The Twenty-Fourth Flash - The Risale on Tasattur

Concerning Tasattur

While being the Second and Third Matters of the Fifteenth Note, in consequence of its importance it has become the Twenty-Fourth Flash.

بِسْمِ اللّٰهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ

يَا اَيُّهَا النَّبِىُّ قُلْ ِلاَزْوَاجِكَ وَبَنَاتِكَ وَنِسَاءِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ يُدْنِينَ عَلَيْهِنَّ مِنْ جَلاَبِيبِهِنَّ1

to the end thereof... This âyah orders the tasattur. As for the dissolute civilization, it opposes this decree of the Qur'an. It does not consider the tasattur to be appropriate to fitrah; it says: “It is a slavery”. {Part of the defence that is written to the Appeal Court, which opposed the Court and silenced it: "I say to this court of law that if there is justice on the face of the earth, it will surely refute this unjust decision and overrule this judgement, which convicts a man who through relying on the confirmation and consensus of three hundred and fifty thousand tafsirs and following the beliefs of our ancestors in the space of one thousand three hundred and fifty years, has made the tafsir of a most sacred, true and right principle of Allah applied in the social life of three hundred and fifty million people, in every age, for one thousand three hundred and fifty years!..."}

The Answer: We shall declare only four of the many hikmahs which indicate that this decree of Al-Qur’an Al-Hakîm is completely appropriate for the fitrah and the opposite of it is contrary to the fitrah.

FIRST HIKMAH:

Tasattur is appropriate for the fitrah of women and their fitrah requires it. Because since women are weak and delicate by creation, and they are in need of a man's protection and assistance for themselves and for their children whom they love more than their own lives, they have an inclination in their fitrah not to be subjected to detest, to make themselves loved and not to be hated.

Also, six or seven out of ten women are either old or ugly, they do not want to show their old age and ugliness to everyone. Or they are jealous; they do not want to appear ugly compared to those who are more beautiful than themselves, or they fear aggression or being accused; they want tasattur by fitrah so as not to be subjected to attacks, nor to be accused of betrayal by their husbands. Indeed if observed carefully, those who hide themselves mostly are the elderly. And out of ten women, only two or three can be found who are both young and beautiful and not embarrassed to display themselves.

It is well-known that people are embarrassed and affected by the looks of men who they do not like or detest. Even if a beautiful woman dressed immodestly likes the looks of two or three out of ten men, she detests seven or eight of them. Also, since a beautiful woman, whose morality is not corrupted and who is not tainted, is sensitive and quickly affected, she will certainly be embarrassed by the poisoning dirty looks the effects of which have been physically experienced. We even hear that in Europe, the place of immodest dressing, by being annoyed with this intense look, many women complain to the police, saying: "These vile men are harassing us with their stares." This means that civilization's abrogation of tasattur is contrary to fitrah. Together with the Qur'an's command of tasattur being appropriate for the fitrah, with tasattur, it saves women, who can be the mines of compassion and worthy eternal companions, from degradation, abasement, ma’nawî slavery and misery.

Also, women have timidity and fear of strange men by fitrah. As for the fear, it requires tasattur by fitrah. Because together with suffering for eight or nine months the heavy load of a child with difficulty, which will exceedingly make the eight or nine minutes pleasure bitter there is the possibility of suffering the calamity of eight or nine minutes illicit pleasure for eight or nine years with the tarbiyyah of a child without a protector. And since this happens frequently, their fitrah truly fears non-mahrams intensely and their natural disposition wants to avoid them. And their weak creation commands and strongly warns not to excite the appetites of non-mahrams and not to give any opportunity for their aggression. And, it shows that their shield and fortress is their charshaf (jilbâb).

As I heard: The bare-legged wife of a highly worldly ranked man being molested in the centre and capital city of government, in the bazaar, in the daytime, in front of everyone, by an extremely vile shoe-painter, gives a slap to the shameless faces of those who are against tasattur!

SECOND HIKMAH:

The extremely essential and intense relationship, love and connection between man and woman are not only based on the needs of worldly life. Yes, a woman is a life companion of her husband not only in worldly life but also she is a life companion in eternal life. Since she is also her husband's life companion in eternal life, she surely should not attract the looks of others to her beauties besides her husband, who is her eternal friend and companion, and should not offend and make him jealous.

Since in consequence of the mystery of îmân, her mu’min husband's connection to her is not confined to worldly life, and his love is not only animal-like, temporary and restricted to the time of her beauty but rather he is attached to her with true and earnest love and respect in terms of her being his life companion in eternal life. He bears that earnest love and respect for her not only during her youth and at the time of beauty but also at the time of oldness and ugliness. Indeed, in return for this, appropriating her beauties to his regard alone and restricting her love only to him are the requirement of humanity. Otherwise, she would gain very little but lose very much.

