As-salamu alaykum,

In the younger years of my life, I grew up in an Island Kingdom in the Middle East. Bahrain; A few miles off the coast of Saudi Arabia, in all the rich & vast beauty of the pristine blue waters of the Persian Gulf; Bahrain, simply hearing her name brings joy to my heart. I was born and raised in Al Bahrain; The land of the beautiful, the land of pearls.

I was raised a Roman Catholic by religious parents, but I loved Islam more than my religion. But it never even occurred to me that I will end up in neither of them. Life took me to a state of skepticism, of reason & of science; it took me, to Atheism.

In Islamic thought, pearls symbolize perfection and completeness of the soul, light & truth, richly rewarded in Paradise. The Middle Eastern affection for the pearl is enshrined in the Koran’s description of Paradise where:

“The stones are pearls and jacinths; the fruits of the trees are pearls and emeralds; and each person admitted to the delights of the celestial kingdom is provided with a tent of pearls, jacinths, and emeralds; is crowned with pearls of incomparable luster, and is attended by beautiful maidens resembling hidden pearls.”

These words symbolize the perfect world, a final resting place Allah has prepared for his followers. But hidden amongst those pretty lines are two important things. “..is provided with a tent of pearls” & “..beautiful maidens resembling hidden pearls.” You might be thinking, “Is Allah offering women if you follow his words?” Well, your thoughts are correct!! But I do not wish to talk about Allah being a pimp (I use that word very carefully & with maximum amount of respect I can gather, to the religion I used to love) in this post. What I wish to emphasis is the word HIDDEN in “..beautiful maidens resembling hidden pearls” . These lines were put there by the person who wrote it (the said-to-be Allah’s words), purposefully to make it clear that woman in heaven HIDE their beauty. And therefore, all of Allah’s female creations on earth must also hide under a veil.

There are many lines in the Qur’an that underline the importance of woman hiding their faces, forbidding entrance to Mosques, Circumcision & almost complete crushing any self respect left in them. Most of the woman think its good and they bravely say “we like it“, which is of course, true, to them because they have never been outside it to know the difference. Its almost like the famous quote “A brainwashed person does not realize the fact that she was brainwashed”. In the present day, 98% of all Arabic woman in Islamic countries & kingdoms hide their pretty faces, never to be seen in public. Their men are the only ones allowed ever to set eyes upon their beautiful faces.

Quite often, we come across statement like, Hijab is a way of exemplifying a woman, not demeaning her. Are you sure about this?

Let me tell you why I decided to talk about Islam, Bahrain & Me.

I attended the Indian School of Bahrain as a young one all the way through Junior high. This was not an Indians exclusive school, there were children from all of India & Bahrain as well. I used to have a friend at school, she used to sit beside me in most of the classes & we used to find each other in the same class as we moved up the grades. Her name was Noor.

She was one of my favorite (only) girl-who-is-a-friend at school. She was one of the happy ones, always talking and always doing something at her desk. She would often switch to arabic automatically without thinking & I would be completely lost in the conversation and I’d have to use Arabic Sign Language to tell her that she lost me. She would often burst out laughing or just sit there with a wide grin like kids trying to hide, with a smile, what they did wrong. She was fun. But it all changed pretty soon.

It was the first day at 8th Grade & as always, I sat all the way at the back. I wasn’t able to find Noor anywhere in the class. But I heard her name being called out in the roll and I noticed a little girl under a black veil raise her hand from a desk in front. I didn’t realize it was her until recess. It was not just the head scarf that arab girls usually wear, she had most of her face covered, and the long scarf was untidier than everyone else’s, covering the top of her uniform. The niqab or burqah type veil (face covering) is not a necessary nor beneficial component of Islamic life, but she wore it to class everyday.

One day in class, I got into a very intense discussion with one of her girlfriends. She was pretty angry at me for asking Noor to take her veil off. If I remember correctly, Noor’s friend told me: (Its kinda hard thinking 6 years back, so please bear with me)

I love my hijab. It loves me. I wear it because God asked me. not any person. God has good enough reasons.

There! Now how can you argue with that?? There wasn’t any thing I can say to change her mind. Months passed and Noor stopped talking to any of the boys or even me. She was always huddled together with her girlfriends. But I often called her at night (She wasn’t allowed to use the phone much) and we would often talk about the day. She would break into tears most of time while on the phone, about how her dad pushed her to things she didn’t like. I have never seen her cry, but I felt the sorrow in her voice. I couldn’t honestly look at her in school, I was helpless. There was always a broken heart inside that I never realized. She loved science, maybe she would have become an Atheist if it wasn’t for her society and family.

Her dad was a very religious person. He even talked to her Arabic teacher (I think Arabic lessons are a must for Muslims as their second language) to make sure She, doesn’t talk to boys, wears her veil all the time and lived in fear of Allah. I even doubt that he had other girls as spies in class. I just wish to remember one single line that my friend said sometime back, “I have to wear it because of my parents. I don’t want to wear it.” - That’s the truth. That’s where her dad & mom should see the light, in their daughters black pearl eyes.

I left my friend, school and childhood back in Bahrain when I flew back to India in year 2000. I hope all is well with you Noor, hope you find strength in this unjust world filled with people who never try to understand you.

The funny thing is, Noor means “Light” in Arabic

ila l-liqa (So long, Until the next time)