Henceforth, in order that you may be a means of publicity for their commodities, in order that you may be a customer of their products, in order that you may stupefy the minds, and in order that you may be a source of destruction of the supreme values, what intrigue should they bring to use your hair, what market should they open and what commodities should they produce, of what colour, what lavender, what type of shampoo, what fixtures and what models should they prepare in order to turn your attention, the mind of men, to makeup and cosmetics? No, now it is enough as God has commanded:
"They should draw their veils...." [6]
Now, how should they display your neck and your bosom? How can they use it as a means of publicity for their refrigerators, their fans or their washing machines, or a means for deviating the minds, which too God has placed in the shelter of Islamic dress, (where he says):
"They should draw their veils over their bosoms...."[7]
Of course, my sister, woman of my land, all oppressed women of the world who have been subjected to the tyranny of these powers in one way or the other, and your whole body has been a source of publicity for some shoes, some garments or some machines, how should they use the peculiarities of your feminine character as a tool for sex, lust, pleasure and profit and impose them on the society, while God has placed you within a safe enclosure in a nice garden, (as He commands):
"They should cast their outer garments over their persons."[8]
Now, how can they reject the values of your being through the decoration of your physical features and laying emphasis on your physical values, conceal your capabilities for development and perfection, in order to keep you in the lowest levels of knowledge and understanding, even if you happen to be educated, as education in such Satanic circumstances is not a proof of proper understanding.
Islam the deliverer, has snatched such opportunity too from all indulgence in lust along with hero-worship, dandyism, well-scented-rogues, profit-mongers and their followers, (as Allah says:)
"They should not display their beauty and ornaments except what (must ordinarily) appear thereof. [9] Now, how should they ruin the minds, deviate the brains and sell their products of inferior quality for high prices through the use of your eyes and looks, the eyes which should never be cast at what is forbidden to look at, whatever is forbidden. What difference does the futile knowledge which has no utility for the development of you and the people of your land, as well as the consumer goods including the garments, cosmetics and other means of living, whatever is unfruitful for the elevation of your persons and your character, whatever proves to be an impediment in your development and movement towards God.
Do you know, it is the eyes that must be cast on facts, on the ailments of the society, the distresses of the deprived, the plunder of the natural resources, culture, religious, communal and indigenous values, on the laws which give perfection to the being and on the facts of Islamic faith which bring salvation. It is the eyes that are answerable. Of course, (as Allah commands:)
"The women should lower (the gaze of) their eyes." [10] My sister, I give you the message through my hejab. I tell you the truth. I tread the path of development and elevation. Lend your ear to my message.
All the oppressors of history, and now their heirs and successors, the world imperialism and their stooges, who have deprived the people of a pleasant living and undisturbed sleep, have made the use of every peculiarity of yours for the benefit of themselves and the perpetuation of their rule as well as increasing their wealth. Islam has wittingly protected all these peculiarities through its all-pervading teachings in the shelter of its ideology from being exploited or harmed by the oppressors, and has changed them into a weapon against these people.
Do you see? Do you hear? (Is it) your own voice? They have regulated even your voice, by determining its frequencies, its higher and lower tones, in the different hours of the day, on various occasions, on the office table, in the bed, on the telephone, as to how you should behave, a prostitute from head to toe, so that you may have observed the training of the modern woman, in order that you may spoil the minds, weaken the willpowers and avert the brains from facts so that the Imperialists may sell more of their spoiled commodities by controlling the lower and higher tones of your voice.
They would make use of your tempting and lascivious voice for the publicity of a refrigerator or a juicer, or. ..Alas! How much they have degraded you, to the position of an article, a tool, an implement simply for making profit and perpetuating their control over the sleeping minds, the petrified brains, interested in sex, pleasure, consumption and grazing like cattle.
Islam has also taken away this base from them, (as Allah orders):
"Be not too complacent of speech."[11]
But speak, wherever the truth is to be expressed, redress is demanded, justice is implored, a pious society is to be formed. It is there that your speech shall serve as a weapon against them. It would be a call of truth that will fall on their heads. It shall be an arm that shall make the heart of their power its target, and shall invite the people of your land, the masses, to the heights of evolution and perfection.
"Speak a speech (that is) just." [12]
Then all of a sudden it throws all the weight on the forces preventing the masses from achieving elevation and perfection, and explains all the essence and philosophy of hejab, as to what it is. Woman has throughout history expressed a strong inclination towards ostentation and self-display. In every period it was there in one form or the other. Now under the sway of the most powerful empire of the world, the plundering West and the Imperialist East, this love for display has dragged woman to humiliation and has degraded her to the extent of becoming an article or an animal, so that "The most beautiful female animal of the world" is the title of one of the modern film advertisements.
Let us weep bitterly. Let us revolt through our deeds, words, acts and (sacrificing) our blood, so that we may destroy this decadent system from our society and throughout the world, wipe off these disgraceful stigmas and these filthy values from the human society and from the holy face of the woman. Praise be to the souls of those who took a step forward in the way of this sacred path by sacrificing their blood.
O Woman! O my sister! O prisoner of the ruling regime! O the one oppressed by the political and economic powers and religious despotism!
Is according to the analysis of Islamic Ideology this love for display and ostentation at the social level an innate trait of woman's character?
