Page 312 - Bigotry: The Dark Danger

Bigotry:
The Dark Danger

The Desire to Shut Only Women and Their Bodies Away

For whatever reason, under the influence of fabricated hadiths

the fanatics' interpretations have always been along the lines of shut-
ting women away indoors or covering their bodies up. The main jus-
tification they cite is their arousing nature; yet the fact remains that
the male body is just as attractive to women as the female body is to
men. Since, according to the Qur'an, there is no distinction between
the genders in terms of moral responsibility, there is no logic in try-

ing to cover up women out of a fear that men might be aroused by
them. If the problem were the arousal of men, then would it not be
far more logical for men to shut themselves up indoors or to go out
wearing a covering that prevented them from seeing what was
around them? Given the probabilities of their own arousal, they

should elect to eliminate the risk entirely rather than covering
women up.

All kinds of detail could be applied on this subject. For example,
if some people will think that a woman's voice is arousing and that
she should be prevented from speaking, the same should apply to
men. If a woman's words or the songs she sings should not be lis-
tened to, then bearing in mind that women can be excited by a man's

voice, that restriction should also apply to men. If the fanatic mental-
ity wishes to declare that its false rules are valid, and if it insists on
trying to convince people of them, then it should impose the same
measures on men.

However, the logic that applies in Islam is that of the Qur'an of
course, and there are no such restrictions in the logic of the Qur'an.
These restrictions that the fanatics wish to enforce have doubtlessly

been fabricated for the purpose of imposing controls and limiting
freedoms, and simply serve to create enormous troubles for commu-

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