Question 199: About the Hijab and the Oneness of Life

Posted by: onenessguy on: October 2, 2022

In: lifestyles | relationships | religion
Leave a Comment

Question 199: What does wearing a hijab have to do with the oneness of life?

Nothing. The recent protests against the wearing of a hijab and the morality police in Iran (Sept 2022) have brought this to the attention of the whole world. The rule that women need to cover their hair while in public areas is a means of control over women by the theocratic government of Iran. The rule is also meant to keep men from lusting after women if they see the beautiful hair of women. So it is also an attempt to control the lustful thoughts of men. It shows that organized religions can entirely miss the point about the purpose of a religion, which is to lead people to the realization of their oneness with our Creator.

When a religion is tied to the government, then the religion becomes a means to control people. Whether or not a woman chooses to wear a hijab has nothing to do with her relationship to the Infinite Spirit. It should be a matter of choice for style, modesty, or following a custom. Our Creator God, by whatever name you call out, Allah, Yahweh, Brahma, or Great Spirit, does not require women to wear a hijab anymore than it requires men to have beards or hats on.

Islam isn’t the only religion that discriminates against women. Almost all of them do. The protests in Iran will bring much-needed attention to the problem of how religions treat women. This is a time for the rising up of women to demand and claim their true equality with men, before the law and before our Creator God.

The Gospel of Oneness teaches us that all souls are part of the One Spirit of creation. The purpose of religion is to help people realize this. The legalistic ideas that come up such as not working on the Sabbath day, wearing certain clothes, or praying in one direction have nothing to do with the inner realization of our oneness with Spirit.

***************************************

Let us recognize that we can no longer tolerate violent oppression of women in the name of religion and culture any more than we would tolerate violent oppression espoused by any other bully in the name of a twisted rationale.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Religion was used as an ideology, as a system of control. When they forced the veil upon women, they were using it as an instrument of control in the same way that in Mao’s China people were wearing Mao jackets and women were not supposed to wear any makeup.

Azar Nafisi

There isn’t a religion on earth that isn’t damaging to the human race because every one of them is patriarchal and every one eliminates more than half of the human race – women. They are all oppressors of women.

Susan Powter

Those in the west who dismiss the repressiveness of laws against women in countries like Iran, no matter how benign their intentions, present a condescending view not just of the religion but also of women living in Muslim majority countries, as if the desire for choice and happiness is the monopoly of women in the west.

Azar Nafisi

Any religion which sacrifices women to the brutality of men is no religion.

Julia Ward Howe

Women become the objects of rules; they are repressed and lose their rights in the name of religion, or they lose their freedom in the name of tradition, while the state legitimates this foolishness with laws.