them wear their head-coverings over their bosoms (24:30-31).

Allah is clearly asking more of women in this context. But scholars are divided over what is meant by “ornaments” or “adornments,” the other word used in translations. Is that a reference to a woman’s natural beauty or to her jewelry or other fashion accoutrements? And what is meant by “what appears thereof”? No one is sure. No one ever can be.

There is also a debate over another pertinent Qur’anic verse:

O Prophet! Say to your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers that they let down upon them their over-garments; this will be more proper, that they may be known, and thus will not be molested (33:59).

The conservative interpretation — mostly by men, of course — has been that women must cover themselves from head to toe. But even under such a reading, the results have varied from culture to culture — from the Taliban’s all-enveloping burqa, with only slits for eyes, to the chador wrapped like a shawl on the upper part of the body and head, leaving the face exposed, as in Iran or parts of Pakistan and India.

Some other verses in the Qur’an have an impact on this debate as well:

O wives of the Prophet! You are not like any other women... Stay in your houses and do not display your finery like in the time of ignorance [the pre-Islamic period] (33:32-33).

O you who believe! Do not enter the houses of the Prophet unless permission is given to you... And when you ask of them [his wives] any goods, ask of them from behind a curtain; this is purer for your hearts and their hearts (33:53).

The edicts are clearly addressed to the household of the Prophet during whose lifetime women outside his household did not wear the veil. Yet some theologians have held that the rule applies to all Muslim women, the argument being that emulating the Prophet’s family can only be good.

Gender separation is sometimes cultural, and not confined to Muslims. In India, some Hindu women have been as much segregated as Muslim women. As I approached adulthood, I was no longer allowed in the women’s quarters of the houses of some of my Hindu friends. And when women of those Hindu households ventured out, they, too, were veiled or had the curtains of their cars or horse-drawn tongas fully drawn. In other regions, sexual segregation is still a function of middle-class values. Poor Muslim women, especially in rural areas, have always gone out unveiled with their men to scratch out a livelihood.

MUHAMMAD AND WOMEN

Muhammad respected women — a radical notion for his era — and he broke many sexual and social taboos of his time. He shared housework — from sweeping the floor to undertaking other menial tasks. He spoke out against domestic violence. “Is it not a shame that one of you beats his wife?” “The best among you is the best to his wife.” “Only a wicked man humiliates his wife.” “Paradise lies under the feet of your mother.”