Jilbab

by Agus Subandi
Jilbab
Belum Diperiksa


Seorang wanita diZanzibar memakai jilbab.
Jilbāb (Arab: جلباب ) adalah pakaian terusan panjang menutupi seluruh badan kecuali tangan, kaki dan wajah yang biasa dikenakan oleh para wanita muslim. Penggunaan jenis pakaian ini terkait dengan tuntunan syariat Islam untuk menggunakan pakaian yang menutup aurat atau dikenal dengan istilah hijab. Sementara kerudung sendiri di dalam Al Qur'an disebut dengan istilah khumur, sebagaimana terdapat pada surat An Nuur ayat 31:
“ Hendaklah mereka menutupkan khumur (kerudung-nya) ke dadanya. (An Nuur :31) ”
Di Asia Tenggara khususnya Indonesia merujuk pada jenis pakaian berupa penutup kepala dari helaian kain, atau sering juga disebut dengan kerudung atau tudung (Malaysia). Pengertian ini sebenarnya salah kaprah dan hanya berlaku di Indonesia.
Berjilbab yang benar


Sebuah tempat yang disebut dengan Medina quarter di Essaouira, Moroko, menunjukkan para wanita yang sedang menggunakan jilbab tradisional.
Menurut Muhammad Nashiruddin Al-Albany kriteria jilbab yang benar harus menutup seluruhbadan, kecuali wajah dan dua telapak , jilbab bukan merupakan perhiasan, tidak tipis, tidak ketat sehingga menampakkan bentuk tubuh, tidak disemprot parfum, tidak menyerupai pakaian kaum pria atau pakaian wanita-wanita kafir dan bukan merupakan pakaian untuk mencari popularitas. [1]
Pendapat yang sama sebagaimana dituturkan Ikrimah, jilbab itu menutup bagian leher dan mengulur ke bawah menutupi tubuhnya,[2] sementara bagian di atasnya ditutup dengan khimâr (kerudung)[3] yang juga diwajibkan, sesuai dengan salah satu ayat surah An-Nur 24:31, yang berbunyi:
“ Katakanlah kepada wanita yang beriman: "Hendaklah mereka menahan pandangannya, dan kemaluannya, dan janganlah mereka menampakkan perhiasannya, kecuali yang (biasa) nampak dari padanya. Dan hendaklah mereka menutupkan kain kudung kedadanya, dan janganlah menampakkan perhiasannya kecuali kepada suami mereka, atau ayah mereka, atau ayah suami mereka, atau putera-putera mereka, atau putera-putera suami mereka, atau saudara-saudara laki-laki mereka, atau putera-putera saudara lelaki mereka, atau putera-putera saudara perempuan mereka, atau wanita-wanita islam, atau budak-budak yang mereka miliki, atau pelayan-pelayan laki-laki yang tidak mempunyai keinginan (terhadap wanita) atau anak-anak yang belum mengerti tentang aurat wanita... (QS an-Nur [24]: 31) ”
Pendapat ini dianut juga oleh Qardhawi sebagaimana dicantumkan pada kumpulan fatwa kontemporernya [4]
Referensi
1. ^ Dikutip dari Kitab Jilbab Al-Marah Al-Muslimah fil Kitabi was Sunnah (Syaikh Al-Albany)
2. ^ Ibnu Katsir, Tafsîr al-Qur'ân al'Azhîm, vol. 3 (Riyadh: Dar 'Alam al-Kutub, 1997), 637
3. ^ Said Hawa, al-Asâs fî Tafsîr, vol. 8 (tt: Dar as-Salam, 1999), 4481.[1]
4. ^ Yusuf Qardhawi, Fatwa kontemporer : Apakah cadar itu bid'ah [2]





Jilbāb

Part of a series on
Islamic culture

The term jilbāb or jilbaab (Arabic جلباب) is the plural of the word jilaabah which refers to any long and loose-fit coat or garment worn by some Muslim women. They believe that this definition of jilbab fulfills theQuranic demand for a Hijab. Jilbab or Jilaabah is also known as Jubbah or Manteau (which is the French word for coat or mantle).
The modern jilbāb covers the entire body, except for hands, face, and head. The head and neck are then covered by a scarf or wrap (khimar). Some women will also cover the hands and face (niqab).
In Indonesia, the word jilbab is used for a headscarf rather than a long baggy overgarment (Geertz). In recent years, a short visor is often included to protect the face from the tropical sun.
Qur'an and hadith


The Medina quarter in Essaouira, Morocco, showing women wearing the traditional Jilbāb.
The plural of jilbāb, jalabib, is found in theQur'an, verse 33:59 (Surah Al-Ahzab). The verse in transliterated Arabic and the popular translation of Yusuf Ali goes:
Ya ayyuha an-Nabiyy qul li azwajika wa banatika wa nisa al-mu'minin yudnina alayhinna min jalabib hinna; dhalika adna an yu'rafna fa laa yu'dhayn. Wa kana Allahu Ghafur Rahim
O Prophet! Tell thy wives and daughters, and the believing women, that they should cast their [jalabib] (Jilbabs) over their persons (when abroad): that is most convenient, that they should be known (as such) and not molested. And Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.
Whereas Yusuf Ali is not an accredited scholar of Qur'anic exegesis, Hadith (oral traditions of the Prophet Muhammad later recorded by contemporaries of his companions), or in any other religious field by any Islamic standard (by Islamic scholars of institutions such as al-Azhar of Egypt, Dar ul-Uloom of Pakistan and India, Islamic University of Saudi-Arabia, etc.), the translation of the Qur'an entitled Interpretation of the Meanings of the Noble Qur'an in the English Language by Dr. Muhammad Muhsin Khan and Dr. Muhammad Taqiuddin Al-Hilali is a better representation of Sunni thought as its meanings are taken from the books considered most authentic and accepted by all Sunnis, such as Tafsir Al-Tabari, Al-Qurtubi,Tafsir Ibn Kathir, and from the sound books of Hadith, Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim. It is certified to this extent by Shaykh 'Abdul 'Aziz bin 'Abdullah bin Baz and Shaykh Umar Muhammad Fullata, two scholars of renown throughout the Sunni world during the latter half of the twentieth century who also represent two of the most prominent institutions of Sunni Islamic scholarship, Dar ul-Ifta in Riyadh, Saudi-Arabia and Islamic University of Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah in Medina, Saudi-Arabia.
Its translation is as follows:
O Prophet! Tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to draw their cloaks (jalabib or veils) all over their bodies (i.e. screen themselves completely except the eyes or one eye to see the way). That will be better, that they should be known (as free respectable women) so as not to be annoyed. And Allah is Ever Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.[3]

