Zafar Iqbal

 SOCIETY Introduction: In common parlance, the word 'society' is used in several meanings, for example, a group of women is called a women society. The word is also used for some specific institutions like Brahmo Samaj (society) or Arya Samaj. What is the purpose of a headscarf? Headscarves may be worn for a variety of purposes, such as protection of the head or hair from rain, wind, dirt, cold, warmth, for sanitation, for fashion, recognition or social distinction; with religious significance, to hide baldness, out of modesty, or other forms of social convention. How important is it to wear a hijab in Islam? In Islamic teachings, it has been said that God has asked women to wear hijabs in order to achieve modesty and to redirect the focus of both women and men from the materialistic world towards the more spiritual world of God. The Qur'an instructs Muslim women and men to dress modestly, and for some, the hijab is worn by Muslim girls and women to maintain modesty and privacy from unrelated males. According to the Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World, modesty concerns both men's and women's "gaze, gait, garments, and genitalia". "This is more appropriate so that they may be known [as Muslim women] and thus not be harassed [or molested]." (33:59). Men, whether they confess it or not, are slaves of lust and desire. . Hijab protects women from such men; it symbolizes that she has been sanctified to one man only and is off-limit to all others. . Hijab contributes to the stability and preservation of marriage and family by eliminating the chances of extramarital affairs. . Finally, it compels men to focus on the real personality of the woman and de-emphasizes her physical beauty. It puts the woman in control of strangers' reactions to her. Commenting on the attire of women in North Africa and South East Asia, Germaine Greer, one of the pioneers of the women's liberation movement, wrote: "Women who wear Cortes or huipiles or saris or jellabas or salwar kameez or any other ample garments can swell and diminish inside them without garments can swell and diminish them inside without embarrassment or discomfort. Women with shawls and veils can breastfeed anywhere without calling attention to themselves, while the baby is protected from dust and flies. In most non-Western societies, the dress and ornaments of women celebrate the mothering function. Ours deny it."1 Note that she also specifically mentions the salwar, kameez, and jellabas that are used by Muslim women in the East. Feminists and the Western media often portray the hijab as a symbol of oppression and slavery of women. This sexist angle of viewing the hijab reflects the influence of Western feminists who are subconsciously reacting to the Judea-Christian concept of the veil - "the symbol of woman's subjection to her husband".2 To look at one's own religious or cultural history and then to pass a judgment against another religion is, on the milder side, an intellectual miscalculation, and, on the harsher side, outright cultural imperialism! My father made an interesting observation in an article that when the Europeans penetrated the interior of Africa a century ago, they found some tribes who went about naked. They forced the tribes to wear clothes as a mark of civilization. "Now those advocates of 'civilization' are themselves discarding their clothes. After all, it is the rest of the world which is now imitating the ways of the so-called primitive society".