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“Daughter, I’m not crying now because I’m fed up or regret that the Lord created me a woman. No, it’s not that. It’s just that I’m sad about my life and my youth that have come and gone without my knowing how to live them really and truly as a woman.”

This quote is the last line of “Bahiyya’s Eyes.” Bahiyya has faith in Allah, and when she says that she does not regret that the Lord created her a woman, she demonstrates her belief that all that happens in life is in accordance with Allah’s will. However, she laments some of the events that have befallen her: she was abused by her brother, castrated by the village women, forced into an arranged marriage when she was in love with someone else, and obliged to live in solitude after being widowed at an early age.

Rifaat’s message in this story seems to be that Bahiyya’s feeling of hopelessness could have been avoided or overcome if her society granted more freedom to women. Bahiyya was told to endure her brother’s pinching, hitting, and demands because he would be the man of the family someday, and Bahiyya would be forced to obey him then. If women in her society were allowed to choose their own husbands, she certainly would have married her childhood sweetheart instead of the man her father chose. These two examples illustrate the fact that Bahiyya’s life was ruled by men, so she was unable to live fully. Now, in her old age, she feels sad about her wasted youth and life.

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