The university or the beauty saloon?

reporter: M. Jawad Samim

   In every university there are a series of rules and regulations that the students are to observe so as to prevent any kind of negative results, among them the students' clothes and uniforms. On the other hand, in all the universities of the world it is not customary to see the students coming to the university with make-ups on their faces and interrupt the academic atmosphere of the university.

However, it is said that if you once go to the university of Herat, at first you surely might think that you are in a European country, even not a university but a party, for some of the students – both boys and girls- come to the university with such beautiful faces and tight and fashionable clothes that all the outstanding parts of their bodies stand out from far away and attract the attention of the others, creating a picture of a wedding party in the mind of the attendants.

In regard with the subject, Sayed Abdulrrahim Rahmani, the fourth year student of the faculty of literature and humanitarian sciences says,” the condition of Herat University has deteriorated. It isn’t educational anymore. It has changed into an immoral competition place for fashion.”

Pointing that much of what is called fashion is seen whit in girls although we can’t ignore that boy either- and that it has turned into a value that they can’t come to the university without it Mr. Rahmany added, ”all their concern is fashion.”

 Adla Kabiri, the fourth year student of journalism department of literature faculty, said that in the first years of her studies, the badly covered ladies were exceptions but now the well-covered students are exceptions.

 Pointing that style, fashion and wearing fashionable and strange clothes are customary not only among the ladies but also among the boys. Ms. Kabiri maintained that one of the things that people haven’t understood well is that which we usually thing that hijab or good covering is special for women even though lack of hijab and inappropriate clothes can be counted as a negative point for men too. Unfortunately, wearing inappropriate clothes is seen among the boys as much as the ladies and sometimes it is even more among the men.

What is the effect of this situation among the students?

As a woman who sees her colleagues with such clothes and style, Shokria Barekzai, a second year student of the English Department of the Literature Faculty, is feeling ashamed, saying that: ”Since my colleagues have such a condition I feel abashed, for their act causes women to lose their dignity and respect in society and will call the personality and virtue of a Moslem woman into question."

 While the condition of the literature students is reported this way, it is said that majority of the faculties of Herat University have such a condition and even sometimes worse than what is expected.

 Fazel Rahim, a second year student of law faculty of Herat University, describes the clothing and modesty of the students as "really concerning". He says:”A large number of the students, particularly the ladies, imitating the foreigners and come to the university with tight Indian clothes and dressed faces, which is against our Islamic culture." He expressed his dissatisfaction about the present condition of his faculty and added,” if the situation continues as it is now, we would witness a disaster in Heart in the near future, for my guess is that most of the pious and Moslem families won’t let their daughters go to the university and continue their studies.”

 The clothing of the students at the medical institute is annoying for Saeeda Rezayee. She is a senior student of this educational institute, who calls the future outcome of non-Islamic clothing really damaging. She states:” This is the non-Islamic clothing which causes heavy damages to the personality of and character of a woman and paves the ground for spreading of moral corruption."

Shahla, a third-year student of Herat Medical Faculty, is very sorry to see the university students with such clothes. She says:” I regret to say that a number of the students wear such clothes which are not appropriate for a Moslem and young student.” She added that the clothes which are most worn these days by the students are so tight, the act which obviously runs counter to the Islamic and Afghan culture. She says that some of these dresses are sometimes quite thin that seem more like a night gown rather than a university uniform.

 Mohammed Ebrahim Mokhless, the first year student of Herat Faculty of Theology, is worried about the spread of fashionable clothes in his faculty and says: “Although there are not a lot of students who were fashionable clothes, they have imitated the other girls coming from other faculties in the same buses, and, therefore, their number is now on the rise."

 Ghulam Habib Rashed, a senior in the Faculty of Agriculture, condemns the families of those ladies who come to the university with such appearances or such make-ups and clothes. He says” Do the families who send their daughters to the university even once look at the appearance and clothing of their ladies to see as to whether their daughter goes to the university or a wedding party?”

 However, what do the people who come to the university with such clothes and having such appearance say about this? In respond to a question regarding which kind of clothing is appropriate for woman, Mojdah Wafa, a fourth year student of the Medical Faculty, who is also full of pride for having fashionable clothes on, says: "The appropriate clothing is the one which is modern and up to date.”

 Explaining that they don’t face a problem and their families don’t disagree, one of the students of medicine faculty said,” It is nothing to do with the families as we have gotten matured and know every thing. We are free to wear what we like.” 

