More on Burqa/Hijab and Niqab

Submitted by Prashant (United States), Jun 3, 2015 at 22:22

Dear Dr Pipes,

Burqa and other face covering apparels can be seen as products. If they are good they will be adapted by many people and if bad they will be rejected. And, of course, they can be used with choice and they can also be used under religious or social compulsion. In this context, I have seen Burqa as a useful tool to enable crime and I have also seen it as a minor or major inconvenience on a hot day. I have also seen families where the guys is walking confortably on the street in a nice comfortable dress on a hot day while his (proud) wife is confined to a burqa.

But in this analysis, I missed a major point: niqab can indeed be a torture. What if every one gets to see the world with normal vision but you are forced to view it with blurred glasses? What if you are forced to view the world on sunny days with glasses that are only 70% transparent. I have never experience it but Niqab serves exact same purpose. This point was recently brought out by a photographer --a muslim at that-- who took pictures around the middle east through a lense covered with a Niqab.

Here is the link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/18/niqab-muslim-women_n_7307796.html. The article is not very well written but it shows a blurred view of the world. Another feature of the product! Let the world evaluate the product objectively!

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