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Cleric: “Slashing Wages For Bad Hejab is Against Sharia Law”

August 27, 2015
OstanWire
3 min read
Cleric: “Slashing Wages For Bad Hejab is Against Sharia Law”

A prominent cleric has rejected proposals for women to face salary cuts as punishment for not observing strict rules regarding the Islamic headscarf. 

Cutting the salaries of women who wear “bad hejab” is “problematic in terms of sharia law,” well-respected religious expert Hojatoleslam Mohsen Gharavian said in a recent interview. He was responding to a proposal for a new scheme to “preserve hejab and chastity,” which is due to be discussed in parliament soon.

“Doing this would equate to using financial and economic pressures to achieve a cultural end, “Gharavian told the Iranian Labour News Agency. “I think past experiences have shown that this method doesn’t work.”

Gharavian said one should ask oneself: “When a woman signs a contract, is her salary being paid to her because of her work or because of her hejab? Her work.”

He added, “So if the wage is for her work and not her morals, then her salary shouldn’t be affected. This is a real issue and clerics need to look into it.”

According to Article One of the “preserving hejab and chastity” scheme, security forces would have the power to fine drivers that “disturb the public” or that “remove their hejab when inside a car or vehicle.”

“I’m against this because it’s never worked in the past,” said Gharavian. ”Wearing the hejab is a cultural matter with moral and spiritual aspects that can’t be enforced by physical and financial means.”

Rows over “bad” or inappropriate hejab are never far out of the news in Iran. Hardliners staged demonstrations last year, calling for women to cover up in accordance to Islamic law.

In June, one of Qom’s highest ranking clerics, Ayatollah Jafar Sobhani, called for police and security forces to take a tougher stance against women who flout rules regarding the Islamic headscarf. He said that, in some cases, officers could act outside the law.

“Those who do not cover properly want to propagate an un-Islamic dress code,” Sobhani said. “That’s why the security forces should focus on the crackdown on these women.”

But in May, influential media figure Mohammad Reza Zaeri said that, although he thought women should wear the veil, the decision to make it compulsory after the 1979 Islamic Revolution might have been a “mistake.” 

Last year, a series of acid attacks on women in Isfahan led to large street protests, with demonstrators calling for the government and police to ensure the city was safe for women. Despite promises, no one has been arrested in connection with the attacks, and officials denied claims that the attacks had been carried out by vigilante groups objecting to women wearing "bad hejab". 

Then on July 14, nine months on from the acid attacks in Isfahan, four women were hospitalized in Bukan,Western Azarbaijan after having acid thrown on them.

Bukan News reported that two victims, a mother and daughter, were walking down the street when they were attacked. An hour later, another young woman was attacked, followed by another attack on a 28-year-old woman. None of the injuries were reported to be serious.

“Bad hejab” continues to be a divisive, and in some instances, dangerous, issue in Iranian society.

 

Related Articles:

Acid Attacks in Western Azarbaijan

Panic in Isfahan as Police Fail to Arrest Acid Attack Assailants

Hejab: The Most Cherished of Weapons

Hardliners vs Rouhani: The Culture Wars

“Forced Hejab is a Mistake”

 

Read the original article in Persian

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Cartoons

A perfect start to the day

August 27, 2015
Mana Neyestani
A perfect start to the day