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Aurat means a "woman" or a "wife" in Urdu and Hindi languages.[1] In some countries such as Indonesia, aurat means "awrah" or "body parts" (also nakedness).[2] The nomenclature "aurat" is used in many Asian languages including Arabic, Azerbaijani & Iranian Azeri (arvad)[3], Bengali, Hindi, Persian, Punjabi, (Ottoman) Turkish (avret) [4] and Indonesian.[citation needed][5]

Etymology and socio-cultural construct

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Word Aurat comes from Arabic word 'awrah'[1] transforming 'awrah' to → 'awrat'. In Arabic, the words awrah or awrat denotes defectiveness, imperfection, blemish, weakness, genitalia, loins, private parts, pudendum flaw, defect, and fault.[1] The word is used in Quran to mean "privacy", "vulnerable" and "nakedness" among the other meanings stated earlier.[1][better source needed][6][7] Aharôn Layiš' book on family laws among Druz attributes a quote to one al-Tanukhi that says "..Women are all nakedness (awrat) and all nakedness should be covered"[8] As per Moshe Piamenta in his book "Islam in Everyday Arabic Speech", notes that in bedouin language, synecdochic usage of word 'awrat' denotes 'woman'.[9] In Kurdish language word 'Aurat' for women is spelled as 'avarat' where as in Turkish language it is spelled as 'Avret'[10]

Before entering South Asia, in the past, it was used in Farsi i.e. Persian language in Iran to mean 'woman'. Mohammad Moin's Persian dictionary, awrah notes two different meanings: nakedness and a young woman. But subsequently Iranians started avoiding word Aurat for 'women' considering the same used to mean 'nakedness' too. In (Ottoman) Turkish word 'avret' was used more for common married or adult women, where as word hatun was used for more respected women.[10] In ottoman times any unmarried adolescent girl was called kiz and her silence was assumed as consent for marriage purposes but they were mobility wise freer and less controlled un till marriage but once married and considered Avret their mobility and sexuality came under drastic social control so as they would not engage in adultery to preserve male right of linage and patriarchal honor.[10] In modern Turkish since twentieth century use of word avret got limited to intimate body parts.[10]

In South Asia word Aurat is more often used to mean woman or wife in Urdu and Hindi languages.[1] With Islamic conceptual leanings believing in entire physical being and existence of a woman to be "Aurat" needs to be covered and restricted from stranger male gaze, the concept developed requisitioning "Aurats" to follow elaborate customary protocols which included "Aurat" had to be hidden with utmost body covering from public and public spaces as much as possible; and many women believing the narrative that it is divine injunction to be followed and hence internalizing religious and customary expectations adopted clothing styles like Chunri (dupatta), Pallu, Ghunghat stoles that could be adjustable and helpful in hiding their hair, breasts and even eyes if needed; the kurta and the gharara, shalwar kameez or Saris; Nikab or Burqas for more conservative Muslim women, besides curtains called Purdah which not only to segregate and being invisible from men at home but historically purdah custom could accompany in public spaces if needed for example a woman would walk behind Mard (husband) so chance of getting stranger male gaze will be lesser or in transport or recreation facilities or courts a physical Purdah (curtain) would be maintained to segregate them from stranger males; but given the fact that female voice also being "Aurat" for extreme conservative usually a Purdahnashin (Purdah following) "Aurat" need not go or interact in public spaces as much as possible,[11] even their name need not be mentioned but be referred as daughter, sister, wife, mother of so and so. The honor of being izzatdar (honorable) would be reserved for "Aurats" who followed strict Purdah seclusion system along with strict modesty etiquette and also moral codes of chastity demanding strict loyalty to one's own husband. In this social construct by default, an Aurat has to be Pak Aurat (i.e. pure & pious Aurat) and not being so is demeaned as 'Napak (impure/impios Aurat).[12] Another side of the same coin would be those "Aurats" who would not come upon expectations of all the strict social distancing with 'stranger men' of Purdah system, would likely be demeaned and many times punished in various ways considering them to be too independent or shameless.

