Social or Religious Hijab !
I have been observing an increase in number of women wearing hijab lately in the middle-east and other Muslim countries.
Women in Saudi Arabia have to cover their hair in public whether they believe in hijab or not. If a Saudi woman decides to remove her hijab in public then she might as well get arrested by the religious police (Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice) .
So hijab or a head scarf is actually enforced upon women in this country although many women cover up willingly and acceptingly as part of their faith. Now that I have mentioned that, Saudi women outside Saudi soil have the freedom to choose whether to wear a head scarf or not!
It is interesting to see that many women decide to keep hijab but for other reasons, rather than it being part of religion and faith, they wear hijab to be accepted, to fit in and to find a future husband and get married.. So there are massive social rather than religious pressures on women to wear hijab!
A woman covering her hair with a scarf is considered more virtuous than a woman without! Even if she did that for very superficial reasons.. this is how society judges sometimes. Rather than judging people for their good deeds they are being judged on their appearances.
An example on that is a woman wearing hijab but have no Islamic or moral code of conduct in day to day life. That I would think is a façade and a big fat lie..
Now that some women wear hijab for social rather than religious intentions you can see how hijab is being misused. I see women with full makeup or having tight clothing that cover but actually reveal more.. and they call themselves hijabis. I am not here to judge anyone.. I am only pointing out how society manages to manipulate people into abusing Islam in a way..
I ‘d rather think that a person/woman should be more honest with herself and the people around her. Choosing to wear hijab is a personal and spiritual decision that a woman should make acceptingly as part of her faith and her relationship with God and not because societies pressures..
del.icio.us
BlogMemes
Digg
StumbleUpon
Technorati
Google
Reddit
Facebook
TwitThis
Mixx
Loading ...
Rasha, I completely agree with you. Allah (swt) doesn’t care what’s on your head, Allah cares what’s in your heart.
And, sorry to post twice, but I included my blog here; you might find it interesting.
The Hijab has become a social shell. People has ignored the fact that your intentions are what’s important and not your shell.
True, Allah cares about what’s in ” 9oloub” , but allah also says women should wear Hijab,for respect to her husband and herself as well as her blessing.
But of course Hijab is worthless if it’s not genuine and backed up by virtues and morals.
Salam Issam,
The hijab in Islam is “musta7ab,” a woman is not required to wear it if she is not personally comfortable in doing so, and you are correct in your latest statement that it’s worthless if she is doing it for her society and not out of religious respect.
The hijab is a fared in Islam, but a women should not be pressured to put it if she is not ready.
There are always some people who will try to be something that they aren’t. But are you sure that the resurgence of the hijab isn’t the outward affirmation of women who are increasingly trying to lead a virtuous life style? You said yourself that wearing the hijab doesn’t make you virtuous by default so shouldn’t we also realize that, to some extent, the rest of a woman’s dress doesn’t negate her virtue either?
It seems as if it is not solely society controlling the way in which Saudis, especially women, present themselves. If these “men of god,” as you have discussed in previous posts, harass and humiliate both men and women, then there is a tangible incentive to avoid anything that may result in a confrontation with the religious police, such as a woman wearing a hijab. Perhaps the demonstration of religious morality has become alienated from acts of kindness and good deeds when there are some corrupt religious police terrorizing citizens while in conjunction the government asks the press to cover it less. Maybe wearing the hijab is beyond the desire for social acceptance or virtue? Maybe it’s now a way to protect oneself from assault by religious police brutality? Has a woman ever been physically harmed by the religious police in order to preserve the “honor” of society?
Rasha,
As an American female, I am still trying to educate myself on the meaning and societal implications of veiling. In everything I have been reading, including your post, it seems as though the veil can convey a variety of things– everything from modesty and piety to something “superficial”. I was wondering how you felt about such ambiguity surrounding this article. How does one know if the veil is being used in a genuine or false way?
The issue of veiling has many complexities when we assume that all veiled women do so to represent true beliefs. To add this whole matter of veil authenticity leads to further complexity. Perhaps you can shed some light on how one might understand the intentions behind veiling. How do you know which message a veiled woman is trying to send, if she is trying to send one at all?
The hijab is a fard, it isn’t even debated. Allah does care about what is on your head, if Allah gives a command, then you have to obey it. Not only the hijab but the Jilbab is also Fard. I suggest you people research it before saying things like women are not ready and its up to them, these are just excuses.
No they’re not.
Give me one verse in the Quran in Arabic that mentions the word “hair.”
If you can’t do this; then you are the one who should be doing research. “Tasator” can be interpreted in many ways, the most accepted one is ‘the covering of the bosom.’
Are you sure that the resurgence of the hijab isn’t the outward affirmation of women who are increasingly trying to stay out of jail?
In v. 24:31 of the Qur’an, Allah commands Prophet Muhammad to
“Tell the believing women to lower their sights; to preserve their genitals; to not display their adornment—except what is visible from it; to draw their headcovers over their bosoms; to not display their adornment except to their spouses or their fathers, or their spouses’ fathers or their sons or their spouses’ sons, or their brothers, or their brothers’ sons, or their sisters’ sons, or their women, or what their right hands possess (i.e., slaves or captives), or their servants from the men [who are] not possessors of desire, or the children who have not become cognizant of women’s private parts; and to not strike their feet in order that what they hide of their adornment be known. And repent to Allah collectively, O believers, in hopes that you may be successful.” (emphasis added).
The word translated here as ‘headcovers’ is the word khumur (خُمُر), which is the plural of the word khimâr (خِمَار). In his lexicon titled al-Qâmūs al-Muhît, Imam Majd ad-Dîn al-Fairūzâbâdî (d. 817H) defines the khimâr as “the veil … all of what conceals something, then it is its khimâr.”[2]
In v. 33:59, Allah commands Prophet Muhammad,
“O Prophet, tell your wives, your daughters, and the women of the believers to display their outer garments (Ar. jilbâb, pl. jalâbîb) over them; that is more appropriate, that they be recognized and not harmed. And Allah is Forgiving and Compassionate.”