Death Threats For Turkish Author Rabia Kazan For Removing Her Veil

Although Rabia Kazan was born and raised in secular Turkey, the bestselling author, journalist and activist's parents were ultra conservative, and she was therefore forced to wear the hijab from a very young age. She recently decided to unveil, and as expected, the death threats have started rolling in.

"The headscarf was a decision of my mother and when I uncovered my head, I felt freedom for the first time in my life."

Kazan has said there is nothing in the Quran that dictates the wearing of the hijab, that it was a pre-Islamic custom for both men and women in certain geographic areas. And even though some Islamic scholars have said the hijab is not an Islamic duty, there are those who are adamant that one can not be a good Muslimah if one does not cover one's head.

She has angered many including her father, who stoned her house. I'm sure he probably would have preferred to stone his daughter.

She explains her decision to stop wearing the hijab:

If a person has gotten used to seeing life through a single window, and worse, was stuck with the idea that no other windows exist, then they live through rigidity, blindness, dogma or whatever you call it, through a "pitiful" persistence. My philosophical struggle was quite difficult due to conditions beyond my power... Due to the divorce of my parents, ultraconservative views of my mother's family and conditions that cannot be overcome by a small child; I was a believer of truths I wasn't allowed to choose. I was forcefully introduced to the head scarf at a very early age by my mother.

Living with a headscarf required devotion. But of course that choice didn't belong to me! But believe me it was a much harder, much more uphill struggle for me to decide not to have it in my life; to eventually give up constantly struggling against my reasoning, my mind and my conscience, and to choose to take up the challenge of facing the consequences of this decision.

During the first years of wearing a headscarf, I used to feel like my head was stuck up inside a nylon bag, and I heard humming. I had those fearful moments when the needles came loose, wondering if the needle would prick my throat. So I would at times take off the headscarf secretly when my mother was not watching. But one day when I got caught by my mother she subjected me to an unforgettably painful beating.

30 years later, when I decided to uncover my head, another battle started. It was very difficult. Radical Islamists got very furious when a covered and well-known writer decided to uncover her head. I harsh insults and received death threats.

Change was painful in this respect. But when I came to America, first of all I started to swim to my heart’s content... It was such regret for me not to have done it for so long that I didn't want to get out of the swimming pool before I swam for two hours every night...

I suffered from vitamin D deficiency since my skin didn't get enough sunlight by then and this normally causes serious illnesses, weakness and mental fatigue. I sunbathed a lot. Then I tied my hair in a pony-tail and played tennis under the blue sky with my white tennis clothes on. I cannot tell you how good it felt. Then I fulfilled my dream of growing nails and putting on red nail polish, which was a personal remembrance to me. I had met a woman in my trip to Iran who was forced to put her hands into a bag full of insects just because she had put on red nail polish... Whenever I put on red nail polish, I still remember that woman with sadness...

Now I am free and believe that God has no problem with the hair on my head, He will not burn me in his Hell for this reason, He holds us with much more mercy and kindness than we think, and that being "a good person" is much more important than wearing a dark veil.

I have understood that destroying our lives like a criminal in pain and tears just because we express our feelings of thankfulness clearly cannot be something He desires. And I have chosen to accept everyone He created, without conditions, prejudices and with love like He does. This new movement which saves Muslim women from the primitive image of Arabic nomadic life should rather be encouraged than being criticized. Women should be the sole decision makers on what they wear.

Source: Muslim Women News

Hijab Not An Islamic Duty- Claims Al Azhar Scholar

Many Muslim men and the women who wear the hijab will argue that wearing the veil is prescribed by Islam and therefore a must for all pious Muslimahs.  But not everyone buys into that, and you'd be very surprised at who.

Apparently, Sheikh Mustapha Mohamed Rashedat,  a PhD student at Egypt's Al Azhar University (the main center for Sunni Islamic teachings and Arabic literature), wrote a thesis proving that the  hijab is not an "Islamic duty" after all. In fact, he claims it's not even mentioned in the Quran, but that

 “Nonetheless, a bunch of scholars insisted vehemently that the veil is both an Islamic duty and one of the most important pillars of Islam."  “They deviated from the purposes of the Islamic law and “Sahih Atafsir” or the true interpretation. They rejected reasoning and relied only on literal text.”

Rashed believes that Islamic scholars have incorrectly  interpreted the Quran either through ignorance or for their own agenda.

...these scholars de-contextualized the verses of the Quran and interpreted them in their very own liking, following some ancient scholars, as if what they said is sacred and is no subject to Ijtihad.

Ijtihad is a technical term, which literally means “exertion” in a jurisprudential sense; it is the exertion of mental energy by a Muslim jurist to deduce legal rulings from Islam’s sacred texts.

The researcher continued that the scholars, who claim that Hijab is an important pillar of Islam, departed from “Al Minhaj Assahih,” or the true path, of interpretation and reasoning, which interprets the verses according to their historical context and the causes of revelation. These scholars “interpreted the verses in their general sense, overlooking the causes of their revelation, intentionally or due to their limited intellectual capacity resulted in psychological scourge.” Worse yet, they approached hundreds of important issues in the same way.”

“The supporters of Hijab as an Islamic duty base their arguments on inconsistent and wrong evidence. They would ascribe various meanings to the veil, from Hijab to Khimar to Jalabib, a fact which shows that they digressed from the true meaning they intended to address, the cover of the head,” he added. The researcher attempted to deconstruct the three claims that are derived from interpretations of the sacred texts.

Literally, Hijab means “a veil,” “curtain,” “partition” or “separation.”  The verse in which it is mentioned is specifically addressed to the wives of the prophet; there is no dispute among scholars about that at all. The verse states as follow,

“And when you ask [his wives] for something, ask them from behind a partition ( hijab). That is purer for your hearts and their hearts. And it is not [conceivable or lawful] for you to harm the Messenger of Allah or to marry his wives after him, ever. Indeed, that would be in the sight of Allah an enormity.“( Quran 33: 53)

The term hijab then is meant to have a partition between the wives of the prophet and his companions. It is not addressed to the Muslim women, otherwise it would have been stated, says Mohamed Rashed.

Read the rest here, it's quite fascinating.

Of course, he's probably been classified a heretic, and no-one seems to know how the thesis was received, but good for him. At least there are some enlightened males in that religion.