The Forbidden: Poems from Iran and its Exiles

Criticizing the Veil

104 Criticizing the Veil Iraj Mirza She’s wearing a veil, but still makes your heart melt with a glance; God forbid that you should see her unveiled. The city’s Sheikh* scorns unveiling because all his deceits are consummated under the veil. Since what appears in the Qu’ran doesn’t suit him, he’ll dig into the words and interpret them hypocritically. One should never ask him for a reason because a wolf will say anything to fool a lamb.† Somebody posed a riddle, and I couldn’t answer it, but anybody who could is doing me a favor: Aside from Iranians, what other creatures would choose their mates without seeing them? Why don’t the masses of veiled women rip the veils off their faces? A woman’s veiled face creates an obstruction to wisdom; where’s the hand of truth that should open this door? Yes, the veil allows this group of Mufti‡ to rule like bosses over half of our people. The Sheikh is stealthy like a cat in his piety; no, the cat learns his tricks from the Sheikh. *The Persian word faghih signifies one of the highest ranking clergy in the religious hierarchy. †Here Iraj alludes to a famous Persian animal fable entitled “The Wolf and the Sheep.” ‡A Mufti is a member of the ruling clergy who issues fatawas, or religious verdicts. 105 If the cat’s paw gets a little wet, he’ll shake it wildly till it dries holding his wet paw away from himself like the city’s Sheikh pretending to avoid impurity. Anyone who’s unaware of such a character flaw would think the paw’s wetness is torturing the cat. However, when his insatiable eye spies a fish in the pond, he’d jump headlong into the water up to his tail. Don’t be suspicious of me if I call you “Ms.”; watch out for the one who calls you “sister.” I’m in awe of how well the Sheikh mastered the secrets of hypnotism; since he can transform a waking person into a sleeper. Women on the Hajj all run around unveiled;§ tell the Sheikh to attack and wreck that house. No one can catch the full moon’s reflection in water no matter how hard one tries. You too should preserve your modesty while allowing your face to shine; let the deceitful Sheikh remain howling like a dog. We can’t eradicate veils gradually unless a revolution gives us a hand§On the Hajj, women who visit Mecca are required not to wear a veil since at that time all fellow pilgrims are considered like brothers and sisters, close relations before whom a woman is not required to be veiled. 106 by tearing away the night’s dark clouds and illuminating streets and alleys with suns and moons.** Translated by William Wolak and Mahmood Karimi-Hakak **In Persian the words sun and moon are both feminine nouns and are frequently used as metaphors for a woman’s beautiful face. ...