[3] (V.33:59) "They should cover (draw their veils (jalabib) over) their bodies, faces, necks and bosoms, etc., not to reveal their adornment."
This translation, "screen themselves completely except the eyes or one eye to see the way" is specifically from: Tafsir Al-Tabari, Vol. 22, page 33 and Tafsir Ibn Kathir, Vol. 6, page 471. This is also cited in the most senior tafsir (commentary of the Qur'an) of all, Tafsir Ibn Abbas, page 407, the edition published by Darul Fikr of Beirut, Lebanon. Ibn Abbas has the status of Sahaba, or companion of the Prophet.
There are hadith which serve as commentary on the above verse of the Qur'an (33:59) which mention the jilbab, such as the following:
Narrated Safiyah bint Shaibah: 'Aisha used to say: "When (the Verse): "They should draw their jalabib over their necks and bosoms," was revealed, (the ladies) cut their waist sheets at the edges and covered their faces with the cut pieces." (Sahih Bukhari, Volume 6, Book 60, Number #282)
Another hadith mentioning the jilbab follows:
Narrated Umm Atiyya: We were ordered to bring out our menstruating women and screened women to the religious gatherings and invocation of the Muslims on the two Eid festivals. These menstruating women were to keep away from the musalla. A woman asked, "O Messenger of Allah! What about one who does not have a jilbab?". He said, "Let her borrow the jilbab of her companion". (Sahih Bukhari, Book 8, #347)
Controversy


Atatürks wife, Lâtife Uşaklıgil, in 1923 curiously wearing the same Jilbāb that, apparently, only became popular in the 1970s as a method of distinguishing religious adherence to theMuslim Brotherhood.
Since there are no pictures of 7th century jilbab, nor any surviving garments, it is not at all clear if the modern jilbab is the same garment as that referred to in the Qur'an. In general terms, jilbab is a garment/sheet that is worn on the head, draped around the body and that totally covers the body of the woman.
Some modern Muslims insist that the contemporary jilbab and the garment described in the Qur'an and the hadith are exactly the same, and that the Qur'an therefore requires the believer to wear 'these' garments.
Fadwa El Guindi, an Egyptian professor of anthropology, however argues that the jilbab and khimar worn today date only from the 1970s, when Egyptian women who belonged to the Muslim Brotherhood adopted them as Islamic dress.[citation needed] Wearing a jilbab advertised the wearer's adherence to a particular interpretation of Islam.
The Encyclopedia of Islam identifies over a hundred terms for dress parts, many of which are used for "veiling" (Encyclopedia of Islam 1986: 745–6). Some of these and related Arabic terms are burqu, ‘abayah, tarhah, bumus, jilbab, jellabah, hayik, milayah, gallabiyyah, dishdasha, gargush, gins’, mungub, lithma, yashmik, habarah, izar. A few terms refer to items used as face covers only. These are qina, burqu, niqab, lithma. Others refer to headcovers that are situationally held by the individual to cover part of the face. These are khimar, sitara, abayah or inrrah. (El Guindi 1999 p. 7)
Traditional Islamic costume for women seems to have included the abaya, the chador, and the burqa, as well as many other forms of dress and headcovering.
Sports wear
A new type of athletic jilbab has been developed by Nike.[1] This allows women to play volleyball while still respecting a traditional clothing style.[2]
See also
 Hijab
 Shabina Begum
 Islamic dress controversy in Europe
 Jellabiya
 Djellaba
Notes
1. ^ BBC NEWS | Africa | Muslim girls don sporting jilbabs
2. ^ Muslim Athletic Wear Covers Skin Without Cramping Style
References
 El Guindi, Fadwa -- Veil: Modesty, Privacy, and Resistance, Berg, 1999
 Geertz, Clifford -- Available Light: Anthropological Reflections on Philosophical Topics, Princeton University Press, 2000

External links
 Jilbab Gallery Islamic Fashion
 FiMiNin Islamic Fashion
 Jilbab product
 Jilbab
 Various examples of the jilbab/hijab/veil
 What is a jilbab?
 Types of Jilbab
 Selection of Jilbabs




Hijab
"Higab" redirects here. For the municipal company of Gothenburg, Sweden, see Higabgruppen.
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The word "hijab" or "ḥijāb" (Arabic: حجاب he-zjab, pronounced [ħiˈdʒæːb] ~ [ħiˈɡæːb]) refers to both the head covering traditionally worn by Muslim women and modest Muslim styles of dress in general.
The Arabic word literally means curtain or cover (noun). Most Islamic legal systems define this type of modest dressing as covering everything except the face and hands in public.[1][2] According to Islamic scholarship, hijabis given the wider meaning of modesty, privacy, and morality;[3] the words for a headscarf or veil used in the Qur'anare khimār (خمار) and Jilbaab(جلباب), not hijab. Still another definition is metaphysical, where al-hijab refers to "the veil which separates man or the world from God."[2]
Muslims differ as to whether the hijab should be required on women in public, as it is in countries like Iran andSaudi Arabia; whether it should be banned in schools, as it is in France; or whether it should be left for the women to decide.
Etymology and meaning
According to the Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World, the meaning of hijab has evolved over time:
The term hijab or veil is not used in the Qur'an to refer to an article of clothing for women or men, rather it refers to a spatial curtain that divides or provides privacy. The Qur'an instructs the male believers (Muslims) to talk to wives of Prophet Muhammad behind a hijab. This hijab was the responsibility of the men and not the wives of Prophet Muhammad. However, in later Muslim societies this instruction, specific to the wives of Prophet Muhammad, was generalized, leading to the segregation of the Muslim men and women. The modesty in Qur'an concerns both men's and women's gaze, gait, garments, and genitalia. The clothing for women involves khumūr over the necklines and jilbab (cloaks) in public so that they may be identified and not harmed. Guidelines for covering of the entire body except for the hands, the feet and the face, are found in texts of fiqh andhadith that are developed later.[4]
In Islamic texts
Qur'an
The Qur'an instructs both Muslim men and women to dress in a modest way.
The clearest verse on the requirement of the hijab is surah 24:30–31, asking women to draw their khimarover their bosoms.[5][6]
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 khimar over their bosoms and not display their beauty except to [...] (Qur'an 24:31)
In the following verse, Muslim women are asked to draw their jilbab over them (when they go out), as a measure to distinguish themselves from others, so that they are not harassed. Surah 33:59 reads:[6]
Those who harass believing men and believing women undeservedly, bear (on themselves) a calumny and a grievous sin. O Prophet! Enjoin your wives, your daughters, and the wives of true believers that they should cast their outer garments over their persons (when abroad): That is most convenient, that they may be distinguished and not be harassed. [...] (Qur'an 33:58–59)
Alternative views


