Download Halah Buhaisi and Komal Patel

Halah Buhaisi and Komal Patel
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Dr. Teipen
November 18, 2004
Con: Islamic dress is not oppressive while Western dress is oppressive.
THE HISTORY OF HIJAB IN ISLAM
Though the Qur’an does not specifically mandate the wearing of the veil, the Qur’anic
verse from which most Muslims derive the commandment to wear the veil can be found
in Sura 33. 53.
O you who believe! do not enter the houses of the Prophet unless
permission is given…. And when you ask of [the Prophet’s wives] any
goods, ask of them from behind a curtain [hijāb]; this is purer for your
hearts and (for) their hearts; and it does not behove you that you should
give trouble to the Messenger of Allah, nor that you should marry his
wives after him ever; surely this is grievous in the sight of Allah.
This verse was revealed during the Prophet’s marriage to Zaynab. Muhammad sought to
be alone with his wife, but guests would not leave the home, so the revealed verse was
intended to create privacy for the Prophet’s wives. Thus, this verse is not addressed to
Muslim women as a whole but merely towards Prophet Muhammad’s wives.
Furthermore, the term hijab does not regard women’s apparel; it simply means a
“curtain.”
REASONS FOR CHOOSING TO WEAR ISLAMIC FEMALE DRESS
According to Islamic scholar Katherine Bullock, there are four reasons why
women adopt Islamic standards of dress (Bullock 22-53).
1. Political Protest
a. In 1935, Reza Shah in Iran banned the veil in order to westernize the
nation. The law which was in effect until 1941 was very unpopular with
non-elites who did not have exposure to Western ideals, and women wore
the veil as a symbol of protest against the law.
b. A similar situation occurred in Turkey Kemal Ataturuk discouraged the
wearing of the veil, but did not ban it. This measure was not popular
across class lines, so here again women of lower social class wore the veil
as an act of defiance (Ahmed 164).
c. In modern-day France, the veil, among other displays of religious
symbols, has been banned in public schools. Several young Muslim
women have been suspended because of their adamant refusal to throw off
the veil (Davis 221-35).
2. Religious Obligation
a. As already discussed, most Muslim scholars believe the verse
mentioning hijab is not addressed to Muslim women in general.
Nonetheless, many women extend the idea of males living according
to the exemplary lifestyle of the Prophet to females living according to
the example of the Prophet’s wives.
3. Continued Access to the Public Sphere
a. When Reza Shah banned the veil in Iran, many young girls were not
allowed to go to school unveiled (Brooks 24).
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4. Expression of Personal Identity
a. Many Muslim women the veil as “an assertion of their identity which
reflects the syntheses of modernity and tradition” (Shaikh 152).
WESTERN STANDARDS OF DRESS OPPRESS!
According to Muslim author and feminist Fatima Mernissi, it is Western standards
of dress, not Muslim standards of dress, that oppress women. In “Size 6: The Western
Women’s Harem,” the final chapter of the novel Scheherazade Goes West, Mernissi
recounts an incident that occurs in an American department store in New York. Mernissi
is in search of a skirt, and when she cannot find one in her, she asks the sales associate
for assistance, the sales replies, “ ‘You are too big.’ ‘I am too big compared to what?’ …
‘Compared to a size 6,’ came the saleslady’s reply” (209). Mernissi is shocked with
Western women’s infatuation with their looks especially their pre-occupation with size.
She argues that in their efforts to conform to male-defined standards of what entails a
beautiful woman, women are harming their bodies physically and emotionally. Mernissi
points out that both she and the saleslady are in their late 50s, yet the saleslady has the
physique of a pre-pubescent girl. Thus, Mernissi concludes that “Unlike the Muslim
man, who uses space to establish the male domination by excluding women from the
popular arena, the Western man manipulates time and light” (213). By overemphasizing
the flesh—boobs and curves—women present themselves as intellectually inferior to men
because female dress is not comparable with male suits. Much of female business attire
exposes cleavage and legs, whereas male business dress is intended for business—males
are not showing their biceps or pecs. Such obsession with appeasing the male-defined
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standards of beauty can unconsciously lead women to take more drastic measures, as
exemplified in the custom of Chinese women binding their feet because Chinese males
like small, baby feet (Mernissi 215). Thus, women are not only intellectually inferior;
this example illustrates how Chinese women have also become physically inferior.
CONCLUSION
To explain why many of the elites of the Muslim world decided that women
should not wear hijab, Mostafa Hashem Sherif says, “In their frenetic rush to mimic the
European and North American cultural and economical model,” these groups began to
see the veil as a “symbol of retardation and of women’s backwardness and subjugation”
(Sherif 151). However, if examined “European and North American cultural” standards
of dress are oppressive.
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WORKS CITED
Ahmed, Leila. Women and Gender in Islam. Yale University Press: New Haven, 1992.
Brooks, Geraldine. Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women.” New
York: Bantam Doubleday Publishing Group, Inc., 1995.
Bullock, Katherine. “Challenging Media Representations of the Veil: Contemporary
Muslim Women’s Re-veiling Movement.” The American Journal of Islamic
Social Sciences 3 no. 3. 2000: 22-53.
Davis, Derek H. “Reacting to France’s Ban: Headscarves and other Religious Attire in
American Public Schools.” Journal of Church and State 46 no. 2. Spr 2004: 22135.
Mernissi, Fatema. Scheherazade Goes West.Washington Square Press: New York: 2001.
Shaikh, Sa’diyya. “Transforming Feminisms: Islam, Women, and Gender Justice.”
Progressive Muslims. Ed. Omid Safi. Oxford: One World, 2003: 152.
Sherif, Mostafa Hashem. “What is Hijab?” The Muslim World LXXVII no. 3-4. July-Oct.
1987: 151-153.
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