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From: bes@tybalt.caltech.edu
Newsgroups: soc.religion.islam
Subject: Function of the Hijaz (was: Urgent warning to Sisters)
Message-ID: <1991Feb15.175306.3365@nntp-server.caltech.edu>
Date: 15 Feb 91 17:53:06 GMT
Sender: bes@nntp-server.caltech.edu (Behnam Sadeghi)
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
Lines: 29
Approved: bes@tybalt.caltech.edu

>Perhaps one of the verses talking of "hijaz" suggests one solution to
>such shameful treatment of the Sisters.
>
>33:59
>
>"O Prophet! Tell thy wives and thy daughters, as well as all [other]
>believing women, that they should draw over themselves some of their
>outer garments [when in public]: this will be more conducive to their
>being recognized [as decent women] and not annoyed. But [whithal,] God
>is indeed much forgiving, a dispenser of grace!"
>
>Precisely because of the way the Sisters are dressing they are being
>annoyed/harassed. If one of the ideas of the above verse is to keep a
>Sister from being annoyed by "dressing properly" she should dress to
>become indistinguishable from the crowd. Then nobody would pay
>particular attention to her, thus her modesty would not be
>compromised.

I have seen fatwaas (both Sunni and Shia ones), that if somebody's life
is directly threatened it's OK to temporarily suspend some Islamic 
obligations on the surface. But I do NOT think there's such a 
situation at present point.  The danger posed to Moslems (especially 
women) at this point can be easily averted by the precautionary steps 
mentioned in brother Fazal`s article.  I don't think the millions of 
Moslems living in the West should change their way of life and stop 
being Moslems on the surface just because of the incidents up to this 
point.   This would seem like a gross over-reaction to the situation.

Behnam Sadeghi