Women's head scarves for sale in East Jerusalem
Other Muslims take a relativist approach to ħijāb. They believe that the commandment to maintainmodesty must be interpreted with regard to the surrounding society. What is considered modest or daring in one society may not be considered so in another. It is important, they say, for believers to wear clothing that communicates modesty and reserve in the situations in which they find themselves.[7]
Along with scriptural arguments, Leila Ahmed argues that head covering should not be compulsory in Islam because the veil predates the revelation of the Qur'an. Head-covering was introduced into Arabia long before Muhammad, primarily through Arab contacts with Syria and Iran, where the hijab was a sign of social status. After all, only a woman who need not work in the fields could afford to remain secluded and veiled.[8][9]
Ahmed argues for a more liberal approach to hijab. Among her arguments is that while some Qur'anic verses enjoin women in general to "draw their Jilbabs (overgarment or cloak) around them to be recognized as believers and so that no harm will come to them"[Qur'an 33:58–59] and "guard their private parts... and drape downkhimar over their breasts [when in the presence of unrelated men]",[Qur'an 24:31] they urge modesty. The word "khimar" refers to a piece of cloth that covers the head, or headscarf.[10] While the term "hijab" was originally anything that was used to conceal,[11] it became used to refer to concealing garments worn by women outside the house, specifically the headscarf or khimar.[12]
Other verses do mention separation of men and women but they refer specifically to the wives of the prophet:
Abide still in your homes and make not a dazzling display like that of the former times of ignorance[Qur'an 33:32–33]
And when ye ask of them [the wives of the Prophet] anything, ask it of them from behind a curtain.[Qur'an 33:53]
According to Leila Ahmed, nowhere in the whole of the Qur'an is the term hijab applied to any woman other than the wives of Muhammad.[8][13]
According to at least two authors (Reza Aslan and Leila Ahmed), the stipulations of the hijab were originally meant only for Muhammad's wives, and were intended to maintain their inviolability. This was because Muhammad conducted all religious and civic affairs in the mosque adjacent to his home:
People were constantly coming in and out of this compound at all hours of the day. When delegations from other tribes come to speak with Prophet Muhammad, they would set up their tents for days at a time inside the open courtyard, just a few feet away from the apartments in which Prophet Muhammad's wives slept. And new emigrants who arrived in Yatrib would often stay within the mosque's walls until they could find suitable homes.[8]
According to Ahmed:
By instituting seclusion Prophet Muhammad was creating a distance between his wives and this thronging community on their doorstep.[14]
They argue that the term darabat al-hijab ("taking the veil"), was used synonymously and interchangeably with "becoming Prophet Muhammad's wife", and that during Muhammad's life, no other Muslim woman wore the hijab. Aslam suggests that Muslim women started to wear the hijab to emulate Muhammad's wives, who are revered as "Mothers of the Believers" in Islam,[8] and states "there was no tradition of veiling until around 627 C.E." in the Muslim community.[8][14]
Hadith
The Arabic word jilbab is translated as "cloak" in the following passage. Contemporary salafis insist that the jilbab (which is worn over the Kimaar and covers from the head to the toe) worn today is the same garment mentioned in the Qur'an and the hadith; other translators have chosen to use less specific terms:
 Narrated Anas ibn Malik: "I know (about) the Hijab (the order of veiling of women) more than anybody else. Ubay ibn Ka'b used to ask me about it. Allah's Apostle became the bridegroom of Zaynab bint Jahsh whom he married at Medina. After the sun had risen high in the sky, the Prophet invited the people to a meal. Allah's Apostle remained sitting and some people remained sitting with him after the other guests had left. Then Allah's Apostle got up and went away, and I too, followed him till he reached the door of 'Aisha's room. Then he thought that the people must have left the place by then, so he returned and I also returned with him. Behold, the people were still sitting at their places. So he went back again for the second time, and I went along with him too. When we reached the door of 'Aisha's room, he returned and I also returned with him to see that the people had left. Thereupon the Prophet hung a curtain between me and him and the Verse regarding the order for (veiling of women) Hijab was revealed." Sahih al-Bukhari, 7:65:375, Sahih Muslim, 8:3334
 Narrated Umm Salama Hind bint Abi Umayya, Ummul Mu'minin: "When the verse 'That they should cast their outer garments over their persons' was revealed, the women of Ansar came out as if they had crows hanging down over their heads by wearing outer garments."32:4090. Abū Dawud classed this hadith as authentic.
 Narrated Safiya bint Shaiba: "Aisha used to say: 'When (the Verse): "They should draw their veils (Khumur) over their necks and bosoms(juyyub)," was revealed, (the ladies) cut their waist sheets at the edges and covered their faces with the cut pieces.'" Sahih al-Bukhari,6:60:282, 32:4091.

