Hejab Crackdown in Iran
April 26th, 2007This is a round-up of my recent posts on the hijab crackdown over at View from Iran. For the past week, the police have been out in force arresting and warning women (especially young women) about flouting Islamic dress.
“The news is reporting that 93% of the population approves of the crackdown on hejab,” our cab driver told us.
“If that is true, there is no need to enforce hejab,” I responded.
“Don’t the women have mothers? Fathers? Brothers? Sisters? What business is it of the government,” the driver added. “On my wedding day, my wife asked me: What is your opinion of hejab? I said, What you wear is your business. All I want is your heart. If your heart is mine then you can wear whatever you want. If your heart is not mine, then wearing ten chadors won’t make a difference.”
The traffic on Jordan was, as usual, crawling. Since yesterday afternoon flocks of smiling religious police added to the traffic slowdown by standing on the street peering into each car that passed by. Above each checkpoint, another flock stood with a minibus and young women that they have pulled over for bad hejab.
And it isn’t just hejab…
Riding with dogs in taxis
“Please fix your scarf,” the taxi driver said to me. “Not because of me, but because the religious police are checking. I don’t care what you wear.”
“It’s not good enough?”
“Make it good enough for them.” I fumed a bit and then retreated into my thoughts. Up front Keivan and the driver discussed the crackdown on hejab.
“I was taking a young woman and she had her small dog with her. The religious police pulled us over. They said, We are impounding your car, arresting the girl, and letting the dog loose on the streets where it will be killed. I said, Hajh Agah, (Mister Hajh: a term of respect given to a man who has made pilgrimage to Mecca) you can’t do that. How can you take my car from me? How will I earn a living? And this young woman, what is wrong with her hejab? She is properly covered. There is no law against having a dog. And you have to consider that maybe the dog was sick, and we just came from the veterinarian.”
Riding in the car was testimony to the fact that he was able to talk his way out of the arrest and that the dog survived.
Bad Hejab
“Nuclear power is our inalienable right,” the staff of my favorite supermarket greets me as I walk into the bustling store. “It’s all your fault that the police are outside picking up women.” They are joking of course. They like to make fun of me when I come into the store.
Some people I know have yet to see the packs of police ushering women into awaiting minibuses, but my regular stomping grounds are in the heart of bad-hejabland. “At least the police are polite here,” a driver tells me. They have to be polite. They are being watched by neighbors with cameras and internet connections. “You should see them over at some of the other spots. They are really going after women with force and being rough.”
A few nights ago Iranian tv featured some official denying that women had been picked up by force. “We’re just talking to them. We have not begun arresting anyone.”
“It’s nothing,” everyone says to me. “They do this every year.”
“I’ve been here more than three years, and I have never seen the police so organized about picking up women before. I’ve never seen them flag down cars before.”
You’re right, people admit.
Say whatever you would like: that we are wrong to take this issue so seriously, that most Iranians support the crackdown on hejab, that this will pass I will tell you this: enforcing hejab makes me feel insecure and mistrustful. I am nervous walking down the street. I do not trust anyone. Why should I? I am wearing this by force. Therefore, there can be no trust. If I had come to the decision to wear hejab on my own, and wore it because of choice, faith, or even subtle social pressure, that would be different. But I wear hejab because of force and that force has been even more visible the past week.
The crackdown is a very visible symbol of oppression. So, some men are being picked up (or spoken with) for wearing ties or too much hair gel. That hardly compares to the insecurity of being a woman.
Links:
Anger at Iran dress restrictions
Islamica Community Forums: Anger at Iran dress restrictions
Iran police move into fashion business
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well as we know the islamic dress is an obligation in islam! however i would go with the idea to not impose it by force but try to convince people.
on the other hand i would go with setting law in other arab and islamic countries to set up laws that impose a minimum of dressing that will not show a crtical and intimidating part!!
we are sick of seeing all these nacked breasts and much more very private stuff taht intimidate us !!!!!!
Soumaya, as a woman yourself, don’t you think we all have the right to choose what to wear and how to wear it? I agree that we should all wear responsibly at least for the sake of respecting our values and traditions… but still, that should be a choice, not a requirement placed upon us.
If you don’t want to see all these breasts and “intimidating” stuff, well, don’t look at them.
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