"If we look at hijab, the Islamic scarf of a woman from this standpoint, " said Mohja, "then hijab no longer represents the closed door of self-isolation, and the subsequent institutional marriage isolation, that is presently unfolding in general practice. Instead, hijab represents to us a commitment to close the door to everything that lies in the opposite direction from what the universal All is, which Allah represents and is manifest in the fire of the passion for Life that puts us in awe before what Love protects and enables to be. That spiritual hijab, thus closes the door fully to what dishonors the human being, and what is degrading, oppressive, and enslaving; or things much worse, like violence, rage, rape, injury, even murder. It also closes the door to the soft things that dishonor, such as jealousy, envy, neglect, disloyalty, and so forth. But it never closes the door to what we are as human beings, and to our joy of being alive, including to what we are developing in the fire of our humanity, including sex. And so, the fire of sexual passion is good, as it draws us together universally, if we allow it to be, and then protect it with Love."

      "I suppose that is true," said Astrid. "However, the same water that drowns the fire also nourishes all life."

      "Yes, yes, but the water needs to stand side by side with the fire, and not drown it," said Jamal. "Love needs to be the firewall, the protector of both the fire of passion, and the water that satisfies."

      Mohja hugged Jamal as she said this. "The bottom line is, that we both regard hijab as a commitment to honoring one-another and all human beings to such a degree that we stand before the Principle of Universal Love with the same awe as we stand before Allah. If we do this, I see no reason why this active honoring should not extend beyond the marriage space and embrace humanity universally. Shouldn't the sphere where Love rules, be expanded to encircle all human beings? Shouldn't the fire, which Love protects, put us in awe of Life, and all that is living, as the phrase, All, in Allah, implies? If this active honoring includes honoring one-another as sexual human beings, which we are, then sexual contacts will naturally be included in the fire of Life or else we become hypocrites. Intimacy, being sought in self-isolation, is really not possibe, is it? And so, honoring one-another actively as sexual beings, must be included as a demand on us in order to assure that nothing enters this sensitive arena that is in anyway degrading, and might in the slightest manner mar or belittle the face of the human being as the reflected face of the Supreme being in the Universe."

      "Behind the closed bedroom door of the conventional world, the demand for this kind of sensitivity does not exist," said Jamal. "With the bedroom door open, however, it becomes a paramount necessity that we demand the utmost of honesty with ourselves, never to violate our highest perception of the human being in any way or form. This higher-level demand for the utmost in sensitivity tends to upgrade the whole sexual scene everywhere. It tends to remove all the elements that are not honestly justifiable between human beings and serve the advantage of the other."

      He turned to Mohja. "Our personal experience has been, of Mohja and I, that the focus of the fire becomes increasingly shifted away from the physical sexual domain, into the mental and spiritual domain that may on occasions have a physical component to some degree. On this path, our relationship towards one-another as human beings, can never again drop down to the level where people allow an orgy of lust, rape, or other forms of exploitation to happen," said Jamal. "It simply won't be possible, because what one finds in that low-level sewer simply doesn't measure up to what can be attained at the higher level where sex is not dirty, but comes to light as something gently human and beautiful. That's like leaving the ox cart behind in the pages of history, for the automobile. Of course, there are huge challenges involved in getting to this point. To Mohja and I, hijab represents a commitment to master the challenges. It also reminds us of the unproductive road that we leave behind, and the tragedy that pervades the entire imperial world in all its aspects that darkens civilization with countless forms of its old-world traditions of domination."

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Stories about War from novels by Rolf A. F. Witzsche