Aida Wong believes that the veiling of women is 'ordained by God' (letter headlined, 'Trying to prevent promiscuity', South China Morning Post, July 30) and that, for women, 'it means covering their bodies, except hands and faces, with loose clothes'. I am a male non-Muslim and would consider it unseemly to question these beliefs in a way which would imply a lack of respect.
Nevertheless, the 'dress code' to which she alludes, and which has become increasingly popular, especially among city-dwelling Muslims in recent years, is open to question.
According to Fatima Mernissi, a female Muslim scholar and writer, it is directly contrary to the intentions of the Prophet, and to the deliverances of the Koran, properly understood.
The Shariah rules and court decisions alluded to in Aida Wong's letter are very late, compiled in some cases about six centuries after the life of the Prophet and some of them include, for example, recommendations of the abominable practice of female circumcision, which has no scriptural basis whatsoever in the Koran or in the Traditions of the Prophet (the Hadith).
Perhaps Ms Wong should consider the case of the great grand-daughter of the Prophet, Sukayna, who refused the veil, who was not ashamed of her intelligence, her beauty, her independence and her ability, under Islamic rules, to go to court to challenge her husband taking another wife, contrary to their marriage contract.
Islam gave a new status to women at that time and place: Ms Wong apparently wants to go along with a more recent misogynistic regime, largely imposed by ignorant and authoritarian males, in which women are symbolically, and in truth, repressed by a piece of cloth.