The reliable evidence shows the fact that before the advent of Islam, Iranian women like the women of other civilized nations, for many centuries used to wear hijab as their human nature, common sense and religious teachings entailed to the extent that during the Sassanid period, “the women belonged to upper classes of society were not allowed to be with men in public or leave the house except with litters.” This is reflected in the remaining paintings or sculptures related to those periods. The commitment of Iranian girls to the hijab before Islam was such that after Sassanids were defeated by Muslim Arabs and three daughters of the King of Iran met Umar, they did not remove their hijab before men even with the order and threats of the Caliph.
Ayatollah Khamenei also considers hijab as a thousand-year heritage for Iranians introducing them as a chaste and noble nation even before the arrival of Islam, a fact which indicates the dignity and modesty of Iranian women before Islam.
In 1943 Reza Shah Pahlavi travelled to Turkey. The social situation and the position of women in that society- and probably some other colonial reasons – led him to assume that hijab lies at the root of all the deprivations of Iranian women; thus, on January 8, 1936, he issued a decree banning all Islamic veils. Reza Shah’s remarks on the same day, on the one hand, prove the deprivation and hardships Iranian women have gone through in the past, and on the other hand, confirm the illusion he had in this regard; because his actions and decisions are regarded as humiliating and insulting women deriving them towards further destruction and eroticism.
In this regard, Ayatollah Khamenei states that Reza Khan, the domineering bully, instead of introducing the knowledge and progress of the Western culture to his nation, brought over the idea of removing the veil which was accomplished by the use of force and through his style of bullying! He found the progress of his country in people’s dress code and imitating Western culture and customs. Moreover, instead of following them in the field of acquiring knowledge, he forced people to wear special clothing and banned the hijab, a decision that was not only a great loss for the country but also it was a shame and clearly a move towards deviation. The victory of the Islamic Revolution and the end of the disgraceful and dark period of Pahlavi paved the way for the spiritual growth of religious women in the country.
Therefore, they were able to engage in various scientific, cultural and art fields while observing the hijab and chastity and without having any fear of the social environment. However, the enemy did not give up and resorted to new methods which were pursued at a great cost and aimed to instill a deviant culture. The spirit of expansionism and plundering among the Western colonial enemies has caused them to always seek to exploit the national capitals of other countries, including the Islamic Republic of Iran. Accordingly, the “cultural war” and “cultural invasion” are among the most important actions of the enemy in the fight against the culture and identity of Islamic countries. Generally, in political literature, the domineering system imposes its own culture by force in order to capture a nation. This phenomenon is called “cultural invasion.” Ayatollah Khamenei states: “Cultural invasion occurs when a political or economic group invades the cultural foundations of another nation for political and colonial purposes. Such a group brings new things [by force] into that country aiming to replace them with national culture and beliefs.”
The Root Cause of the West’s Enmity with the Islamic Hijab
Based on the statements of the Supreme Leader, the reasons for the West’s objection to the culture of hijab could be examined in terms of the following aspects.
Spreading the Western Culture in the World
The West, especially the United States and its European allies, while relying on its military, economic and propaganda influence, claims that a unipolar system should be established in the world thereby preparing the ground for the globalization of Western culture. Therefore, women’s hijab is considered one of the important obstacles to this goal; because women are the only potential and powerful driving force in societies. Ayatollah Khamenei exposes this pre-designed dangerous scenario of Western culture as American reforms. He believes that the West, despite claiming to advocate freedom and free thinking, behaves very fanatically in the category of culture and presents its culture as a global standard that other countries, including Iran, have to follow. Therefore, the West deals with the hijab strictly due to its opposition to Western global standards. Ayatollah Khamenei states: “The West only accepts those who adopt its culture and therefore anyone, even the autocratic and murderous people or those who violate human rights, who abides by that culture will deserve credit.”
The Supreme Leader of the Revolution states that the enemy calls such countermeasures the reforms, which lead to the destruction of high human values, including the hijab. However, such types of reforms that lead to the destruction of moral and religious boundaries should be labelled as American reforms. That is so because the characteristics of Western civilization are deceitfulness, hypocrisy, and dishonesty and it has established its culture throughout the world. In addition, the West has acted in a way that today’s women consider putting themselves on display and serving men’s pleasure as their most important responsibility. Because the fundamental policy of the West is to promote moral corruption among women and exploit them, which certainly is not consistent with the hijab. And even if hijab is not motivated by religious faith, the West still opposes it.
The West’s Instrumental Approach to Women
In the view of Ayatollah Khamenei, encouraging women to serve men’s desires and lust is a symptom of patriarchy in the West. This is not freedom of women, rather it is patriarchy based on which women are used for fulfilling men’s visual lusts. In other words, looking at women as a tool which has been institutionalized in Western culture is a wrong and insulting view. Moreover, by changing the name of such humiliating and insulting acts into freedom and human rights, women have been used in an illegitimate way to satisfy men’s desires.
