Ask the Vizier - Is Love Blind
Sometimes I take off my baseball cap and put on the turban of the Grand Vizier. Muslims may ask me questions that they are too embarrassed to ask their Imam or are afraid they will be killed for asking the wrong question.
So here is question number 1 for Ask the Vizier (℠):
Q. Do we Muslim require our women to wear burqa because love is blind?
A. Praise be to Allaah.
Viewing a woman's face and parts of her body are haraam things because these are the ways that lead to falling into the sin of zina (fornication, adultery). This is in addition to the harmful effects it has on the heart, causing confusion and distracting it from the purpose for which it was created.
This above is the answer you are to give to the unbeliever. But since you are a Muslim, here is the real answer: No, we require our women to wear burqa not because love is blind, but because we see quite well. Without the veil, our daughters will never leave our household.
And Allaah is the Guide to the Straight Path.
As usual, when I write something about Muslims, I give a link to a news article that inspired my post, lest someone accuse me of lying or exaggerating:
UK Telegraph, 10 Feb 2010, Groom sues in-laws over bride's 'beard and crossed-eyes'
The diplomat, an ambassador and minister plenipotentiary who has not been identified but is thought to be from a Gulf state, brought the case in a sharia court in Dubai.According to court papers, he said he decided to divorce her immediately after her niqab, the face-veil worn by many Gulf women for modesty, was removed.
...
"Every time the couple met, the bride would do her best not to reveal her entire face," a source close to the case told the local Gulf News. "After the ambassador and the woman, who is a physician, signed the marriage contract, the groom was sitting with the bride.
"He claimed to the sharia court officials that when he wanted to kiss his wife-to-be, he discovered she was bearded and cross-eyed as well."
Claiming he had been tricked, the ambassador took her parents to court to reclaim the £8,300 he had spent on jewellery, clothes and gifts for her.
The court heard an examination by a specialist failed to find any medical condition that might have caused the facial hair.
On this basis, the judge rejected the claim for compensation, but he did agree to approve the divorce.
This has been question number 1 in my series Ask the Vizier (℠):
DISCLAIMER
The Vizier answers issues pertaining to Shariah which comes down directly from Allâh. These questions and answers are placed in public view on Planck's Constant for educational purposes. Many of these answers are unique to a particular situation and cannot be taken as a basis for a ruling in another situation. Ask the Vizier (℠) bears no responsibility with regards to these questions being used out of their intended context or to any party who may or may not act on this answer. The Vizier is hereby exempted from loss or damage howsoever caused.
This answer may not be used as evidence in any Court of Law without prior written consent of the Vizier.
