The
activist, Rabia Kazan, a columnist for 5 years in Ortadoğu Gazetesi, which is a
nationalist Turkish newspaper, and the author of a book titled "Tahran
Melekleri" (Angels of Tehran) in which she reviewed temporary marriage in
Iran, (a sort of legal prostitution) has been receiving serious death threats
from the Fanatic Islamic Community after making her decision to not wear a
headscarf, which she was forced to wear by her mother in her childhood. Having
gone to the Turkish Police Department, Rabia Kazan declared.
"The
headscarf was a decision of my mother and when I uncovered my head, I felt
freedom for the first time in my life."
Arguing
that there is no verse for wearing headscarves in the Quran, Kazan has faced
heavy criticism also in her country due to her thoughts. Her own father
attacked her house with stones. Kazan who worked voluntarily at WFUNA, a human
rights association of United Nations, claims that headscarves were used due to
geographical conditions before Islam by both Arabic women and men as a custom.
Conducting studies on Women Rights in Islam, Kazan explained why she uncovered
her head and what has changed in her life since then.
“I FELT FREEDOM WHEN I TOOK OFF MY HEADSCARF”
 |
| Forced to wear Headbag at 4. |
Living
with a headscarf required devotion. But of course that choice didn't belong to
me! But believe me it was a much harder, much more uphill struggle for me to
decide not to have it in my life; to eventually give up constantly struggling
against my reasoning, my mind and my conscience, and to choose to take up the
challenge of facing the consequences of this decision.
During
the first years of wearing a headscarf, I used to feel like my head was stuck
up inside a nylon bag, and I heard humming. I had those fearful moments when
the needles came loose, wondering if the needle would prick my throat. So I
would at times take off the headscarf secretly when my mother was not watching.
But one day when I got caught by my mother she subjected me to an unforgettably
painful beating.
30 years later, when I decided to uncover my
head, another battle started. It was very difficult. Radical Islamists got very
furious when a covered and well-known writer decided to uncover her head. I
harsh insults and received death threats.
 |
| Breathtakingly beautiful Rabia Kazan with and without a headscarf (Headbag). |
Change
was painful in this respect. But when I came to America, first of all I started
to swim to my heart’s content... It was such regret for me not to have done it
for so long that I didn't want to get out of the swimming pool before I swam
for two hours every night...
I
suffered from vitamin D deficiency since my skin didn't get enough sunlight by
then and this normally causes serious illnesses, weakness and mental fatigue. I
sunbathed a lot. Then I tied my hair in a pony-tail and played tennis under the
blue sky with my white tennis clothes on. I cannot tell you how good it felt.
Then I fulfilled my dream of growing nails and putting on red nail polish,
which was a personal remembrance to me.
I had met a woman in my trip to Iran who was
forced to put her hands into a bag full of insects just because she had put on
red nail polish... Whenever I put on red nail polish, I still remember that
woman with sadness...
Now I
am free and believe that God has no problem with the hair on my head, He will
not burn me in his Hell for this reason, He holds us with much more mercy and
kindness than we think, and that being "a good person" is much more
important than wearing a dark veil.
I have
understood that destroying our lives like a criminal in pain and tears just
because we express our feelings of thankfulness clearly cannot be something He
desires. And I have chosen to accept everyone He created, without conditions,
prejudices and with love like He does.
This new movement which saves Muslim women from the
primitive image of Arabic nomadic life should rather be encouraged than being
criticized. Women should be the sole decision makers on what they wear!