Dress code required by hijab
Traditionally, Muslims have recognized many different forms of clothing as satisfying the demands of hijab.[15] Debate focused on how much of the male or female body should be covered. Different scholars adopted different interpretations of the original texts.
Women


The standard typical hijab headscarf worn on the head of a mannequin.
The four major Sunni schools of thought (Hanafi, Shafi'i, Maliki and Hanbali) hold that entire body of the woman, except her face and hands – though a few clerics[who?] say face, hands – is part of her awrah, that is, the parts of her body that must be covered during prayer and in public settings. There are those who allow the feet to be uncovered as well as the hands and face.[16][17]
It is recommend that women wear clothing that is not form fitting to the body: either modest forms of western clothing (long shirts and skirts), or the more traditional jilbāb, a high-necked, loose robe that covers the arms and legs. A khimār or shaylah, a scarf or cowl that covers all but the face, is also worn in many different styles. Some scholars encourage covering the face, while some follow the opinion that it is only not obligatory to cover the face and the hands but mustahab (Highly recommended). Other scholars oppose face covering, particularly in the west where the woman may draw more attention as a result. These garments are very different in cut than most of the traditional forms of ħijāb, and they are worn worldwide by Muslims.
Detailed scholarly attention has been focused on prescribing female dress. Many Muslims believe that the basic requirements are that when in the presence of someone of the opposite sex (other than a close family member (those which are within the prohibited degrees of marriage) – seemahram), a woman should cover her body, and walk and dress in a way which does not draw sexual attention to her. Some believers go so far as to specify exactly which areas of the body must be covered. In some cases, this is everything save the eyes but most require everything save the face and hands to be covered. In nearly all Muslim cultures, young girls are not required to wear a ħijāb. There is not a single agreed age when a woman should begin wearing a ħijāb; however, in many Muslim countries, puberty is the dividing line.
In private, and in the presence of mahrams, the rules on dress are relaxed. However, in the presence of husband, most scholars stress the importance of mutual freedom and pleasure of the husband and wife.[18]
Garments


A woman wearing a burqa orchadri in northern Afghanistan.
The burqa (also spelled burka) is the garment that covers women most completely: either only the eyes are visible, or nothing at all. Originating in what is now Pakistan, it is more commonly associated with theAfghan chadri. Typically, a burqa is composed of many yards of light material pleated around a cap that fits over the top of the head, or a scarf over the face (save the eyes). This type of veil is cultural as well as religious.
It has become tradition that Muslims in general, and Salafis in particular, believe the Qur'ān demands women wear the garments known today as jilbāb and khumūr (the khumūr must be worn underneath thejilbāb). However, Qur'ān translators and commentators translate the Arabic into English words with a general meaning, such as veils, head-coverings and shawls.[19] Ghamidi argues that verses [Qur'an 24:30]teach etiquette for male and female interactions, where khumūr is mentioned in reference to the clothing of Arab women in the 7th century, but there is no command to actually wear them in any specific way. Hence he considers head-covering a preferable practice but not a directive of the sharia (law).[20]
Men's dress
Although certain general standards are widely accepted, there has been little interest in narrowly prescribing what constitutes modest dress for Muslim men. Most mainstream scholars say that men should cover themselves from the navel to the knees; a minority say that the hadith that are held to require this are weak and possibly inauthentic. They argue that there are hadith indicating that the Islamic prophet Muħammad wore clothing that uncovered his thigh when riding camels, and hold that if Muħammad believed that this was permissible, then it is surely permissible for other Muslim males.[citation needed]
As a practical matter, however, the opinion that Muslim men must cover themselves between the navel and the knees is predominant, and most Muslims believe that a man who fails to observe this requirement during salah must perform the prayer again,[citation needed] properly covered, in order for it to be valid. Three of the four Sunni Madh'hab, or schools of law, require that the knees be covered; the Maliki school recommends but does not require knee covering.
According to some hadith, Muslim men are asked not to wear gold jewellery, silk clothing, or other adornments that are considered feminine. Some scholars say that these prohibitions should be generalized to prohibit the lavish display of wealth on one's person.[21]
Sartorial hijab as practiced
In more secular Muslim nations, such as Turkey or Tunisia, many women are choosing to wear the Hijab, Burqa, Niqab, etc. because of the widespread growth of the Islamic revival in those areas.[citation needed] Similarly, increasing numbers of men are abandoning the Western dress of jeans and t-shirts, that dominated places like Egypt 20 to 30 years ago, in favor of more traditional Islamic clothing such as theGalabiyya.
In Iran many women, especially younger ones, have taken to wearing transparent, colorful and very loosely worn Hijabs instead of Chadors or mantoos to protest but keep within the law of the state.
The colors of this clothing varies. It is mostly black, but in many African countries women wear clothes of many different colours depending on their tribe, area, or family. In Turkey, where the hijab is banned in private and state universities and schools, 11% of women wear it, though 60% wear traditional non-Islamic headscarves, figures of which are often confused with hijab.[22][23][24]
In many of the western nations, there has been a general rise of hijab-wearing women. They are especially common in Muslim Student Associations at college campuses.
Some Muslims have criticized strict dress codes that they believe go beyond the demands of hijab, using Qur'an 66:1 to apply to dress codes as well; the verse suggests that it is wrong to refrain from what is permitted by God.[citation needed]
Types of sartorial hijab
Main article: Sartorial hijab
Historical and cultural explanations


A veiled Arab woman in Bersheeba,British Mandate of Palestine.
John Esposito, professor of Islamic Studies at Georgetown University, writes that the customs of veiling and seclusion of women in early Islam were assimilated from the conquered Persian andByzantine societies and then later on they were viewed as appropriate expressions of Quranic norms and values. The Qur'an does not stipulate veiling or seclusion; on the contrary, it tends to emphasize the participation of religious responsibility of both men and women in society.[25] He claims that "in the midst of rapid social and economic change when traditional security and support systems are increasingly eroded and replaced by the state, (...) hijab maintains that the state has failed to provide equal rights for men and women because the debate has been conducted within the Islamic framework, which provides women with equivalent rather than equal rights within the family."[26]
Bloom and Blair also write that the Qur'an does not require women to wear veils; rather, it was a social habit picked up with the expansion of Islam. In fact, since it was impractical for working women to wear veils, "A veiled woman silently announced that her husband was rich enough to keep her idle."[27]
Modern practice
Wearing hijab in Kazakhstan is not prohibited, but widely critisized as a foreign custom (as traditional Central Asian scarfs worn by married womens like bandana, not like hijab), as it was not practiced until the fall of the USSR and the arrival of foreign Islamic missionaries.