Hindi language author Rajendra Yadav criticizes limitations of Indian social construct wherein, on one hand, Indian society remembers and respects woman's upper body as a mother - 'Naari' - even to a level of a goddess, but when thinks of lower part sexualizes as Aurat and attempts to control that sexuality. [13]

Objections

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Malays debated the appropriateness of the word "Aurat" in the 1930s.[14] Mona Hassan at The Nation has objected to the use of the word due to its etymology, saying south Asian men equate women to honor and shame connecting ultimate reference to woman's breasts and vagina and attempt to control the same as part of their honor other wise they feel shamed, Islamic interpretations and practices widely differ in how much part of Aurat (i.e.Woman) body constitute to be intimate, liberal interpretations limiting to best possible to conservative interpretations can even include woman's voice and social existence,[15] this process of thinking leads to culture of women seclusion from public life and subjugation and violation of their human rights.[1][16][17][18]

According to Anjali Bagwe, in south Asia women are distinguished as "Aurat Jat" (of women caste) in an internalized patriarchal sense which presumes women can't be equal to men and tend to be inferior.[19] Those women who attempt any course other than misogynist patriarchal expectations are labeled stereotyped as 'Napak Aurat' (impious woman) and discriminated against.[20] [21] [22]

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An art exhibition of 11 women artists named "Pakistani Aurat Kay Naam"[clarification needed] was held in Nomad Art Gallery, on Pakistan's national women's day 12 February 2011.[23][clarification needed]

In images

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  • Afghan ladies in their Purdah dress (Chador)
    Afghan ladies in their Purdah dress (Chador)
  • Lifting of Purdah
    Lifting of Purdah
  • Palace construction suitable for Purdah screened windows
    Palace construction suitable for Purdah screened windows
  • Photograph of a silver zenana carriage at Baroda, Gujarat from the Curzon Collection, taken by an unknown photographer during the 1890s.
    Silver Zenana carriage [Vadodara] 1895, The enclosed carriage ensured the seclusion of female members of the royal household when travelling. The confinement of "Aurats" (south Asian women) within the family home or behind a veil was known as purdah, and zenana was the name given to segregated women’s quarters
  • "A Zenana Carriage," an albumen photo c. 1880s Part of in Purdah transport for "Aurats" in south Asia
    "A Zenana Carriage," an albumen photo c. 1880s Part of in Purdah transport for "Aurats" in south Asia
  • Rickshaw with Purdah (curtain) system for Pakistani 'Aurat'
    Rickshaw with Purdah (curtain) system for Pakistani 'Aurat'
  • Iran: "The two different knockers (door bells) were designed to give off different sounds so that whoever was in the house would be able to tell whether a man or woman was knocking and so decide who should open the door to them; vital in a society where Aurat lived in purdah (in seclusion or behind a veil)
    Iran: "The two different knockers (door bells) were designed to give off different sounds so that whoever was in the house would be able to tell whether a man or woman was knocking and so decide who should open the door to them; vital in a society where Aurat lived in purdah (in seclusion or behind a veil)
  • Women with Chunari Dupatta + Kurta & Ghagra
    Women with Chunari Dupatta + Kurta & Ghagra
  • Pakistani woman in Sari with head covered
    Pakistani woman in Sari with head covered
  • Eyes closed with ghoonghat while doing day today work
    Eyes closed with ghoonghat while doing day today work