No, never! Islam that bestows salvation and elevation considers self-display as one of signs of conditions imposed by the Ignorance (period). What type of society is an Ignorant society? It is an atheistic or class-oriented society under the control of political or economic and, sometimes, pseudo-religious power with the criteria of beauty, sex, entertainment, womanizing, sensuality, indulgence in lust along with hero-worship, dandyism, well-scentedness and coquetry that the ruling regimes have imposed such conditions on a vast scale upon all the units and sections of the society including men, women and children.
A woman who places herself for display is inspired by such society. She has full faith in her physical and external features, as she lacks the internal and supreme human values. In the words of the Qur'anic explanation, the influence of the ignorant conditions brings down the knowledge of all the masses, the understanding of every individual including men and women about their responsibilities for the achievement of the gradual perfection of the society and in their own place in the course of the development of the phenomena of masses to the lowest and the most brutal level. A woman who displays her feminine features and her special culture before the strangers is a woman, the influence of the ignorant society has so much over-powered her person that her understanding has declined to the level of an animal or her mere instinctive level, and has distorted her human character, social responsibility and the fervour of the original values bestowed in her divine essence under the hooves of brutish culture of Imperialism and exploitation imposed on her by the rogues.
Yes, O sister! O woman! This is why Islam through this command invites you to (achieve) self-understanding and knowledge of the society, its original needs, the principal cause of its corruption and depravity and at last to soar towards heights, or revolt for ransacking the ignorant conditions of the decadent society and the prevailing system, (as Allah commands:)
"And make not a dazzling display, like that of the former Times of Ignorance." [13]
In this manner Islam has blocked all the possibilities of deviation and profiteering. But it has not blocked your way. It has demolished the domination of the tyrant rulers that has come down through the course of thousands of years of history, since the last 2500 years, demolished the capitalists and the Imperialists and disarmed them. But it has not done so with you. Through this dress, it has bestowed upon you a garden, a green field the horizon of which is spread before you to infinity. You may achieve heights, rise and strive for the deliverance of yourself, your land, your religion, your culture and your oppressed masses, and fly high towards God, the Absolute Perfection.
Now, it is enough. O most oppressed among the oppressed of history! O woman! It is now enough. Now hark to the message of Islam, and receive it from the Qur'an, from the call of the truth-seekers, from the blood of the martyrs, and once for all with the hatchet of Towhid break into pieces the tyrant powers, the whole corrupt systems and all the values imposed on you which have dragged you into such disgrace and humiliation, and raze their edifice to the ground.
Give a helping hand to those who have openly been defeated in the path of truth and to the masses.
Rise and revolt against the autocratic regimes, against the decadent societies and the dirty values imposed on you. Rise, and incite others against them, with the help of your Islam, with the help of your hejab, the depth of which you have now fully realized, which has bestowed upon you the infinite capacity of being human, and which has liberated you from all the criteria of Imperialism and exploitation. Warn the people of your land to demand piety from you and not beauty; modesty and not immodesty and betrayal of secrets; chastity and honour and not prostitution, obscenity and coquetry, revolt and rebel, in and not passive submission to whatever is given to you, to whatever orders are issued to you by the regimes, rogues, capitalists, imperialists and even the rotten customs and traditions through which they compel you.
Let the people wish to find you like the magnificent and proud summits, a sister revolting against the ruling regimes, the ebullient rivulets springing from within the hearts of the lofty mountains. Let them long to see in you an indefatigable combatant against falsehood and untruth.
Let the people like to see in you a brave, chaste and responsible mother, a loving wife interested in the well-being of the family, the stronghold for the upbringing and stimulation of those who tread on the path of truth. Let them see in you a Khadijah, the first among all the women who embraced Islam before others, a woman who sacrificed her whole being at the altar of the growth and spread of Islam.
Let them wish to find in you a (Fatimah) Zahra who suffered a lot in saying what was true, who always spoke the truth and, due to the torture at the hands of untruth, she opted to die and be buried under the dust in the prime of her youth.
Let them long to see in you a Zaynab, the combatant, whose call for the awakening and search for truth still echoes and shall continue to echo until the end of the world in the mountains, plains and societies, and the human history shall sing the song of her ideal, her path, and call the people to emulate her.
Let them want to see you like the sisters who with their holy blood have given a response to this invitation, to this call. It is enough, now I have heard your message, Muslim woman, and have now come to understand Islam. I have adopted the hejab. Of course, I have responded to your call. My sister, I have adopted the hejab. I have achieved self-recognition. The old self, made by others, made by the family training, brought up by the political and economic powers, trained by the unfruitful conventions and useless customs of the community I have inherited, yes I have destroyed such Self, and have made another Self on the basis of the Islamic teachings. Now I am a Muslim woman. I am free. I am released. This is the real freedom, namely, being a Muslim.
My hejab is a weapon. It is a stronghold for war against oppressors. I make them a target of the volley of truth and wrath discharged from my hejab and send them to the graveyard of history.
O powerful people! O disobedient tyrants! O Pharoahs! Throughout the millenia of decadent history you have used me as a domestic servant, a tool for the bed and a source for enervating willpowers, stupefying the brains and destroying the supreme values and have turned me subservient to the whims of man.
You have closed on me from all sides all the channels of true knowledge and understanding of truth, the bitter facts of being and have nailed me in the lowest plane of thinking and meditation. O Croesuses of history, old and modern capitalists, you have been exploiting my labour power in the most savage manner in the factories and farms, and have persuaded me to serve the bureaucracy in the office so that I may rot and rot.
You have unclad me. You have employed me as a source for the sale of your stinking, low quality products.
