A Spiritual Perspective on the Burqa Veil
As European countries debate whether or not to ban the burqa, or burka – the complete covering of the head, face and body, we can see that the issue can get pretty heated. In order to make use of this opportunity we can take a step back and try to get an objective perspective by pondering what the term ‘veil’ symbolises to us on a deeper level.
Is the controversy about religion or does it touch the nerve of our often subconscious social and cultural values of what is and isn’t acceptable? Let’s drill-down to try and find what underlies the actions being taken to legislate against the wearing of a particular item of clothing.
What is the burqa? It’s a veil isn’t it? A veil is an ancient symbol which means to shroud something – usually a clearer sense of reality. So we have the veil of mystery, glamour and illusion.
When brides marry they sometimes wear veils, we veil monuments and thrilling achievements just before they are unveiled by a dignitary. The mist veils the moors and streets in a mystical shroud of natural secrecy, and we cover our naked bodies in the veil of clothes, sometimes out of embarrassment, hoping to improve on our inheritance. Animals and soldiers employ the veil of camouflage to protect from the enemy, and our lies veil the truths we prefer to keep hidden.
So what is the mystery that the veils seek to protect? In all the instances cited above, the veil is used to cover-up something to provide physical, emotional or mental protection. And there seem to be myriad reasons for the cover-up.
The veil is sometimes interpreted in erotic terms as veiling something to make it more alluring and desirable (1) such as the veil over a bride’s face, or the transparent veil over the harem women’s faces.
According to the Ageless Wisdom texts, the veil is interpreted as a separation between the physical and spiritual worlds or realities.(2) In this case, the veil is intended as a temporary but effective means to prevent humans accessing the spiritual realities before adequate preparation has been made to understand and withstand their power.
Often there is more than one veil. Spiritual mysteries are veiled in secrecy and as the veils are withdrawn, the truth is revealed. As with everything the axiom ‘as above, so below’ can be applied. The veils are like peeling an onion; we remove one layer only to find another until eventually we come to the ultimate Truth in the centre.
So what does this have to do with the burqa? This item of clothing is just another veil. Like all other veils, it is designed to obscure reality. And, as Einstein showed, reality is relative.
Mohammad Qadeer says that the burqa is a tent-like cloak that completely drapes a woman’s body and face, with only a crocheted screen as an eye-piece. It has been worn by women to go out in public for almost a century or more in Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and parts of the Arabian Peninsula. It literally draws a curtain around a woman and allows her to move about outside the family compound, while conforming to the religious-cultural custom of remaining secluded from men”. (3)
The burqa is used in this context to create or retain an illusion agreed upon by those conforming to the tradition. What is the agreement? That depends on who’s been conditioned and how because our social and cultural upbringing creates our prejudices, beliefs, fears, hopes and desires – our collective veil – until we decide to unveil ourselves. We can ask: Is the burqa being used so that men can own their women; is it to protect women; or maybe because she’s having a bad hair day? Then again it may be so that men can pretend to be women?
In all societies and cultures the veil has been used as a convenient means to cover for unsociable or even culpable behaviour. Be it the balaclava, scarf, mask, sleeping with the enemy, corporate lies in memos, ‘read my lips’ whoppers, or promises made on the campaign trail – where does the veil really end? It all depends what we have culturally decided is an okay veil, what lies and deceit, norms of behaviour or prejudices, we have collectively agreed to protect or turn a blind (veiled) eye.
So in the west enough of us have agreed it’s okay for women to wear makeup, low cut tops, short skirts, and be available for sex 24/7, but it’s not okay for them to cover up their face. That is our collective veil – our agreed belief system about how the world is and should be.
The veil is about protecting illusions. Sometimes we don’t know why we’re condoning the veiled behaviour or attitude, like allowing banks to charge interest, or polluting our waterways, but we’ve collectively agreed to cast a veil over such actions – it’s just expeditious, but for who’s benefit?
To wear a burqa or have a boob-job; to perpetrate corporate crime that’s covertly concealed by layers of veils, or to detonate a car bomb that enjoys no such protection – all are actions that are supported or condemned based on veiled beliefs. But who can really point the finger and condemn one veil as being okay and another as not?
It may be clear to some, but to others the issue of how we legislate is based on often deeply hidden motives. What laws do we want to see enacted, how will they affect our social good (the highest good of the greatest number), and on what values are they really based? This question needs to be at the forefront of our minds because whether it’s about women’s freedom, cultural fit or religious freedoms, the burqa debate is just another veil to be lifted.
May 2010
Sources:
1. The Lure of the Veil, A History and Examination of the Practice and Pleasures of Veiling, http://www.talesoftheveils.info/lure/lure.html, retrieved 11.5.10
2. The Torn Veil, Jean Borella, The World Wisdom online library: www.worldwisdom.com/public/library/default.aspx, retrieved 11.5.10
3. The Evolution Of The Burqa, Mohammad Qadeer, http://iramz.wordpress.com/2006/10/05/the-evolution-of-the-burqa/ March 23, 2002, retrieved 11.5.10
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
I disagree.
The burqa is an insult to both men and to women.
It is a statement that men are beasts who cannot control their sexual desires, and it is a statement that women are merely sexual beings, temptresses.
The burqa also represents the imprisonment of women as objects owned by men. Emancipation of women still has to come to many Muslim countries.
In the West, none of this is acceptable.
As a woman I am offended by the inference that my face should be covered and hidden.
I therefore believe that if women want to wear it – and if they have had this tradition forced upon them since infancy, they would know nothing different – then they should remain in the countries where it is acceptable, because being hidden is not acceptable in Western society where women are the equal of men. That is the law, and it applies to everyone.