Governmental enforcement and bans


Some Iranian alumnae of IUT
Some governments encourage and even oblige women to wear the hijab, while others have banned it in at least some public settings.
Some Muslims believe hijab covering for women should be compulsory as part of sharia, i.e. Muslim law. Wearing of the hijab was enforced by the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, and is enforced in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The Islamic Emirate required women to cover not only their head but their face as well, because "the face of a woman is a source of corruption" for men not related to them.[28] While some women wholeheartedly embrace the rules, others protest by observing the rules in an inconsistent fashion, or flouting them whenever possible.Sudan's criminal code allows the flogging or fining of anyone who “violates public morality or wears indecent clothing”, albeit without defining "indecent clothing",
Turkey, Tunisia, and Tajikistan are Muslim-majority countries where the law prohibits the wearing of hijab in government buildings, schools, and universities. In Tunisia, women were banned from wearing hijab in state offices in 1981 and in the 1980s and 1990s more restrictions were put in place.[29] In 2008 the Turkish government attempted to lift a ban on Muslim headscarves at universities, but were overturned by the country's Constitutional Court.[30]
On March 15, 2004, France passed a law banning "symbols or clothes through which students conspicuously display their religious affiliation" in public primary schools, middle schools, and secondary schools. In the Belgian city of Maaseik, Niqāb has been banned.[31] (2006)
On July 13, 2010, France's lower house of parliament overwhelmingly approved a bill that would ban wearing the Islamic full veil in public. There were 335 votes for the bill and one against in the 557-seat National Assembly.
Non-governmental
See also: Islamization of the Gaza Strip
Non-governmental enforcement of hijab is found in many parts of the Muslim world.
Successful informal coercion of women by sectors of society to wear hijab has been reported in Gaza where Mujama' al-Islami, the predecessor of Hamas, reportedly used "a mixture of consent and coercion" to "'restore' hijab" on urban educated women in Gaza in the late 1970s and 1980s.[32]
Similar behavior was displayed by Hamas itself during the first intifada in Palestine. Though a relatively small movement at this time, Hamas exploited the political vacuum left by perceived failures in strategy by the Palestinian factions to call for a 'return' to Islam as a path to success, a campaign that focused on the role of women.[33] Hamas campaigned for the wearing of the hijab alongside other measures, including insisting women stay at home, segregation from men and the promotion of polygamy. In the course of this campaign women who chose not to wear the hijab were verbally and physically harassed, with the result that the hijab was being worn 'just to avoid problems on the streets'.[34]
According to journalist Jane Kramer, in France, veiling among school girls became increasingly common following the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, due to coercion by "fathers and uncles and brothers and even their male classmates" of the school girls. "Girls who did not conform were excoriated, or chased, or beaten by fanatical young men meting out Islamic justice."[35] According to the American magazineThe Weekly Standard, a survey conducted in France in May 2003 reportedly "found that 77% of girls wearing the hijab said they did so because of physical threats from Islamist groups."[36]
In Srinagar, India in 2001 an "acid attack on four young Muslim women ... by an unknown militant outfit [was followed by] swift compliance by women of all ages on the issue of wearing the chadar (head-dress) in public."[37][38][39]
In Basra, Iraq, "more than 100 women who didn't adhere to strict Islamic dress code" were killed between the summer of 2007 and spring of 2008 by Islamist militias (primarily the Mahdi Army) who controlled the police there, according to the CBS news program 60 Minutes.[40]
Islamists in other countries have been accused of attacking or threatening to attack the faces of women in an effort to intimidate them from wearing of makeup or allegedly immodest dress.[41][42][43]




Hijab by country
Main article: Hijab by country
Debate and controversy
The veil has become the subject of lively contemporary debate, in Muslim countries as well as within Western countries with Muslim populations. For example, in 2006 British government minister Jack Straw suggested that communication with some of the Muslim members of his constituency would be made significantly easier if they ceased covering their faces.[44] In broader terms, the sweep of the debate is captured by Bodman and Tohidi, stating that "the meaning of the hijab ranges from a form of empowerment for the woman choosing to wear it to a means of seclusion and containment imposed by others".[45] The subject has also become highly politicized. There is a diverse range of views on the wearing of the hijab in general. Sadiki interviews a woman who views it as "submission to God's commandments".[46] Rubenberg illustrates how even non-religious women in Muslim countries can be made to wear the veil due to a social or political context.[47] Some criticise the hijab in its own right as a regressive device, such as Polly Toynbee stating that it "turns women into things".[48] Faisal al Yafai meanwhile argues that the veil should be debated, but that more pressing issues like political and legal rights of women should be a greater priority.[49]
Writers such as Leila Ahmed and Karen Armstrong have highlighted how the veil became a symbol of resistance to colonialism, particularly in Egypt in the latter part of the 19th century, and again today in the post-colonial period. In The Battle for God, Armstrong writes:
The veiled woman has, over the years, become a symbol of Islamic self-assertion and a rejection of Western cultural hegemony.[50]
while in Women and Gender, Ahmed states:
it was the discourses of the West, and specifically the discourse of colonial domination, that in the first place determined the meaning of the veil in geopolitical discourses and thereby set the terms for its emergence as a symbol of resistance.[51]
Meanwhile, for Islamists, rejection of “Western” modes of dress is not enough: resistance and independence can only be demonstrated by the “wholesale affirmation of indigenous culture”[52]—a prime example being the wearing of the veil.
Tracing the Victorian law of coverture, legal scholar L. Ali Khan provides a critique of the British male elite that wishes to impose its own "comfort views" to unveil Muslim women from Asia, Africa, and Middle East.[53]
In her discussion of findings from interviews of university-educated Moroccan Muslim women who choose to wear the hijab, Hessini argues that wearing the hijab is used as a method of separation of women from men when women work and therefore step into what is perceived to be the men’s public space, so in this case, when women have the right and are able to work, a method has been found to maintain the traditional societal arrangements.[54]
Academic Rema Hammai quotes a Palestinian woman reflective of an "activist" resistance to "hijabization" in Gaza saying that "in my community it's natural to wear" hijab. "The problem is when little boys, including my son, feel they have the right to tell me to wear it."[55]Similarly Iranian-American novelist Azar Nafisi, author of Reading Lolita in Tehran, Marjane Satrapi, author of the graphic novel Persepolis, and Parvin Darabi, author of Rage Against the Veil, are some of the famous opponents of compulsory hijab, which was protested against when first imposed in Iran.[56]
Cheryl Benard, writing an opinion piece for Rand Corporation, criticized those who used fear to enforce the hijab and stated that "in Pakistan,Kashmir, and Afghanistan, hundreds of women have been blinded or maimed when acid was thrown on their unveiled faces by male fanatics who considered them improperly dressed."[57]
Lubna al-Hussein, a Sudanese journalist in Khartoum, was arrested in July 2009 by the Public Order Police for wearing trousers. She is protesting the punishment for breaking hijab: forty lashes and an indeterminate fine.
See also
 Burqa
 Does My Head Look Big in This? (novel)
 Headscarf controversy in Turkey
 Hijab by country
 Islam and clothing
 List of types of sartorial hijab
 Niqab
 Paranja
 Purdah
 Taliban treatment of women
 Tudong
 Veil
 Yashmak
 Women in Islam
 Snow (novel)
 Niqāb in Egypt



