Nothing Veiled About the Hijab: Veiling Has Become The Most Obsessive Topic Of Public Debate
By
Moin Qazi, New Age Islam
28
September 2022
One of the
Islamic symbols that have been engaging widespread attention across feminist,
Orientalist, social, religious, and political discourse is the veil-the hijab
(a scarf wrapped tightly around a woman's head to conceal every wisp of hair).
Veiling has become the most obsessive topic of public debate.
Photo:
The Hindu
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The Supreme
Court has recently concluded a hearing of petitions filed by several Muslim
organizations challenging the verdict of the Karnataka High Court upholding the
ban on the hijab. One of the observations of the Supreme Court during the
hearing was that the courts are not well equipped to interpret the Quran.
However, if we apply our minds to the vast literature on the customs and
practices of the Holy Scriptures we can certainly; make valid inferences. So is
the case with the hijab.
The word
hijab stems from the word hijab, meaning, "to prevent from seeing. In Islamic scholarship, the hijab refers to
broader notions of modesty, privacy, and morality. A history of colonialisation Eurocentric and
Orientalist discourse depicting non-Western cultures as “backward,” combined
with the Gulf War, the “War on Terror,” and the conflicts in Iraq and
Afghanistan, have all contributed to the misunderstandings of Islam and
specifically, the hijab. Hijab has often been misunderstood to be a symbol of
oppression or a sign of extremism, resulting in the idea that Muslim women need
to be liberated from it. However, both Islamic men and women have done
extraordinary work to clear the misunderstood concept in most cities. We are
now at a stage where a veil is a sign of empowerment and even highly social
women feel that it gives them agency. The entire discourse has now changed.
The hijab
has now become the most powerful symbol of Muslim women's rejection of Western
notions of feminism. It is being used to articulate a new response to
modernity. The hijab protects women from the sexual gaze. Instead of a sexual
approach men take an interest in what was in the woman's head and her
personality, rather than her body. Too
many women exert power through their sexuality, and Muslim women find it very
degrading. They consider it a form of enslavement.
The hijab
also expresses a translational form of Islamic feminism that has been marked by
the entry of women into all public spheres of Islamic life including formal
religious learning. Some women choose to wear the hijab because it is a
national tradition of their country of origin, or because it is the norm in
their local area, city, or country. Others wear it to demonstrate their
commitment to dressing modestly and for religious reasons.
Although
people usually discuss the hijab only in the context of women, the Qur'an
prescribes for both Muslim men and women to be modest, in both character and
dress. Any differences between the
Islamic dress of men and women concern the differences between men and women in
nature, temperament, and social life.
Hijab is a
way of ensuring that the moral boundaries between unrelated men and women are
respected. In this sense, the term hijab
encompasses more than a scarf and more than a dress code. It is an instrument for engendering morality
and chasteness. But at the same time,
the hijab cannot be used as a marker or benchmark to judge the morality of a
Muslim woman and her “Muslimness”. The purity of her spiritualism and chastity
of her character is more important for a woman than the moral value of her
hijab. For instance, if a Muslim woman is wearing a scarf but at the same time
using bad language, she would not be fulfilling the requirements of the hijab.
Recognizing
the potentially intrusive and debasing power of the gaze, God instructs men and
women alike in the Qur’an to lower their eyes and dress modestly in public.
“Say to
the believing men that they restrain their eyes and guard their private parts.
That is purer for them. Surely, God is well aware of what they do.” (Q24:31)
“And say
to the believing women that they restrain their eyes and guard their private
parts and that they disclose not their natural and artificial beauty except
that which is apparent thereof, that they draw their head-coverings over their
bosoms, and that they disclose not their beauty save to their husbands, or
their fathers … (a list of exceptions)” (Q24:32).
It recorded
that the wives of the Prophet went veiled and in this way, they're able to be
recognized by one another and be honoured by other women for their distinction.
The
conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan resulted in several misunderstandings about
Islam. The previous and current misunderstandings of Islam have fostered
further tension and several restrictions have been placed by several
governments on hijab. Arbitrary rules are being introduced by educational and
police authorities who are making the hijab appear like a big Islamic
bomb.
Hijab is
essentially a concept of modesty and privacy, usually expressed through women's
clothes. One of the biggest sources of misunderstanding between Muslim women
and western feminists is sexuality, Muslim women do not wish to express their
sexuality in public, and believe that its proper place is in the privacy of an
intimate relationship. Sexuality is not to be used to assert power but to
express love.
Among
Muslim women, the debate about the hijab takes many forms. Many believe that
the veil is a way to secure personal liberty in a world that objectifies women.
Several women have argued that the hijab allows them freedom of movement and
control of their bodies. Understood in such terms, the hijab protects women
from the male gaze and allows them to become autonomous subjects. Others have
argued that the veil only provides the illusion of protection and serves to
absolve men of the responsibility for controlling their behaviour. Both positions assert that Islam is not
responsible for sexism. The Qur’an supports the notion of gender equality.
