Research Proposal - Muslims and the Veil
Coming the 19th century, a new type of clothing made its way to the Muslim society, this being the veil. A veil is a piece of more or less transparent material, used to conceal a woman's face and head (“Veil”). After the acceptance of the veil into society, the initial use was to protect women and their modesty and virtue. However, as time went on, the veil became more of a tool for Muslims to express their cultural identity. There are multiple different types of veils, or hijabs, including the Khimar, Chador, Niqāb, and the Burqa (“What is the Hijab and Why do Women Wear it?”). Even though they are different, they all serve the same purpose of protecting women and their modesty and virtue.
The incorporation of the veil in Muslim society dates back to the 19th century, but has originally started in the middle east (“What is the Hijab and Why do Women Wear it?”). As a matter of fact, as religion and culture spread, so did the veil, eventually making its way to Southeast Asia. The veil started as a way of protection for women, to protect their modesty and virtue. Surprisingly, this belief goes back to the Prophet Muhammad, the founder of Islam, which said that women should be modest. Additionally, this was a universal message, that women should follow these standards (“Muhammad and Women.”).
The meaning of the veil has changed over time with politics, history, and its significance has never been static or monolithic (E. Sanders). Like
Middle-Eastern and North African clothing culture is distinguished from other cultures by the veil, a clothing that provokes many reactions from authors and debates between the Western and Eastern people.
Within the Middle East, the largest population of the men and women are Muslim. The Muslim religion suggests that the women wear a veil or hijab, which is a headscarf that only exposes a woman’s eyes, accompanied by a burqa which is a full body cloak. The sole purpose of the clothing is to cover a woman’s feminine features from men’s eyes. The Qur’an, an Islamic scripture supports, and slightly obligates the uniform by saying that women are to be conservative, “Let them wear their head covering over their bosoms, and not display their ornaments.” (Qur’an). Muslim women, instead of feeling oppressed, view this as a positive aspect in their lives, influenced by their devotion to Allah. Their acceptance could be influenced by their
Muslim women wear the veil for a variety of reasons, which vary from individual to individual and from culture to culture.
The hijab and niqab are headscarves that are worn by Muslim women. The hijab is a veil covering worn by Muslim women to cover themselves within the public and it is to represent their faith the Islam while being modest (Litchmore, 2016). Another popular article of clothing that is in the Muslim community is the niqab which is like the hijab except the woman would cover their face as well, with the same purpose as the hijab. According to the Survey of Muslims in Canada 2016, over half of the Muslim population choose to wear some sort of headscarf. There are many reasons why Muslim women choose to wear the hijab or niqab, such as it represents their devotion to Islam. But most importantly it is a symbol of modesty for these women and is part of their identity.
More than a few people believe it to be about sexual repression and making sure that the only man that is allowed to look at a woman is her husband. That is not true for many Muslim women. For some, it is to worn to express modesty and their devotion to God. Some women choose not to wear them because it is completely their choice. Whether it is based on prejudice or the disbelief that a non-English speaking country could allow its women this basic freedom, some Americans choose to not believe this. The lives of Muslim women became the focus of inaccurate Subject Appropriation, which is when an “outsider represents members or aspects of another culture” (Young
Culture permeates every part of life. As Americans, maybe this is harder to see. Yet, everything from the way we talk to what we choose to wear is the result of culture. This makes it vital to understand that many things have a cultural significance. Abu-Lughod expresses her dismay over the “obsession with the plight of Muslim women” being focused on the burqa (209). Many people have adopted the burqa as the symbol of the oppression of Muslim women. Yet, the burqa is simply a form of covering originally specific to the Pashtun people. Each form of covering is part of the Islamic religion. Each holds significance for the community that wears it. The purpose of women wearing a veil of any kind is to “assure their protection in the public sphere from the harassment of