Notes
1. ^ Fisher, Mary Pat. Living Religions. New Jersey: Pearson Education, 2008.
2. ^ a b Glasse, Cyril, The New Encyclopedia of Islam, Altamira Press, 2001, p.179-180
3. ^ Esposito (2003), p. 112
4. ^ Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World (2003), p.721, New York: Macmillan Reference USA
5. ^ Evidence in the Qur'an for Covering Women's Hair,IslamOnline.
6. ^ a b Hameed, Shahul. "Is Hijab a Qur’anic Commandment?," IslamOnline.net. October 9, 2003.
7. ^ Syed, Ibrahim B. (2001). "Women in Islam: Hijab"
8. ^ a b c d e Aslan, Reza, No God but God, Random House, (2005), p.65–6
9. ^ Ahmed, Leyla (1992). Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate. New Haven: Yale University Press.ISBN 0300055838
10. ^ V.A. Mohamad Ashrof. Islam and gender justice:. Gyan Books, 2005. p. 130. Retrieved 8 April 2011.
11. ^ Asma Afsaruddin, A. H. Mathias Zahniser. Humanism, culture, and language in the Near East. Eisenbrauns, 1997. p. 87. Retrieved 8 April 2011.
12. ^ Asma Afsaruddin, A. H. Mathias Zahniser. Humanism, culture, and language in the Near East. Eisenbrauns, 1997. p. 95. Retrieved 8 April 2011.
13. ^ Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate By Leila Ahmed
14. ^ a b Books.Google.com
15. ^ Kausar Khan, "Veiled Feminism: The dating scene looks a little different from behind the veil," Current (Winter 2007): 14-15.
16. ^ The Hanbali school of thought also views the face as the awrah, though this view is rejected by Hanafis, Malikis and Shafi'is.
17. ^ Hsu, Shiu-Sian. "Modesty." Encyclopaedia of the Qur'an. Ed. Jane McAuliffe. Vol. 3. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill Academic Publishers, 2003. 403-405. 6 vols.
18. ^ Heba G. Kotb M.D., Sexuality in Islam, PhD Thesis, Maimonides University, 2004
19. ^ See collection of Qur'an translations, compared verse by verse
20. ^ Javed Ahmed Ghamidi, Mizan, Chapter: The Social Law of Islam,Al-Mawrid.
21. ^ Shehzad Saleem. Wearing Silk, Renaissance-Monthly Islamic Journal, 9(6), June, 1999
22. ^ "Headscarf issue challenges Turkey". BBC News. November 7, 2006.
23. ^ Rainsford, Sarah (2007-10-02). "Women condemn Turkey constitution". BBC News. Retrieved 2008-08-04.
24. ^ Clark-Flory, Tracy (2007-04-23). "Head scarves to topple secular Turkey?". Salon. Retrieved 2008-08-04.
25. ^ John Esposito, Islam: The Straight Path,, p.98, 3rd Edition. Oxford University Press, 2005.
26. ^ Haddad/Esposito pg.xvii
27. ^ Bloom (2002), p.46-47
28. ^ M. J. Gohari (2000). The Taliban: Ascent to Power. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 108-110.
29. ^ Tunisia's Hijab Ban Unconstitutional, 11 October 2007
30. ^ Turkey's AKP discusses hijab ruling JUNE 06, 2008
31. ^ Mardell, Mark. Dutch MPs to decide on burqa ban, BBC News, January 16, 2006. Accessed June 6, 2008.
32. ^ "Women and the Hijab in the Intifada", Rema HammamiMiddle East Report, May–August 1990
33. ^ Rubenberg, C., Palestinian Women: Patriarchy and Resistance in the West Bank (USA, 2001) p.230
34. ^ Rubenberg, C., Palestinian Women: Patriarchy and Resistance in the West Bank (USA, 2001) p.231
35. ^ "Taking the veil; Letter from Europe", by Jane Kramer. The New Yorker. New York: Nov 22, 2004
36. ^ "The Veil Controversy-Islamism and liberalism face off" by Olivier Guitta, 12/04/2006
37. ^ The Pioneer, August 14, 2001, "Acid test in the face of acid attacks" Sandhya Jain
38. ^ Kashmir women face threat of acid attacks from militants,Independent, The (London), Aug 30, 2001 by Peter Popham in Delhi
39. ^ 10 August 2001, Kashmir women face acid attacks
40. ^ 60 minutes, CBS News, "Hostage Recalls Basra Kidnapping Ordeal" Feb. 22, 2009
41. ^ Molavi, Afshini The Soul of Iran, Norton, (2005), p.152: Following the mandating of the covering of hair by women in the Islamic Republic of Iran, a hijab-less woman `was shopping. A bearded young man approached me. He said he would throw acid on my face if I did not comply with the rules."
42. ^ In 2006, a group in Gaza calling itself "Just Swords of Islam" is reported to have claimed it threw acid at the face of a young woman who was dressed "immodestly," and warned other women in Gaza that they must wear hijab. December 2, 2006 Gaza women warned of immodesty
43. ^ Iranian journalist Amir Taheri tells of an 18-year-old college student at the American University in Beirut who on the eve of`Ashura in 1985 "was surrounded and attacked by a group of youths -- all members of Hezb-Allah, the Party of Allah. They objected to the `lax way` in which they thought she was dressed, and accused her of `insulting the blood of the martyrs` by not having her hair fully covered. Then one of the youths threw `a burning liquid` on her face." According to Taheri, "scores -- some say hundreds -- of women ... in Baalbek, in Beirut, in southern Lebanon and in many other Muslim cities from Tunis to Kuala Lumpur," were attacked in a similar manner from 1980 to 1986. Taheri, Amir, Holy Terror : the Inside Story of Islamic Terrorism, Adler & Adler, 1987, p.12
44. ^ "Straw’s veil comments spark anger". BBC News Online. 2006-10-05. Retrieved 2007-04-18.
45. ^ Bodman, H., and Tohidi, N.,Women in Muslim Societies: Diversity within Unity (USA, 1998), p.66
46. ^ Sadiki, L., The Search for Arab Democracy (London 2004) p.300
47. ^ Rubenberg, C., Palestinian Women: Patriarchy and Resistance in the West Bank (USA, 2001), p.231
48. ^ Guardian.co.uk
49. ^ Guardian.co.uk
50. ^ p.295, Armstrong, K, 2001, “The Battle for God: Fundamentalism in Judaism, Christianity and Islam”, London, HarperCollinsRoutledge
51. ^ Ahmed (1992), p. 235
52. ^ Ahmed (1992), p. 244
53. ^ SSRN-The Veil and the British Male Elite by L. Khan
54. ^ Hessini, L., 1994, Wearing the Hijab in Contemporary Morocco: Choice and Identity, in Göçek, F. M. & Balaghi, S., Reconstructing Gender in the Middle East: Tradition, Identity & Power, New York, Columbia University Press
55. ^ "Women and the Hijab in the Intifada", Rema HammamiMiddle East Report, May–August 1990, p.26
56. ^ Photos. Right to choose. First protests against mandatory hijab
57. ^ Commentary. "French Tussle Over Muslim Head Scarf is Positive Push for Women's Rights" by Cheryl Benard
References
 Ahmed, Leila (1992). Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-30005-583-8.
 Aslan, Reza, No God But God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam, Random House, 2005
 Bloom, Jonathan; Blair, Sheila (2002). Islam: A Thousand Years of Faith and Power. Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-09422-1.
 El Guindi, Fadwa (1999). Veil: Modesty, Privacy, and Resistance. Oxford: Berg. ISBN 1-85973-929-6.
 Esposito, John (2003). The Oxford Dictionary of Islam. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-512558-4.
Muslim girl ejected from tournament for wearing hijab

