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| Allah Wants Women’s Faces to Be Hidden From Everyone Always |
| 2004-02-23 |
| One of the most remarkable among the many and varied tribal customs that survive in Saudi Arabia is one that forbids anyone at all seeing a woman’s face. In parts of the Al-Kharj region, not even a woman’s husband and children are permitted to see her face uncovered. In interviews with Al-Kharj residents, Sayidaty, a sister publication of Arab News, heard that often the first time even a daughter sees her mother’s face is after the mother’s death. ’I always dreamt of seeing my mother’s face because I am a woman like her,’ resident Hissa Al-Massareir told the magazine. ’But because of customs and traditions in the family, this was impossible. It was only when my mother died that my dream came true,’ she added. Al-Kharj native Muhammad Abdullah has never seen his wife’s face. ’We’ve been married for ten years and I’ve never seen it, not once,’ he said. The Burqa - the garment that covers all of [her] head except the eyes - ’is stuck to her face 24 hours a day’, he said. ’This is not for want of trying. One day I tried to remove the Burqa while she was asleep. She was furious. She left and went to her parents’ house and returned only after I had signed an undertaking that I would never attempt to do such a thing again.’ Saud Al-Otaibi also found his wife fiercely loyal to the custom. ’I tried to blackmail my wife by saying I’d marry another woman if she didn’t show me her face,’ he said. But he was in for a surprise. ’Instead of giving in she said, all right, marry someone else. And she set me up with a friend of hers who wasn’t so strict in her adherence to the custom, and I married her.’ Others report that they have become so used to not seeing the faces of even close relatives that they would be shocked if they did. ’I have never seen my mother’s face’, Ahmad Bkhait told the magazine. ’I tried many times but was always rebuffed. By now I’d think it weird if she suddenly unveiled her face
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| Posted by:Mike Sylwester |
| #17 You ignorant people who have never lived in Saudi Arabia or befriended an Arab or Muslim should educate yourselves befroe you judge others. I was born and lived in an Aramco(that would be Arabian American Oil Company , for you well read people) compound for 30 years and found the Arabs to be much more generous and open than many "westerners". Would it be fair to judge all Americans and Christians by a few uneducated poor or radicalfundamentalists?? I think not!! The amount of sheer hatred in your letters is appalling!!! I guess it's true that people fear what they do not understand.Maybe you can open your minds and let them grow and develop ,and shouldn't believe blindly all that you read in your mostly biased American news and sensational T.V.Try using your brain and making up your own mind. And it's not a sad empyty society...you do not have the levels of depression and isolation there that you find here either. |
| Posted by: Anonymous4710 2004-05-02 1:36:14 PM |
| #16 I doubt it states such a practice should be observed in the Koran - makes you wonder who invents these f***ed-up rules?? Mind you, looking at our fanatical friends, Abu Hamza et al in London, it's probably not too hard... |
| Posted by: Howard UK 2004-2-24 8:36:31 AM |
| #15 Imagine walking past your mother on the street and not knowing her from any other woman on earth. Those folks are wacky. And they're all a buncha damn fools for living that way all this time. What a bankrupt, morally backward way of life. |
| Posted by: Danny 2004-2-23 11:49:09 PM |
| #14 "Can you imagine growing up never seeing your mother's face seeing her smile or frown or cry or anything?" I tend to be a live and let live kind of guy. I try to find some value or understanding of social customs no matter how weird, (to me). But now that you put it this way, CF, this really is strange isn't it...to never have seen your mother smile? Almost unbelievable... |
| Posted by: Traveller 2004-2-23 11:10:52 PM |
| #13 Can you imagine growing up never seeing your mother's face seeing her smile or frown or cry or anything? No wonder they are so sexually inmature and repressed.... |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2004-2-23 10:58:17 PM |
| #12 They're insane. Totally insane. Anybody ever do a psychological study on The Prophet? I'll bet there's some seriously twisted shit in there. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2004-2-23 10:50:07 PM |
| #11 Heck, I bet Tonto even knew what the Lone Ranger looked like. I've heard, "The richer the woman; the thinner the veil." But, I never heard that some women never removed the damn thing. Sad. |
| Posted by: GK 2004-2-23 10:20:15 PM |
| #10 LOL R.C. This explains much...... |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2004-2-23 10:12:44 PM |
| #9 What a sad, empty society, where you can go your entire lift wondering what Mom looked like. |
| Posted by: Fred 2004-2-23 10:04:35 PM |
| #8 Yep gimmee that ole time religion.....what a pathetic society and "religion". |
| Posted by: dataman1 2004-2-23 9:33:42 PM |
| #7 Good grief. No wonder these sick puppies export violence. |
| Posted by: Dave D. 2004-2-23 9:23:41 PM |
| #6 ’Instead of giving in she said, all right, marry someone else. And she set me up with a friend of hers who wasn’t so strict in her adherence to the custom, and I married her.’ Dear Penthut: I never thought it would happen to me. My wife would never do it, no matter how much I pestered her. Finally, one day, she found a friend of hers who was willing... |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-2-23 9:03:40 PM |
| #5 AP - Aw man. When opportunity knocked, I wuz gone! Now if they wanna send me Saoodi money and pay me on the same scale and let me work remotely (since it's Internet programming, it doesn't matter where I am, heh), well, I'm game. I LOVE taking their money and spending it in Thailand and the US. But they're control freaks - so it'll prolly never happen. S'okay. Sin City suits me, so far! |
| Posted by: .com 2004-2-23 9:00:59 PM |
| #4 aincha glad you is outa there, .com? |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2004-2-23 8:39:09 PM |
| #3 Boggle. By pure dumb luck I was born in the US, in the lap of luxury (relatively speaking, of course), into the freedom of a Jacksonian family. Permitted to make any and all my own choices by a tradition of hardcore individualists. I think I'll join the Army of Very Lucky. How pathetic are its captives and perverted is Islam. |
| Posted by: .com 2004-2-23 8:16:42 PM |
| #2 'It was only when (fill in the blank) died that my dream came true.’ This type of thing seems to be true in a great number of Islamic endeavors. There is something fundamentally wrong with a society/religion when the only way to achieve happiness and acceptance is through your own death or the death of others. |
| Posted by: Scott 2004-2-23 8:04:06 PM |
| #1 Al-Kharj native Muhammad Abdullah has never seen his wife’s face. ’We’ve been married for ten years and I’ve never seen it, not once,’ he said. Maybe she has a darned good reason why she wants her face covered. Who is in charge of Muhammad Abdullah's outfit anyway? Man, this stuff is twisted! Saudi Arabia is like a car with a bent frame. No matter what you do to it, and how much money you spend on it, it will always be a car with a bent frame. (/analogy) |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2004-2-23 8:01:59 PM |