Some Muslim women believe that although the principles of modesty are clearly outlined in the Qu’ran, they perceive the wearing of the headscarf as a cultural interpretation of these scriptures. These women sometimes believe that the values espoused by the wearing of the headscarf can be achieved in other ways. Some women believe that while the hijab allowed women in the past to engage in public society without garnering attention, the headscarf in contemporary Western society brings more attention to women and is thus contradictory to its original purpose. Others believe that the hijab and other external practices have become inappropriately central to the practice of Islam, and instead choose to focus on their internal and spiritual relationship with God.While some women might choose not to wear the hijab, most Muslim women agree that it is a woman’s choice whether or not she wears the hijab. Many Muslim and Arab women who have chosen not to wear the hijab are often staunch advocates of a woman’s right to choose to
The main reasoning for those who practice the concept of veiling is because of the Islamic religion. Different places practice veiling but simply have different names
Great analyze of the article. "Veil of Ignorance” was one of the articles I read this week and I found this article to be very interesting. I agree that this article discuss our current situation in society. In his article, Ahmed Leila pointed out that there has been a decrease of veiling in Muslim women across the world. He claimed that in sometimes to come to the veil is likely to be dismissed amongst women in the society (Ahmed, 2011). This is accompanied by a change in women responsibilities in a society.
of the veil is to conceal and hide women as well as to prevent women
In the story of The Veil the political view is that after she started school things started to change like she had to wear a veil,she was separated from her friends, and all bilingual schools were to be closed down. It was a bad time for her and her family under the new laws. Her mom was photographed demonstrating and changed her hair color and wore glasses. At that time it was a very scary sight for a 10 year old to experience all these changes.
Veils and scarves have been a customary fashion for different cultures long before the dawn of Islam and include the hijab, chador, burqa, and niqab (Wolfang et al. 521-24). The hijab consists of different headscarves; one or two that cover the head and neck and is popular in the West and Arab countries. The chador is a full-body shawl that is mainly black and covers the whole body apart from the face. It is often held at the neck using a pin or by hand. The burqa covers the entire body leaving a small mesh screen over the eyes; a full-body veil. The niqab is almost similar to the burqa the only difference is that it leaves an opening for the eyes or the forehead. Head covering plays an essential role not only in Islam but in other religions
Within the Middle East, the largest population of the men and women are Muslim. The Muslim religion suggests that women wear a veil or hijab, which is a head scarf that only exposes a woman’s eyes, accompanied by a burqa which is a full body cloak. The sole purpose of the clothing is to cover a woman’s feminine features from men’s eyes. The Qur’an, an Islamic scripture, supports and slightly obligates the uniform by saying that women are to be conservative, “let them wear their head covering over their bosoms, and not display their ornaments.” (Qur’an). It could be inferred that women wear the burqa and veil willingly because of their geographical location. However, when Muslim women are withdrawn from the Middle East, and are placed
In early Islamic society the laws were followed and obeyed when it came to respecting women. In many cases it was found that women earned property and had an influence on the husband’s decision. Veils or hijab as the Muslim’s call it, would be worn proudly by women before and today as a way of reducing lust and preventing temptation. Women were permitted to be warriors, politics, and lead religious sanctions. They also traveled freely and played active roles in trade and economic roles.
Muslim females, starting in their early teens, began wearing head scarves of many different types. The first kind is a niqab. This is a full face veil (Awan para. 17) with an opening for the eyes (Edmonds 2). Secondly, islamic women may wear an abaya. This is a full body cloak that covers everything except for the eyes (Edmonds 2). Also, they may wear a hijab. The word hijab can be used to describe all religious headscarves (Edmonds 2), but it usually refers to a specific headscarf that covers the head and chest area (Awan para. 9). Finally, they might wear a burkini, a full body swimsuit with an attached burqa, so they can participate in summer activities. No matter what type an Islamic women decides to wear; they start wearing them around ten to twelve years old to show their commitment to Allah, and express their purity, dignity, courage, and self