From Sacred Readings From The Gathas, Hazrat Inayat Khan:
Superstitions Customs and Beliefs
1:9 The custom of the Seclusion of Women (1)
The custom of the seclusion of the mystics remains only in the mystical Orders, but one finds the seclusion of women prevelant in the East. when a custom takes root in a section of society it certainly can be used and abused a s people may choose. No doubt jealousy, which in human nature is a proof of love, can be the source of a great many crimes. Man has always guarded the treasures that he values most and, since that which a man can love most is a woman, he has often through ignorance tried to guard her in the same way as all things of value and importance. The custom of seclusion has been in his hand a means that has enabled him to control his household in the manner he likes.
However, it is not true that this custom was the outcome of the teaching of the Prophet. There are only two places in the records where an utterance of the Prophet on the subject is to be found. In one place it is told that, when some coarse dancing was taking place among the peasants of his land, he said that women must be properly clad; in the other, that when the ladies of the Prophet's houshold were returning home after taking care of the Prophet and his army during a battle, they did not wish to look at the battlefirel and to show themselves to their enemies. The only advice that the Prophet gave was that now that peace had been made, if they did not like to show themselves, they might veil their faces.
Home is the miniature of the state, and if woman performs a part equally important at home, why must she not perform an equally important part in the outward life? No doubt these ancient customs, (i.e. the seclusion of women) even with their psychological importance, often make an iron bar before the progress of the generality.
*photo 80th Urs of Hazrat Inayat Khan, at his Dargah,
The Basti, New Delhi, India 2007
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