It is not true that Qurrat al-‘Ayn laid aside the veil!

For if we look at other accounts of Qurrat al-‘Ayn, there is reason to believe that matters are not as straightforward as they seem. The British Orientalist Edward Browne’s collections of various historical materials suggest that in one of his conversation with a well-known Babi it was remarked that Qurrat al-‘Ayn never intentionally took off the veil.33 Browne comments that if he can remember the conversation correctly, this Babi responded to the question of Qurrat al-‘Ayn’s discarding of the veil in the following words:

It is not true that she laid aside the veil. Sometimes when carried away by her eloquence, she allowed it to slip down off her face, but she would always replace it after a few moments.34

- Táhirih in History: Perspectives on Qurratu'l-'Ayn from East and West, By Jan T. Jasion