslim women wearing the hijaab: they are in the firing line globally and have become the real ‘soldiers’ of Islam.
However, I feel the kind of superficialist understanding about the ‘fitnah’ which he means to be ‘sexual temptation’ is a bit off. Like, did I hear him say that a woman in Hijaab is one thousand times more temptation to a Muslim man than one without? Oh REALLY?! So Hijaab makes sexual temptation WORSE according to him. Me thinks he messed up.
You see, the hijaab is there to ‘level the playing field’ and to reduce (but not completely eliminate) sexual tension from the public arena. You can still tell if a girl is beautiful or not and even get a good idea about her figure despite the hijaab. It’s meant to be modest, not to completely ‘eradicate’ the beauty of the women, it’s just to avoid them becoming sex objects. They are still beautiful on the OUTSIDE and on the inside. I don’t think it is helpful to tell the girls that wearing hijaab means now it’s only your inner beauty.
Yes, they will get less attention than a girl in a boob tube and schoolgirl outfit, but hopefully the sisters will get the RIGHT type of attention, to enable them to meet men who will be interested in them for socially responsible reasons and not as a sex object. It also means they will attract more discerning men, who will appreciate the finer aspects of beauty, like bone structure and skin etc, which is not hidden by hijaab and requires a person with a good ‘eye’ for beauty to spot and appreciate, unlike the crass sexual stimulation provided by exposing ones cleavage or bottom, which does not mean you are necessarily beautiful, rather you have to go that extra mile to get attention, and from sexually aroused men at that. And let me tell you, when most men get aroused, they don’t care about how ‘beautiful’ you are, inside or out.
It’s like the difference between the people who go to the cineplex to watch trash like ‘Transformers 3′ and those who go to the Theatre or the Opera. I bet Williams is an opera kind of guy. A sister in a hijaab is like a fine wine and in turn will attract someone who appreciates the finer things in life (including her physical beauty) rather than the ‘Tits & Ass’ crew. It can even be argued that hijaab is a form of beauty elitism: emphasising a fine face (the window of the soul, according to Islam) as opposed to the sexual organs. when I travel the Muslim world and I see beautiful Muslim women, I feel my artistic senses stir as opposed to my genitals: In the West it is just the opposite.
I would like to suggest, tentatively, that other than the tremendous discrimination, social pressure, legislation in places like France, Singapore, China etc as well as almost daily street violence, (lest we forget the case of the German Hijaab martyr, Marwah), which causes women to take off the hijaab, I think one of the other leading causes for women neglecting the hijaab is that they cannot find a suitable partner, so feel they need to draw attention to their physical beauty to a greater degree to ‘throw the net wider’ so they can get one.
The first problem of discrimination and Islamophobia is being tackled by people like Williams and his ‘gang’ (MDI etc.) but who is doing anything about my suggested latter problem? No one methinks, and brothers like the one who made the video and claim that we should be on the (alleged) path of the ‘Salaf’ don’t really seem to propose a solution, other than to defer it to the next life. Well, God wants the good for us in this life and the next, and we are to seek it. Nowhere does he tell you to wait for companionship and sexual fulfilment in the next world: this is a very Catholic or Puritan idea. So if women and men want to have sex and partner up, then they are free to seek that and facilitate it. However, a certain type of Muslim brother or sister, who also claim to be on ‘the path of the Salaf’ erect tremendous and insurmountable barriers to the interaction of good Muslim men and women, making it impossible for them to get any kind of attention, good OR bad. What are they supposed to do then, according to this guy? I bet you it never occurs to the puritans that there may be a link between the marriage crisis in the Muslim community and the way girls dress. After all, why would girls want ATTENTION eh? What does that tell you?
As someone once said: ‘Be tough on crime, be tough on the CAUSES of crime’.
I’m going to be controversial and say that the excessive (unIslamic) practices in the Muslim community of segregation and non – mixing leading to loneliness, isolation and sexual frustration of both sexes due to the practices and teaching of those who claim to be on the ‘path of the ‘Salaf” is the leading cause of sexual and dress immodesty in the Muslim community (apart from outside pressure): they induce the desperation and then condemn people for acting desperate or immodestly.
Like a bad doctor kills all his patients and blames their lifestyle.
