15. By referring to an important aspect of Adam and Eve's story, the attention
of the people of Arabia of those days was drawn to the evil influence of Satan
upon their lives. Under Satan's influence they had begun to see dress merely
as a shield of protection against the inclemencies of the weather and as a means
of adornment. The basic purpose of dress to cover the private parts of the body
- had receded into the background. People had no inhibition about the immodest
exposure of the private parts of their body in public. To publicly take a bath
absolutely naked, to attend to the call of nature on thoroughfares, were the
order of the day. To crown it all, in the course of Pilgrimage they used to
circumambulate around the Ka'bah in stark nakedness. Women even surpassed men
in immodesty. In their view, the performance of religious rites in complete
nudity was an act of religious merit.
Immodesty, however, was not an exclusive characteristic of the people of Arabia.
Many nations indulged in it in the past, and many nations continue to indulge
in it even now. Hence the message embodied in these verses is not directed just
to the people of Arabia. It is rather directed to all men. Mankind, which is
the progeny of Adam, is warned against this particular aspect of Satanic influence
on their lives. When men show indifference to God's Guidance and turn away from
the Message of the Prophets, they virtually place themselves at the mercy of
Satan. For it is Satan who makes them abandon way's that are consistent with
true human nature and who leads them to immodesty in the same way he did with
Adam and Eve. Were man to reflect on this, it would become quite evident that
when he is deprived of the guidance of the Prophets, he cannot even appreciate,
let alone fulfil, the primary requirements of his true nature.