According to the Sharî’ah, the husband should be equivalent to the wife, that is, they should be suitable for each other. The most important aspect of this equivalence is the point of being religious. Happy is the husband who sees the piety of his woman and imitates her, and he becomes pious in order not to lose his companion in eternal life.

Fortunate is the woman who sees the piety of her husband and enters taqwâ in order not to lose her eternal friend.

Alas for the man who enters dissipation, which will cause him to lose his sâliha woman eternally. How unfortunate is the woman who does not follow her muttaqî husband and loses her blessed eternal friend.

A thousand alas for that unfortunate husband and wife; they imitate the fisq and dissipation of each other. They help one another to be thrown into the fire!

THIRD HIKMAH:

The happy life of a family continues through mutual trust between husband and wife and sincere respect and love. Lack of tasattur and immodest dressing destroy trust and spoil mutual respect and love. Because out of ten immodestly dressed women, only one does not try to make herself liked by strangers since she does not see any better one than her husband. Nine of them see others who are better than their husbands. And only one out of twenty men does not see a more beautiful one other than his wife. Then, it can awaken an extremely ugly and extremely base feeling besides losing sincere love and mutual respect. It is as follows:

By fitrah, man cannot bear a lustful feeling towards his mahrams like his sisters. For, since the face of a mahram makes a man feel the compassion and licit love in the aspect of her being mahram and of kinship, it breaks the lustful inclinations of the nafs. But, to leave the parts of the body bare like the legs, which are not permissible (jâiz) to show even to mahrams according to the Sharî’ah, can awake an extremely ugly feeling in the inferior nafs. Because the face of a mahram is a reminder of being forbidden in terms of close kinship, and it does not look like a non-mahram. But, for example, a bare leg is the same as that of non-mahrams. Since it does not bear any distinguishing mark, which will be a reminder of being a mahram, it may awaken a bestial, lustful look in mahrams with inferior nafs. Such a look is a hair-raising deviation of humanity.

FOURTH HIKMAH:

It is well-known that the abundance of generations is desired by everyone. There is no nation or government that does not support the multiplicity of successive generations. Ar-Rasûl Al-Akram ‘Alayhissalâtu Wassalâm decreed: تَنَاكَحُوا تَكَاثَرُوا فَاِنِّى اُبَاهِى بِكُمُ اْلاُمَمَ  (As he said) That is: "Marry and increase, for in the qiyâmah I will take pride in your great numbers." However, the abrogation of tasattur does not increase marriage but decreases it greatly. Because even the most dissolute and secular young man wants a chaste life companion possessing a keen sense of honour. Since he does not want her to be secular like himself, that is, he does not want her to dress immodestly, he remains unmarried and even enters fornication.

The woman is not like that, she cannot restrict her husband to that extent. Because since, on account of being the domestic administrator in the family life, the woman is an official in protecting all of her husband's possessions, his children and everything that belongs to him, her most essential moral quality is loyalty and trustworthiness. Immodest dressing destroys this loyalty; she loses trustworthiness in her husband’s eyes and makes him suffer the torment of conscience. Even if courage and generosity, which are two beautiful moral qualities in men, are found in women, they are considered bad moral qualities since they damage loyalty and trustworthiness. But her husband's duty is not loyalty and not being a treasurer to her, but rather protection, mercy and respect. Therefore, he cannot be restricted. He can marry other women as well.

Our country cannot be compared with Europe. Because, there, amid the immodest dressing, honour is preserved to a degree by violent means such as the duel. One who looks at the wife of an honoured man with impure eyes wraps his shroud to his neck and then looks. Also, in Europe, which is a place of cold countries, the characters are cold and frigid like those countries. Asia, that is, the continent of the world of Islam, has relatively warm countries. It is well-known that the environment has an effect on the character of the man. Immodest dressing for sharpening appetites and stimulating animal desires might not result in waste and misuse in those cold countries and those cold people. But immodest dressing that will continually excite the desires of the nafs of the quickly affected and sensitive people in warm countries is certainly the cause of much waste, misuse, weakness of generation and a loss of strength. Instead of the need of fitrah, which is once a month or twenty days, he supposes himself to be obliged to waste every few days. Then, since he is obliged to avoid his wife for fifteen days every month due to occurrences like her menstrual cycle, he will even incline to promiscuity if he is defeated by his nafs.

The urban people cannot abrogate tasattur by comparing themselves with the rural people or nomads. Because, in the villages and amongst nomads, due to the occupation of livelihood, working physically and being tired, innocent working women, who are coarse to an extent and comparingly less attractive than urban women, being partially open does not excite desires of the nafs. And since dissolute and vagrant men are few, one-tenth of the corruption of the city cannot be found among them. Therefore, they cannot be compared with them.