Women smiling...

When I first talked about my smiling experiment with others I had a lot of curiosity in the response I received. One factor that seemed to come up in these discussions was gender, and how as a female smiling indiscriminately at people I passed, for it to be seen as a sexual advance.The number of applications for a smile are vast and I hadn't considered this to be the case except for one factor, the sustained eye contact until the withdrawal of the other person. This is overt behaviour and I can see the potential for someone to think there is intention beyond this type of contact.

It was pointed out to me that while acceptable in this country my behaviour would not be tolerated everywhere in the world. I found while researching that it is a major Islamic sin (Al-Kaba'ir) for a women to smile at 'strange men' and it is highly punishable in the afterlife! The following is a 'Hadith about Women'... found here


" I am recalling a moment when I went for me'raj and I ascended the heavens, on that particular night I found six categories of the women of my ummat being subjected to such form of torment that every time I think about that azaab it makes me cry, he then started to explain...

I saw a women hung by her hair suspended in the depth of jahannam, her brains were boiling. Then I saw a women hung by her tongue, and the water of jahannam was being poured down her throat. Then I saw a women hung by the upper portion of her chest. Then I saw a women, her legs were tied to her chest and her hands were tied to her forehead. Then I saw one women, she was disfigured, she had the head of a swine and the body of a donkey, snakes were surrounding her. Then I saw a women in the form of a dog, and the angels were striking her.

What were the crimes of these women that they were subjected to such forms of azaab?

With regards to the woman who was hung by her hair, she walked outside freely, exposing and revealing her hair to strange men. The one who was hung by her tongue, she used to verbally abuse her husband. The woman who was hung by the upper portion of her chest, she was an immoral women, an unchaste women smiling with strange men. The woman whose legs were tied to her chest and her hands tied to her forehead, this women was very negligent with the aspects of purity, when it came to the period after her menstrual cycle, she had to purify herself so she could pray her salaah. And with regards to that woman who was disfigured, she was one who carried tales and used to lie openly. Finally the woman who was in the form of a dog, she was one who constantly reminded others about her favours and her heart is full of jealousy."

This view is so different from the climate that we live in really shows how differently things can be interpreted in different contexts and/ or cultures... I think that the application of smiles definately has the scope to be explored/ exploited in my Happiness Machine project.