In fact, the West must be held accountable for the oppression it has inflicted on women; because women have been used at the service of men, and, in addition to sexual pleasure, they are seen as a means to sell goods, and this is the worst possible insult. However, Muslim women, who observe hijab and maintain chastity, have been able to engage in various scientific, cultural, social, art and sports activities which the West cannot tolerate. As the Supreme Leader points out in the meeting with male and female athletes and medal winners: “Our ladies appeared in the sports fields with dignity and poise. All of them observed the Islamic hijab and some were wearing the Iranian Islamic hijab i.e., chador, which is a symbol of Iranian women all over the world. This act is so valuable... It shows your revolutionary, Islamic and Iranian identity. This is what transcends a nation. It is not an honour to submit to the imposed standards of arrogant powers...”
Also, he believes that hijab contributes to women’s attaining the highest academic levels without being subject to hardships and difficulties. Moreover, in his view, the hijab is a valuable issue and a prelude for a woman to reach the “high spiritual” status. Therefore, within such an understanding of the culture of hijab, there is no room for Western policies of instrumentalization of women.
The Effective Tool in Making People Lose their Faith by Promoting Nudity and Abandoning Hijab
In the view of Ayatollah Khamenei, the colonizers seek to remove religion and scholars [one example of which is abandoning the hijab] in order to gain political, cultural and economic dominance over the country. He adds that Reza Khan, as a puppet agent of the West, cooperated with the colonialists and tried to remove the religious atmosphere and spirit from the academic environments. This is so because the enemy aims to push society towards irreligiousness, which could easily be achieved by rearing and training irreligious people, who would create future life, in scientific circles. According to Ayatollah Khamenei, although the nation of Iran did not accept the bitter event of unveiling, yet unfortunately, some people were born into that culture and never realized the indecency of it; because for two or three generations, they underwent the wicked reign of Pahlavi until the victory of the Islamic Revolution and therefore they could not understand the benefits and effects of having a healthy and Islamic society.
Benefits and Effects of the Hijab and Modesty
Safety of Men and Women
The Supreme Leader describes hijab as a means of providing security. In other words, by observing hijab, Muslim women provide security both for themselves and for Muslim men. He believes that in order to preserve a healthy and secure society and academic environments wherein women can pursue their tasks and men can carry out their responsibilities, we need to provide security for all people in all aspects including morality and gender. Therefore, he asserts that hijab does not impede women’s activities in various social fields, rather it would create security in society.
Respecting and Honoring Women
The hijab is an honour for women. Until two or three hundred years ago, in most countries even in Europe, aristocratic women used to wear hijab (veil) on their faces to be respected and honoured. On the contrary, the ones without hijab belonged to the lower classes. Therefore, from Ayatollah Khamenei’s point of view, Islam put an end to this monopoly and discrimination by raising the issue of the hijab. He asserts that as far as the fallacy and slander of “mandatory hijab” against Islam and the Revolution is concerned, the West should be held accountable because of promoting “mandatory unveiling”, which results in women becoming a commodity and a tool. That is why he emphasizes that hijab gives women freedom and identity and despite the dim-witted and superficial propaganda campaigns of materialistic people, it does not shackle women; rather, it gives women modesty and dignity.
Controlling Eroticism
Neglecting the hijab in the West has caused individual and social challenges. Therefore, women’s behaviour and inappropriate clothes could arouse men whereas observing hijab and keeping the Islamic boundaries regarding the two genders’ relations constitute a framework for controlling eroticism. Today, not only in Western countries but also in some Islamic ones we witness the phenomenon of using women for men’s physical pleasure which is so disturbing and destructive. In Ayatollah Khamenei’s view, the hijab is one of the preliminary steps for countering such a great threat. For this reason, he compared the promotion of eroticism and nudity to a dangerous abyss in which those countries that have fallen feel fear and panic and try to find a way out while this situation has been created by themselves. Ayatollah Khamenei asserts that the cause of so many sexual crimes being committed in America and Europe and sometimes include same-sex relationships is the unlimited relationships between men and women and the lack of hijab in such societies.
Family Strength
The Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution refers to the woman as the main member and the basic pillar of not only the family but also the society, who has a significant impact on the development of society and men. While expressing the difference between men and women in terms of the relationship in family and society, he emphasizes that if the rules and boundaries Islam has set regarding the relations between men and women are observed and implemented, the family will never be destroyed; because, in his view, Islamic culture is a culture promoting the segregation of men and women.
According to Ayatollah Khamenei, various divine regulations and rules regarding the relations of men and women, including the hijab, aim to preserve the safe and loving environment of the family, which in turn indicates its importance in society. Stressing the need for women to observe hijab for the strength of the family, he asks women to be active in society while having an Islamic hijab and without wearing make-up. In the meantime, he advises men to lower their gaze and control their desires because if they fail to do so their wives will no longer seem attractive to them, and therefore, love would disappear from their marriage which in turn results in the destruction of the foundation of the family.
Reference: Studies of Muslim Contemporary Thought. Vol 7, No.13, Spring and Summer 2021, Pp 11-39.
Archive of Ayatollah Khamenei
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