The tight clothes of ladies, whose bodies are seen through them, have not only had bad effects on the students but also had adverse effects on the lecturers.

 One of the lecturers of Herat University, who wished to remain anonymous, said:” Sometimes it is really impossible to look at the girls directly, since their covering and hijab are not good and their faces are covered with different kinds of make-ups. This trend disturbs the academic atmosphere of the university.”

 When the condition of the ladies is like this, there is nothing to tell the boys about what they do, and whom they follow and for what purpose do they come to the university.

 We should bear in mind that there are girls who come to the university to acquire knowledge and cognition and they are deeply express sorrow about such condition. Sometimes, they even try to resist such styles and fashions. Nevertheless, they have not scored any great achievements as their number of is low. Further, sometimes they are insulted and called fanatic and backward people.

 Fouzia Fakhry, a senior of the journalism department of Herat University, is one of the students who has many times been disgraced and insulted by her classmates and colleagues for her fight against a lack of hijab of the ladies. She said,” One day I sympathetically told a lady who had tight and fashionable clothes on, dear sister! The clothes you are wearing completely against our Islamic and Afghan culture. Can’t you wear appropriate clothes as an Afghan and Moslem woman does? She responded very angrily. Who are you to advise me? You are so narrow-minded that you still don’t know which kind of dress and what color of shoes to wear and then you have come to give me advice.”

What have the university officials done about it?

 Ahmad Ghani Khosrawi, head of literature department of Herat University, confirms that some of the students come to the university with fashionable and disproportionate clothes and well-made-up faces. He says that although they fell responsible to remind the students of their clothing an appearance, the students sometime ignore this instruction. Pointing out that that the officials cannot apply a specific uniform at the university:” It doesn’t mean that the students can wear what they want.” He went on to say that the students should have appropriate cloths like other Moslem ladies which can hide their beauties from the people who are not their members of family.”

In respond to a question as to whether their advice has been effective, Mr. Khosrawi said:” They often accept our requests with pleasure but sometimes they pay no heed and this is because sometimes university and central government officials don’t support the decisions taken by the board of directors of the faculties. This has encouraged the students and made them careless about these issues." He added that they feel it is their responsibility to deal with such people very seriously in the coming semester and this is possible if the university authorities cooperate and support the decisions made on this issue.

 But what doe the university officials say? Mohammed Naser Rahyab, the scientific assistant and the deputy rector of Herat University, is surprised by the condition of the students and their clothes. Pointing that he has seen many universities in the east and in the west, he says:” In all over the world the students come to the university with very simple clothes and no make-ups and I have never seen any ladies who come to the university with fashionable clothes and well made up faces."

 Confirming that actions have been taken in this regard and all faculties have been officially informed about this, he says that the officials will fail unless the lecturers help them and the students fully understand the request.”

 In answer to our question regarding why the authorities of the university haven’t taken any serious action, in spite of the repeated demands of the lecturers and the students for a specific uniform, and whether they have any plans for the future or not, Mr. Rahyab said,” First of all the Higher Education Ministry should decide about this. However, if a large number of students want this – and my guess is that they want- we can also make a decision by our own.”

 Pointing that uniform can probably be a solution for this problem, Mr. Rahyab called it a misinterpretation of liberty turned into a big cultural problem, but he believes:” With constant work with the students and explaining the issues transparently and effectively, as well as a sympathetic control, we can overcome this problem."

 Talking to the students and the lecturers of different faculties, almost all male and female students want simple and Islamic clothes, particularly the girls. Among them we can name Mahjoba Jami-u-l Ahmadi, a first year student of the Faculty of Computer Science. In her opinion, observing the universities in most Islamic countries and even the Moslem girls in western countries, the appropriate and the accepted clothes are a long dark Manto and a Maqnaha.

  Given this, it is necessary to remind the honorable authorities that irrespective of the other advantages, such as, good quality teaching materials, experienced lecturers, equipped and improved libraries and laboratories that exist in most of the universities of the world, we just request the officials to try their best to apply the a specific widely used in most universities. Otherwise, the academic atmosphere of the university would be changed into a competition arena for unsound and non-Islamic rivalries. There we can’t say that the students come to acquire knowledge and cognition, for the result of such styles and fashions is nothing but exchanging of love letters, long speeches on the mobile phones, telling ironies, making fun of each other and finally corruption and sleaze.