See also

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Wikiquote has quotations related to Bookku/sandbox8.
Look up Aurat in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f "The Awrah (naked) truth". The Nation. 12 June 2015. Retrieved 11 May 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. ^ Wichelen, Sonja van (10 June 2010). Religion, Politics and Gender in Indonesia: Disputing the Muslim Body. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-136-96386-5.
  3. ^ Nfa, Dr Farideh Heyat (5 March 2014). Azeri Women in Transition: Women in Soviet and Post-Soviet Azerbaijan. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-136-87170-2.
  4. ^ Zilfi, Madeline C. (1997). Women in the Ottoman Empire: Middle Eastern Women in the Early Modern Era. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-10804-2.
  5. ^ Ermers, Robert J. (1999). Arabic Grammars of Turkic: The Arabic Linguistic Model Applied to Foreign Languages & Translation of ʼAbū Ḥayyān Al-ʼAndalusī's Kitāb Al-ʼidrāk Li-lisān Al-ʼAtrāk. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-11306-0.
  6. ^ Zoepf, Katherine (12 January 2016). Excellent Daughters: The Secret Lives of Young Women Who Are Transforming the Arab World. Penguin. ISBN 978-0-698-41147-0.
  7. ^ Idriss, Mohammad Mazher (20 February 2017). "Key agent and survivor recommendations forintervention in honour-based violence in the UK" (PDF). International Journal of Comparative and AppliedCriminal Justice. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 June 2020. Retrieved 26 June 2020 – via Routledge.
  8. ^ Layiš, Aharôn (1982). Marriage, Divorce, and Succession in the Druze Family: A Study Based on Decisions of Druze Arbitrators and Religious Courts in Israel and the Golan Heights. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-06412-6.
  9. ^ Piamenta, Moshe (1979). Islam in Everyday Arabic Speech. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-05967-2.
  10. ^ a b c d Zilfi, Madeline C. (1997). Women in the Ottoman Empire: Middle Eastern Women in the Early Modern Era. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-10804-2.
  11. ^ Ozyegin, Gul (9 March 2016). Gender and Sexuality in Muslim Cultures. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-13051-2.
  12. ^ Needham, Anuradha Dingwaney; Rajan, Rajeswari Sunder (18 January 2007). The Crisis of Secularism in India. Duke University Press. ISBN 978-0-8223-3846-8.
  13. ^ Yadav, Rajendra (1 September 2007). Aadmi Ki Nigah Mein Aurat (in Hindi). Rajkamal Prakashan. ISBN 978-81-267-1123-9.
  14. ^ [https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Islam-or-progress-of-the-nation%3A-An-assessment-of-Lee-Noor/d8a69082e00f94204a1f0a228cca7582946b4ffb Islam or progress of the nation?: An assessment of the aurat issue in Malay newspapers and magazines in the 1930s-Nazirah Lee, Zanariah Noor-Published 2016 (Corpus ID: 55134909 semanticscholar.org)]
  15. ^ Ozyegin, Gul (9 March 2016). Gender and Sexuality in Muslim Cultures. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-13050-5.
  16. ^ "Marching forwards". sister-hood magazine. A Fuuse production by Deeyah Khan. 1 May 2019. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  17. ^ N.B. "Arabic word for 'nakedness,' 'shame' also means 'woman'". Stellar House Publishing. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  18. ^ Shah, Zuneera (4 February 2020). "Asking for consent is revolutionary in Pakistan. That is why Aurat March is creating ripples". ThePrint. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  19. ^ Bagwe, Anjali Narottam (1996). Of Woman Caste: The Experience of Gender in Rural India. Popular Prakashan. ISBN 978-81-85604-04-6.
  20. ^ Needham, Anuradha Dingwaney; Rajan, Rajeswari Sunder (18 January 2007). The Crisis of Secularism in India. Duke University Press. ISBN 978-0-8223-8841-8.
  21. ^ Religion, the Secular, and the Politics of Sexual Difference. Columbia University Press. 5 November 2013. ISBN 978-0-231-53604-2.
  22. ^ Imam, Ilina Sen & Zeba (1 March 2019). Dharm Aur Gender. Rajkamal Prakashan. ISBN 978-81-267-3019-3.
  23. ^ Tirmizi, Maria (13 February 2011). "National Women's Day: Thirty years on, their cause becomes dearer". tribune.com.pk. Retrieved 14 May 2020.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

[[Category:Urdu words and phrases]] [[Category:Hindi words and phrases]] [[Category:Asian women]] [[Category:Islam and women]] [[Category:Women in India]] [[Category:Women in Pakistan]]

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