Prime Minister Imran Khan’s remarks on women’s dress and rape: A critical analysis

Islam is a simple and straightforward religion. Islam doesn’t hesitate to curtail the real bases of social evils to promote a better social milieu. Allah says in Quran: “Allah does not hold back for the fear of People.”

The status of women has been the subject of debate in different societies since the creation of Adam (AS) and Eve (AS). Despite a negative portrayal of women in the mainstream Western media, women have always been held in high esteem in Islam. Islam is the religion that elevated the stature of women not only socially but spiritually as well and this is not a sentimental statement. The so-called torchbearers of the West have acknowledged this fact.

Now coming to the point, let’s analyse the situation created by the liberals, Aurat March representatives and some politicians against Prime Minister Imran Khan. What actually he said in his interview?

In response to a question, he said,

“If a woman is wearing very few clothes, it will have an impact on men, unless they are robots. I mean it is a common sense.”

The interviewer, a Jewish journalist, again asked, “But is it really going to provoke acts of sexual violence?”

“It depends which society you live in,” Khan responded.

Now what’s wrong in the statement? Allah says in Quran:

“Tell the believing men to lower their gaze and be modest. That is purer for them. Lo! God is Aware of what they do. And tell the believing women to lower their gaze and be modest, and to display of their adornment only that which is apparent, and to draw their veils over their chests, and not to reveal their adornment.” (Quran 24:30)

Now, it is very easy to understand that Islam provides laws for all aspects of life leaving nothing behind. To protect the modesty, Islam binds men to lower their eyes and advises women to cover themselves. From this, logically two aspects can be understood. One, if a woman wants not to be harmed, she needs to cover herself. Two, men need to control their lecherous gawks.

Then what is wrong in Imran Khan’s statement? First, the interviewer had malicious intentions and maybe that’s the reason the interview was released in chunks and not as a full episode of two hours. Second, liberals took it as a golden opportunity to raise a hue and cry. Many people sent me messages expressing their anger and serious concerns that why some people are overreacting to Khan’s statement when he didn’t say anything wrong.

Hijab is not the only reason rather one of the reasons and let me say it might be the most decisive reason behind rape. But the question here is do wearing no revealing clothes is a crime? It is Pakistan, majority of Pakistanis dislike the Western way of dressing up. Then why these mannequins are bawling? Khan represents Pakistani society and why should he not follow our culture and traditions?

It is observed that people lock their shops at night to protect their belongings and precious things from thieves and burglars. Don’t you think it is my responsibility to save my mother, sister, wife and daughter from a bad eye or other such evils? When we buy expensive phones, what do we do first? Yes, tell me without hesitation. Isn’t it that we buy a protector to save it from damage? We, the Pakistanis, always protect our exquisite and precious belongings whether it is Quran or our women.

One of the most significant factors behind the majority of the rape cases is revealing clothing. Now when I say this, I don’t mean that it is the only factor. No, there are many. Look at the stats. Possibly I could make it easy for you to understand it. A popular Indian newspaper, Hindustan Times, wrote that 2,168 rape cases and 2921 molestation cases were registered in New Delhi alone in 2019. A woman is raped every 5 hours, 10 minutes in Delhi.

An April 10, 2021 post by New York Post reads, “Sexual assault across NYC up 322% from same time last year.” Don’t you think it is highlighting the city’s dark underbelly? Liberals can find all kinds of liberty there, why can’t they work on curtailing numbers in America — their utopia. They don’t want to listen it because this will not serve their purpose and agenda. Everything that is bad and smelly, they don’t give their nose, nonetheless when they find a little dirt that comes from Pakistan’s Islamic background, they will not only sniff it, they will spread the dirt as well.

Why is it so that their liberty and emancipation starts with wearing skirts, sleeveless dresses, drinking alcohol and choosing gay marriages? As a Muslim, do you think people of Pakistan accept this? Yes, it’s true that Pakistanis don’t go by the book but where is it written that if we do one wrong, we have the right to do another.

We Pakistanis are not rape apologists, but we are not here to let the so-called liberals rape our norms as well. We need to do whatever we can do to curb this menace, but we will not allow you to malign our culture. Imran Khan made many blunders but this time he didn’t say anything wrong. When they say hang the rapists, you come out marching with your so-called human rights. O come on, stay with the stance.

جھوٹ بولا ہے تو قائم بھی رہو اس پر ظفرؔ
آدمی کو صاحبِ کردار ہونا چاہئے

Believe me! Real women are not hurt by Khan’s statement. We must have the courage to call a spade a spade. When Allah says cover yourself, you need to do it. When Allah says lower your gaze, we must do so. Once Qudratullah Shahab said to Ayyub Khan, the then president: “We have no escape from Islam.”

To cap the analysis, harping on the same string never bears the fruit. We need to consider all factors, including a dress code. Nature covers the ugliness; it is human beings who breed uncovering.

The writer is an educationist and teaches at a public sector university in Oman.