Five young teams from across Canada walked out of a Quebec soccer tournament Sunday because a young Muslim girl was ejected for wearing a hijab.
Calling the rule banning the headscarf worn by Muslim women racist, four other teams followed Asmahan Mansour's team, the Nepean Selects from Ottawa, after she was thrown out for running afoul of a Quebec Soccer Association rule.
Asi and teamates on the Nepean Selects.
(CBC)
"The referee was staring and pointing. 'She can't play,'" said Asmahan, Asi to her friends. "I was like why? Why can't I play?"
Because of a safety rule, league spokesman Lyes Arfa said. He pointed out that the referee is Muslim himself, and that the ban on hijabs is to protect children from being accidentally strangled.
"We have to protect the players on the field, and that's the main point. It's not against the Muslims."
And the league had told organizers about the rule — "The wearing of the Islamic veil or any other religious item is not permitted" — before the game.
Asi's team was aware of the rule, but didn't expect it would be enforced.
So when it was, many players and adults were outraged.
Girls backed up teammate
"I automatically went back to the referee: 'Are you sure this is what you wanna do?'" said Louis Maneiro, the Selects' head coach. When nothing changed, he said, "I just decided that there's no way that I would allow our team to continue, and the girls backed up Asi very strongly."
Asi's teammates supported the move. "I felt disgraced, I was crushed, I couldn't see Asi like that," said Lisa Furano.
"It's just a piece of material, it can't do any harm," added Alicia Stainton.
The Selects left the tournament in good spirits. But they say they won't come back until the rule changes.


Potent symbol
The word hijab comes from the Arabic for veil and is used to describe the headscarves worn by Muslim women.
These scarves, regarded by many Muslims as a symbol of both religion and womanhood, come in a myriad of 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.


Conservative choice
The niqab is a veil for the face that leaves the area around the eyes clear. However, it may be worn with a separate eye veil. It is worn with an accompanying headscarf.
The burka is the most concealing of all Islamic veils. It covers the entire face and body, leaving just a mesh screen to see through.
There have been attempts to ban both the niqab and burka in some European countries


Popular styles
The al-amira is a two-piece veil. It consists of a close fitting cap, usually made from cotton or polyester, and an accompanying tube-like scarf.
The shayla is a long, rectangular scarf popular in the Gulf region. It is wrapped around the head and tucked or pinned in place at the shoulders


Covering up
The khimar is a long, cape-like veil that hangs down to just above the waist. It covers the hair, neck and shoulders completely, but leaves the face clear.
The chador, worn by many Iranian women when outside the house, is a full-body cloak. It is often accompanied by a smaller headscarf underneath


