Posted on 08/05/2007 8:33:40 AM PDT by JCG
One of the most remarkable among the many and varied tribal customs that survive in Saudi Arabia is one that forbids anyone at all seeing a woman’s face. In parts of the Al-Kharj region, not even a woman’s husband and children are permitted to see her face uncovered.
In interviews with Al-Kharj residents, Sayidaty, a sister publication of Arab News, heard that often the first time even a daughter sees her mother’s face is after the mother’s death.
“I always dreamt of seeing my mother’s face because I am a woman like her,” resident Hissa Al-Massareir told the magazine. “But because of customs and traditions in the family, this was impossible. It was only when my mother died that my dream came true,” she added.
Al-Kharj native Muhammad Abdullah has never seen his wife’s face. “We’ve been married for ten years and I’ve never seen it, not once,” he said. The burqa — the garment that covers all of head except the eyes — “is stuck to her face 24 hours a day,” he said.
This is not for want of trying. “One day I tried to remove the burqa while she was asleep. She was furious. She left and went to her parents’ house and returned only after I had signed an undertaking that I would never attempt to do such a thing again.”
Saud Al-Otaibi also found his wife fiercely loyal to the custom. “I tried to blackmail my wife by saying I’d marry another woman if she didn’t show me her face,” he said.
But he was in for a surprise. “Instead of giving in she said, all right, marry someone else. And she set me up with a friend of hers who wasn’t so strict in her adherence to the custom, and I married her.”
Others report that they have become so used to not seeing the faces of even close relatives that they would be shocked if they did.
“I have never seen my mother’s face,” Ahmed Bikhait told the magazine. “I tried many times but was always rebuffed. By now I’d think it weird if she suddenly unveiled her face,” he added.
A woman in her sixties explained that this tradition, like many others, is disappearing fast. “We have inherited these customs from time immemorial, and they are normal to us,” she said. “But of course our children don’t believe in these traditions any more.” The imam of a mosque in the region, Ayid Al-Dosari, said there was no sin in a woman unveiling her face to her husband or children and the phenomenon had to be attributed to tribal customs rather than religion.
“This has nothing to do with Islam,” he said. “It’s simply one of the traditions that some tribes follow.
“In Islam, a husband can, of course, see the whole of his wife’s body. The face is the least he’s entitled to,” he said.
“But these are inherited customs and these people follow them. There is nothing I can do about that,” he added.
Western tribal customs also include the unborn being used as skin rejuvenation products for beauty and health. Such a civilized world we live in...
Waayyy too much eye makeup for me...
Quote from the article:
“A woman in her sixties explained that this tradition, like many others, is disappearing fast.”
GOOD.
If that isn’t a horribly sick culture then I don’t know what is! How can a mother not want her child to see her face?
Islam itself is what produced, and nurtures, the custom. Watch Kandahar sometime.
If I were married to one of those gals, it would have taken me maybe a week tops before I saw her face.
#7 that last one makes me WINCE.
YUCK!
Imagine what effect this has on the gene pool. With no selective pressure for beautiful females, maybe it would be better not to see what's under the burka?
Now that’s a face that could only speak for the continuation for the practice.
OH MY GAWD, can that be real??
I don’t know what I would do if I saw something like that
walking towards me on the street, but I do know I would
have to say something.
What a totally f.u. society.
LOL... Saying these folks are stuck in the seventh century is about a thousand years more credit than they deserve!
I’m not sure selective pressure for beauty is working here either. I spent quite a bit of time shopping in a Super Walmart yesterday. Yikes! Maybe there’s something to the burka idea.
Sure, he'd take one look and then cut her head off.
Helen Thomas lookalikes rejoice.
Yes, I thought that children not being able to see their mothers’ faces was even worse than husbands not being able to see their wives’. Nursing babies are fascinated by their mother’s faces; they stare into their eyes and reach up to touch.
Mrs VS
Peter Jenning dated her? Any respect I had for him is GONE, not that I had much to begin with.
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