Burqa is No Shield Against “Peaceful” Mindset And Ideology

For centuries, clerics and community leaders have insisted that the burqa is an essential for “peaceful women.  Almost every Muslim advocate for the Burqa says the head-to-toe cover protects women from harassment and shields them from the male gaze.

The argument is simple but deeply flawed: if women cover themselves completely, men will not be tempted. However, reality contradicts this “peaceful” claim at every turn.

From the narrow lanes of Varanasi to the streets of Moradabad, from Delhi to Kandahar, incidents reveal that burqa-clad women are still harassed, assaulted, and demeaned. If modesty alone could guarantee safety, then Afghanistan under the Taliban—where every woman is forced into the burqa—should have been the safest place on earth. Instead, it has become the largest open-air prison for women.

The issue is not women’s clothing; it is the conditioning of men through a system that rewards dominance, normalizes female subjugation, and sexualizes women regardless of what they wear.

Case One: Varanasi – Burqa Clad Yet Harassed in Broad Daylight

Recently, a video shows a Burqa-clad woman confronting a “peaceful” man in the holy city of Varanasi. The shocking incident debunked the myth of the Burqa or Hijab as protection for women. A Muslim girl, covered in a burqa, was walking in the street when a “peaceful” man on a bike approached and touched her inappropriately before fleeing.

The “peaceful” act was caught on CCTV cameras and soon went viral on social media.

The victim, supported by her family, identified the accused as the “peaceful” individual. The woman confronted her accoster and publicly beat him up. Later, she allegedly handed him over to the police.

This case is significant for two reasons:

1. The victim was burqa-clad. She had adhered to the Islamic concept of “haya” imposed by religious orthodoxy. Yet, her clothing did nothing to deter harassment.
2. The accused was a Muslim man. This punctures the argument that the burqa protects women from “outsiders” or “non-believers.” The predator here shared the same “peaceful” faith, same locality, and yet had no hesitation in violating her dignity.

This proves a harsh truth: a “peaceful” man, who is conditioned to see women as objects of lust, will not change his behavior because of a piece of cloth.

Case Two: Moradabad – When Piety Turns to Perversion

A while back, an incident from Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, shook the public conscience. A “peaceful” named Aadil Saifi harassed a burqa-clad woman. When locals confronted him, he attempted to flee. Police gave chase, but Saifi escalated the situation. He fired at the officers with an unlicensed pistol. Eventually, he was shot in the leg during an encounter and arrested. His bike carried no number plate, and the gun was illegal.

While the LeLi ecosystem tried to pin the blame on Hindus, it was actually a Muslim man who harassed a “peacefully” burqa clad woman.

This case illustrates something bigger:

• Harassment is not a “momentary lapse” but part of a broader criminal ecosystem. Saifi was not just an eve teaser – he was an armed, lawless, and emboldened “peaceful”.
• The victim’s burqa again offered no protection. What mattered was “peaceful” Saifi’s mindset, not her clothing.

When harassment, crime, and “peaceful” religious entitlement intersect, society becomes unsafe for women – even those completely hidden under the black veils of a Burqa.

Afghanistan’s Dark Mirror – Burqa as Prison, Not Protection

To truly understand the fallacy of the burqa as safety, one must look at Afghanistan under Taliban rule. Since the Taliban’s return in 2021, the entire female population has been forced into the burqa and silenced under fatwas. Yet, instead of safety, Afghan women have been erased from public life.

According to the UN Women report, Afghan women are now:

• Banned from education beyond sixth grade, with universities closed to female students.
• Prohibited from working in most sectors except under extreme restrictions.
• Not allowed to travel without a male guardian or mahram.
• Forbidden from appearing in public without a burqa, even on television, where female news anchors must cover their faces.
• Females cannot speak in public, even in prayer.
• Women are not allowed to sing in prayer, even in the company of other women!

And still, Afghan women continue to report harassment, domestic abuse, and sexual violence. The Burqa, Niqab, and Hijab are not shields but prisons. They erase individuality, silence voices, and legitimize control of females.

If the burqa truly guaranteed respect, Afghanistan would have been a utopia for women.

Instead, it is the most dangerous country in the world to be born female.

“Peaceful” Ideology Behind the Violence

The Varanasi and Moradabad cases expose a deeper ideological “peaceful” problem. Clothing is not the issue – conditioning is.

In societies where women are constantly portrayed as temptations and men are promised eternal sexual gratification in Jannat, “peaceful” male hyper-lust is a natural consequence.

Scholars like Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Fatima Mernissi argue that Islamic jurisprudence on the Burqa is not about “protecting” women but about controlling them. The burqa is a tool to transfer responsibility: if a woman is harassed, blame her clothing.

But the two cases from Uttar Pradesh dismantle this excuse. Both times, the women were veiled. They were modestly covered as required under Islam. They followed every prescribed code, except for the presence of a mahram. And still, they were harassed and accosted by “peace-loving” males.

The fault lies squarely in the male gaze shaped by ideology – an ideology that conditions men to see women as subordinate beings and free game unless escorted by another man!

This mindset is what creates a cycle of abuse across the world: from India’s towns to Pakistan’s streets, from Iran’s morality police to Afghanistan’s Taliban courts.

Niqab, Burqa, Hijab – Hide Ugly Truths! 

The burqa, niqab, hijab do not protect women – They only hide the truth. The truth is that women are unsafe not because of their clothing but because of a “peaceful” ideology that dehumanizes them.

The Varanasi and Moradabad incidents show us that even women who are completely covered are vulnerable.

Taliban’s Afghanistan demonstrates that even when every woman is forced into the burqa, women remain oppressed.

Therefore, the solution does not lie in changing women’s clothes but in changing the “peaceful” mindset. Until the “peacefulness” of the ideology that treats women as objects of control and reward is dismantled – whether in jeans or a burqa, women will never be safe.