“Hijab is the Arabic word that describes headscarves or veils worn by Muslim women. These scarves come in myriad styles and colours. The type most commonly worn in the West is a square scarf that covers the head and neck but leaves the face clear. Young women usually wear it at the first signs of puberty. But why does the Hijab come up whenever women and Islam are discussed and is it a sin if Islamic women decide not to wear a veil?”
My first real encounter with the Islamic world happened during an international camp I had participated in during my teens with my local guide group and it led me to wear a hijab head scarf for a day.
During one of the camp activities we were given the opportunity to live a day in the life of an Islamic girl. So we had worn a headscarf for a day and learned about certain Islamic customs. We chose our preferred veil colour and even got some magnificent intricate henna tattooing during a henna party.
The henna party is part of the Islamic female tradition and has as many different traditions as there are designs. A henna party can be an occasion for women to celebrate, to visit and talk, to air problems and seek support, or simply an opportunity for women to gather and beautify themselves. If someone hosts a bridal henna party, all of the attendees may wear henna, while sometimes only the bride is adorned. A henna party often includes festive music and food.
At the end of the day we discussed how people on the streets looked at us and whether we felt discriminated against in some way or another. At the time, the activity was an adventure like many other adventures, but I recall it as the first time that I could understand how Islamic women feel when people don’t look beyond the veil that covers their head and helped me challenge the concept of discrimination. The headscarf did not prevent me from canoeing on one of Warwickshire’s canals or carrying out duties with the rest of the group after lunch although one must keep in mind that the situation could have led to a different decision had I been in a different country where the hijab is enforced by law or in countries where the weather is so hot you can barely stand wearing a t-shirt, let alone a headscarf.
If I were an Arab girl studying in a university in a Western country, I don’t think I would like having people staring at me just because I happen to be wearing a garment that people are not used to seeing or wearing.
Sometimes I wonder if I would be able to live in an Arab country where the hijab is enforced by law or where more conservative body covers such as the niqab or the burka have to be worn by women.
How practical is it and would it be comfortable to wear while going through the most basic of daily life routines, such as work? The hijab is not merely a fashion status, but a symbol of a religion, a culture and a viewpoint that goes beyond an adornment of the female body.
Hijab is the Arabic word that describes headscarves or veils worn by Muslim women. These scarves come in myriad styles and colours. The type most commonly worn in the West is a square scarf that covers the head and neck but leaves the face clear. Young women usually wear it at the first signs of puberty. But why does the hijab come up whenever women and Islam are discussed and is it a sin if Islamic women decide not to wear a veil?
The tricky question was raised during a seminar on ‘Women before and after Islam’ organised by the Arabic Culture Information Society held in Valletta a few days ago.
“Today, many may still conjure an image of the Muslim woman as a woman who wears the veil, long body-covering dresses and who suffers some form of gender oppression.
Many female anthropologists and academics have written books and papers to tell us the true ‘story’ behind the wearing of the veil, women’s oppression in Islam and gender segregation,” said sociology student and member of the Koperattiva Kummerċ Gust Nathalie Grima.
She attempted to define the place of the woman, her duties and rights, the positive and negative effects of the change of her place in society, her actions, and the way the Arab and foreign society look at the woman who works and the woman who stays at home.
“They have initiated the process of uncovering personal experiences of everyday lives in which traditional practices do not always carry negative consequences as may have been expected. Equally, there are female Arab academics with feminist socialist or post-modern views who, first of all, relate their own stories and secondly, present us with a reality that is much more complex and diverse than the cultural images delivered to us in particular by the media. These are very important contributions because they give first-hand experience analysis,” Ms Grima went on.
After giving a brief overview of a few case studies of women who decide to wear or not to wear a headscarf, Ms Grima explained why she decided to mention them. “They are just a tiny fraction of the diversity of women’s attitudes, process of identity, decisions that may change across time and space. Moreover, I could not help noticing that although the veil is related directly to the religion of Islam, the difficulties encountered by women in their social standing may after all be not so different from those encountered by women with different or no particular religious belief. I believe that women, wherever they come from and whatever religious belief they decide to withhold or not, have a lot of common life-experiences to share. We can definitely live in harmony together, if we decide to listen to each other and respect, even when at times we do not always understand each other’s cultures.”
Wearing a purple scarf, one of the keynote speakers, a representative of the Libyan Embassy in Malta, Laila Losta, had the most rigid view on whether Islamic women should wear the veil or not and clearly stated that it is a sin for Islamic women who decide not to wear a veil and quoted various excerpts from the Koran. There are at least three instances where the Koran mentions the hijab and tells women to cover up.
Her statement provoked the audience to react. Most of the Islamic women attending the seminar, were not wearing a veil.
ACIS president Sanaa El-Nahhal who was wearing a lovely gold lined scarf, gave a more moderate view of what the Koran says comparing the Islamic rules to the Christian 10 Commandments. “A woman can be a better Muslim if she wears the veil, but she can also pray and live a good life. The Koran lays down the rules and it is up to the individual to follow them,” said Ms El-Nahhal.
Her daughter Lina, who was not wearing a headscarf, said that she does not feel that she is a bad Muslim just because she doesn’t wear the hijab.
As the discussion heated up, a man in the audience asked one of the Christian speakers what she thinks about the Catholic nuns wearing a veil. Although she said it is part of the nun’s uniform, she couldn’t tell why nuns wear veils in the Roman Catholic faith.
Readers may recall that until not so long ago Maltese women still used to cover their heads in beautiful lace veils to go to church. Some elderly women still wear veils today, others wear veils on special religious occasions such as funerals or when meeting the pope.
Before we knew it, twilight set in marking the time for the seminar to end and for the Muslim community to gather for the Iftar dinner, a break from a day of fasting. Iftar refers to the evening meal for breaking the daily fast. Iftar during Ramadan is often done as a community, with Muslims gathering to break their fasting together. Iftar is done right after Maghrib (sunset) time. Ramadan is an Islamic religious observance that takes place during the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. It is considered the most venerated and blessed month of the Islamic year.
A question of choice
The Hijab, might generate never-ending discussions on whether women should wear it or not, whether it imposes some sort of oppression on women in the East or whether it prevents the women from externalising her sexuality.
Although the much stronger scholarly opinion holds that wearing the hijab is not an obligation in Islam, it is appreciated that there is an opinion, which believes it is. Differences in opinion on the hijab like in any other subject should be respected.
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The Imam explains
I spoke to Imam Mohammed El Sadi, whose role is that of spiritual director of the Muslim community in Malta, regarding what the Koran actually says about women wearing headscarves
According to the texts of the Holy Koran and the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad, the Muslim female should cover all her body except the face and hands when she shows up in the presence of eligible marriageable males.
In the Holy Koran, we find these two verses concerning the hijab:
1) “And say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty, that they should not display their beauty and ornaments except what (must ordinarily) appear thereof, that they should draw their veils over their bosoms” ( 24:31)
2) “Oh Prophet! Tell your wives and daughters and the believing women that they should cast their outer garments over their persons, that is most convenient, that they should be known and not molested. Allah is forgiving, most merciful” (33:59)
The Holy Koran uses in these two verses the Arab words khimar, which means the head cover and jilbab, which means a long loose robe, which covers the whole body except the face and hands.
The Prophet Muhammad said, “When the female attains menstruation age it is not appropriate for her to show except her face and her hands”.
The cover of the face or part of the face is not a must. It is a personal choice of the woman.
The Islamic dress should be accompanied by a sense of modesty and piety in order to achieve its aims: preventing temptation and securing the morality of society.