Comments on: "Beauty of Hijab" (2)
I see where he is going with this and I feel strongly for Muslim women wearing the hijaab: they are in the firing line globally and have become the real ‘soldiers’ of Islam.
However, I feel the kind of superficialist understanding about the ‘fitnah’ which he means to be ‘sexual temptation’ is a bit off. Like, did I hear him say that a woman in Hijaab is one thousand times more temptation to a Muslim man than one without? Oh REALLY?! So Hijaab makes sexual temptation WORSE according to him. Me thinks he messed up.
You see, the hijaab is there to ‘level the playing field’ and to reduce (but not completely eliminate) sexual tension from the public arena. You can still tell if a girl is beautiful or not and even get a good idea about her figure despite the hijaab. It’s meant to be modest, not to completely ‘eradicate’ the beauty of the women, it’s just to avoid them becoming sex objects. They are still beautiful on the OUTSIDE and on the inside. I don’t think it is helpful to tell the girls that wearing hijaab means now it’s only your inner beauty.
Yes, they will get less attention than a girl in a boob tube and schoolgirl outfit, but hopefully the sisters will get the RIGHT type of attention, to enable them to meet men who will be interested in them for socially responsible reasons and not as a sex object. It also means they will attract more discerning men, who will appreciate the finer aspects of beauty, like bone structure and skin etc, which is not hidden by hijaab and requires a person with a good ‘eye’ for beauty to spot and appreciate, unlike the crass sexual stimulation provided by exposing ones cleavage or bottom, which does not mean you are necessarily beautiful, rather you have to go that extra mile to get attention, and from sexually aroused men at that. And let me tell you, when most men get aroused, they don’t care about how ‘beautiful’ you are, inside or out.
It’s like the difference between the people who go to the cineplex to watch trash like ‘Transformers 3′ and those who go to the Theatre or the Opera. I bet Williams is an opera kind of guy. A sister in a hijaab is like a fine wine and in turn will attract someone who appreciates the finer things in life (including her physical beauty) rather than the ‘Tits & Ass’ crew. It can even be argued that hijaab is a form of beauty elitism: emphasising a fine face (the window of the soul, according to Islam) as opposed to the sexual organs. when I travel the Muslim world and I see beautiful Muslim women, I feel my artistic senses stir as opposed to my genitals: In the West it is just the opposite.
What does everyone else think?
I would like to suggest, tentatively, that other than the tremendous discrimination, social pressure, legislation in places like France, Singapore, China etc as well as almost daily street violence, (lest we forget the case of the German Hijaab martyr, Marwah), which causes women to take off the hijaab, I think one of the other leading causes for women neglecting the hijaab is that they cannot find a suitable partner, so feel they need to draw attention to their physical beauty to a greater degree to ‘throw the net wider’ so they can get one.
The first problem of discrimination and Islamophobia is being tackled by people like Williams and his ‘gang’ (MDI etc.) but who is doing anything about my suggested latter problem? No one methinks, and brothers like the one who made the video and claim that we should be on the (alleged) path of the ‘Salaf’ don’t really seem to propose a solution, other than to defer it to the next life. Well, God wants the good for us in this life and the next, and we are to seek it. Nowhere does he tell you to wait for companionship and sexual fulfilment in the next world: this is a very Catholic or Puritan idea. So if women and men want to have sex and partner up, then they are free to seek that and facilitate it. However, a certain type of Muslim brother or sister, who also claim to be on ‘the path of the Salaf’ erect tremendous and insurmountable barriers to the interaction of good Muslim men and women, making it impossible for them to get any kind of attention, good OR bad. What are they supposed to do then, according to this guy? I bet you it never occurs to the puritans that there may be a link between the marriage crisis in the Muslim community and the way girls dress. After all, why would girls want ATTENTION eh? What does that tell you?
As someone once said: ‘Be tough on crime, be tough on the CAUSES of crime’.
I’m going to be controversial and say that the excessive (unIslamic) practices in the Muslim community of segregation and non – mixing leading to loneliness, isolation and sexual frustration of both sexes due to the practices and teaching of those who claim to be on the ‘path of the ‘Salaf” is the leading cause of sexual and dress immodesty in the Muslim community (apart from outside pressure): they induce the desperation and then condemn people for acting desperate or immodestly.
Like a bad doctor kills all his patients and blames their lifestyle.
I’m happy to be corrected, especially by a woman.