Hijab’s
purpose is simply modesty. The modesty of clothing, the modesty of thoughts,
and the modesty of actions. It was once an armoury of the poorer classes. Today
it is the mascot of the most enlightened Muslim girls. They often describe how
it liberates them from the toxic consumerist culture, from men’s predatory
gaze, sexism, and from impure moral thoughts. Women wearing hijab have been
very candidly and publicly emphasizing that dressing modestly and covering
their hair minimizes sexual harassment in the workplace. It is a path that aids
in self-purification and coming nearer to their Creator. Paradoxically, it is
the women who rely on the veil to signal to others that the argument that the
veil is indicative of oppression has no logic. A woman can wear it as an
instrument of modesty, yet still, embrace all of the rights and opportunities
are given to other modern women.
The French
authorities see both feminism and Islam as inherently at odds, not because of
their ideology but because the people of France are embracing Islam in droves.,
For the general public, the attraction of Islam is it provides more discipline
than other religions. They are in a way trying to refuse modernism and get back
to a society with more family values and a clearer distinction between men and
women.
The
official authorities see the veil as more about social exclusion and are using
this strategy as a subterfuge to control the growing number of converts to
Islam. It is being maliciously labelled as a social disrupter that precludes
integration and is being used as an alibi for several discriminatory policies
and arbitrary rules. They want to subdue the Muslim community to keep them
tethered to the secular society. The hijab is also becoming popular because it
expresses a translational form of Islamic feminism that has got nuanced by the
entry of Muslim women into all public spheres including formal religious
learning. It is a vehicle for distinguishing between women and men and a means
of controlling male sexual desire.
The hijab
is not a piece of cloth but a mascot. Muslim women are using it to reclaim
their right to speak to re-appropriate their own destinies. Indeed, today many
female Muslim intellectuals living in Muslim societies and the West, are
questioning several negative preconceptions surrounding these issues. In
particular, they contest the classical analysis which stipulates inequality
between men and women by asserting that it is certain biased readings, endorsed
by patriarchal customs, which have legitimated these erroneous inequalities.
They must
understand the necessity of recognising and consciously accepting the broad
cultural differences between western and non-western conceptions of autonomy as
well as respecting social standards that reflect non-western values. Muslim
women must work in full partnership with Muslim men, rejecting Western models
of liberalisation, but also, and more importantly, asserting their own.
Modesty is
the defining emblem of Islamic values. The Arabic word for modesty is Haya.
The interesting thing about this word is that it is linguistically related to
the Arabic word for life (Hayat). Modesty is the virtue that infuses
spirituality into the soul. This connection between spiritual life and modesty
exists because the virtue is not just about outward appearances; rather, it is
tolerance first and foremost about the inward state of having modesty before
God–meaning awareness of divine presence everywhere and at all times that leads
to propriety within oneself and in one’s most private moments.
Prophet
Muhammad said, "Every religion has a chief characteristic and the chief
characteristic of Islam is modesty. “In Islam, modesty is a virtue for both men
and women. The Prophet himself was described as being the epitome of modesty in
his behaviour with people. When the Qur’an tells believers to lower their
lustful gazes and guard their chastity-important aspects of the modesty
tradition-it begins by commanding this to men before women (Q 24:30-31).
This
connection between spiritual life and modesty exists because the virtue is not
just about outward appearances; rather, it is tolerance first and foremost
about the inward state of having modesty - meaning an awareness of divine
presence everywhere and at all times that leads to propriety within oneself and
in one's most private moments.
Outward
modesty means behaving in a way that maintains one's own self-respect and the
respect of others, whether in dress, speech, or behaviour. Inward modesty means
shying away from any character or quality that is offensive to God. The outward
is a reminder of the inward, and the inward is essential to the outward.
Once the
erroneous understanding and flawed logic behind the hijab gets cleared, they
are bound to acknowledge that the hijab is a women’s cultural armour and
there’s nothing veiled about the hijab. We must get referring to the clichés
and misapprehensions connected to Islam in France. We must show that French
culture and Islam can live together in peace.” Assert Muslim women
A veil is
seen as a genuine expression of a woman's religiosity. It’s a badge of their
womanhood, representative of their resilience as females in a world determined
to control every aspect of their being. Paradoxically, it is the women who are
engaging with the modern world who appear to rely on the veil to signal to
others that this is their way of expressing their freedom. A woman's attire has
never been about perception, it is solely a matter of interpretation. What got
lost amid such interpretive crossfire is the core message that women should not
be objectified. Historically, modesty in dress has been defined by local
customs that sometimes even predate Islam.
The most
sobering words for hijab come from Michelle Obama which she expressed when she
addressed hijab-wearing students as the first lady of the United States:
“Maybe you
read the news and hear what folks are saying about your religion, and you
wonder, if anyone ever sees beyond your headscarf to see who you are, instead
of being blinded by the fears and misperceptions in their minds. And I know how
painful and how frustrating all of that can be. But here’s the thing—you all
have everything, everything, you need to rise above all of the noise and fulfil
every last one of your dreams."
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Moin
Qazi is the author of the bestselling book, Village Diary of a Heretic Banker.
He has worked in the development finance sector for almost four decades
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/veiled-hijab-niqab-religiosity/d/128061
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