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Women in Islam: Hijab
"In many Muslim societies, for example in traditional South East Asia, or in Bedouin lands a face veil for women is either rare or non-existent; paradoxically, modern fundamentalism is introducing it", writes Ibrahim B. Syed, Ph.D.
In the name of Allah the most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
Literally, Hijab means "a veil", "curtain", "partition" or "separation." In a meta- physical sense, Hijab means illusion or refers to the illusory aspect of creation. Another, and most popular and common meaning of Hijab today, is the veil in dressing for women. It refers to a certain standard of modest dress for women. "The usual definition of modest dress according to the legal systems does not actually require covering everything except the face and hands in public; this, at least, is the practice which originated in the Middle East." 1
While Hijab means "cover", "drape", or "partition"; the word KHIMAR means veil covering the head and the word LITHAM or NIQAB means veil covering lower face up to the eyes. The general term hijab in the present day world refers to the covering of the face by women. In the Indian sub-continent it is called purdah and in Iran it called chador for the tent like black cloak and veil worn by many women in Iran and other Middle Eastern countries. By socioeconomic necessity, the obligation to observe the hijab now often applies more to female "garments" (worn outside the house) than it does to the ancient paradigmatic feature of women's domestic "seclusion." In the contemporary normative Islamic language of Egypt and elsewhere, the hijab now denotes more a "way of dressing" than a "way of life," a (portable) "veil" rather than a fixed "domestic screen/seclusion." In Egypt and America hijab presently denotes the basic head covering ("veil") worn by fundamentalist/Islamist women as part of Islamic dress (zayy islami, or zayy shar'i); this hijab-head covering conceals hair and neck of the wearer.
The Qur'an advises the wives of the Prophet (SAS) to go veiled (33: 59).
In Surah 24: 31(Ayah), the Qur'an advises women to cover their "adornments" from strangers outside the family. In the traditional and modern Arab societies women at home dress quite differently compared to what they wear in the streets. In this verse of the Qur'an, it refers to the institution of a new public modesty rather than veiling the face.
...When the pre-Islamic Arabs went to battle, Arab women seeing the men off to war would bare their breasts to encourage them to fight; or they would do so at the battle itself, as in the case of the Meccan women led by Hind at the Battle of Uhud. This changed with Islam, but the general use of the veil to cover the face did not appear until 'Abbasid times. Nor was it entirely unknown in Europe, for the veil permitted women the freedom of anonymity. None of the legal systems actually prescribe that women must wear a veil, although they do prescribe covering the body in public, up to the neck, the ankles, and below the elbow. In many Muslim societies, for example in traditional South East Asia, or in Bedouin lands a face veil for women is either rare or non-existent; paradoxically, modern fundamentalism is introducing it. In others, the veil may be used at one time and European dress another. While modesty is a religious prescription, the wearing of a veil is not a religious requirement of Islam, but a matter of cultural milieu.2
"The Middle Eastern norm for relationships between the sexes is by no means the only one possible for Islamic societies everywhere, nor is it appropriate for all cultures. It does not exhaust the possibilities allowed within the framework of the Qur'an and Sunnah, and is neither feasible nor desirable as a model for Europe or North America. European societies possess perfectly adequate models for marriage, the family, and relations between the sexes which are by no means out of harmony with the Qur'an and the Sunnah. This is borne out by the fact that within certain broad limits Islamic societies themselves differ enormously in this respect." 3
The Qur'an lays down the principle of the law of modesty. In Surah 24: An-Nur: 30 and 31, modesty is enjoined both upon Muslim men and Muslim women 4:
Say to the believing men that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty: that will make for Greater purity for them: And God is Well-acquainted with all that they do. And say to the believing women That they should lower their gaze And guard their modesty: and they should not display beauty and ornaments expect what (must ordinarily) appear thereof; that They must draw their veils over their bosoms and not display their beauty except to their husbands, their fathers, their husband's fathers, their sons, their husband's sons, or their women, or their slaves whom their right hands possess, or male servants free of physical needs, or small children who have no sense of the shame of sex; and that they should not strike their feet in order to draw attention to their ornaments.
The following conclusions may be made on the basis of the above-cited verses5:
1. The Qur'anic injunctions enjoining the believers to lower their gaze and behave modestly applies to both Muslim men and women and not Muslim women alone.
2. Muslim women are enjoined to "draw their veils over their bosoms and not display their beauty" except in the presence of their husbands, other women, children, eunuchs and those men who are so closely related to them that they are not allowed to marry them. Although a self-conscious exhibition of one's "zeenat" (which means "that which appears to be beautiful" or "that which is used for embellishment or adornment") is forbidden, the Qur'an makes it clear that what a woman wears ordinarily is permissible. Another interpretation of this part of the passage is that if the display of "zeenat" is unintentional or accidental, it does not violate the law of modesty.
3. Although Muslim women may wear ornaments they should not walk in a manner intended to cause their ornaments to jingle and thus attract the attention of others.
The respected scholar, Muhammad Asad6, commenting on Qur'an 24:31 says " The noun khimar (of which khumur is plural) denotes the head-covering customarily used by Arabian women before and after the advent of Islam. According to most of the classical commentators, it was worn in pre-Islamic times more or less as an ornament and was let down loosely over the wearer's back; and since, in accordance with the fashion prevalent at the time, the upper part of a woman's tunic had a wide opening in the front, her breasts were left bare. Hence, the injunction to cover the bosom by means of a khimar (a term so familiar to the contemporaries of the Prophet) does not necessarily relate to the use of a khimar as such but is, rather, meant to make it clear that a woman's breasts are not included in the concept of "what may decently be apparent" of her body and should not, therefore, be displayed.
The Qur'anic view of the ideal society is that the social and moral values have to be upheld by both Muslim men and women and there is justice for all, i.e. between man and man and between man and woman. The Qur'anic legislation regarding women is to protect them from inequities and vicious practices (such as female infanticide, unlimited polygamy or concubinage, etc.) which prevailed in the pre-Islamic Arabia. However the main purpose is to establish to equality of man and woman in the sight of God who created them both in like manner, from like substance, and gave to both the equal right to develop their own potentialities. To become a free, rational person is then the goal set for all human beings. Thus the Qur'an liberated the women from the indignity of being sex-objects into persons. In turn the Qur'an asks the women that they should behave with dignity and decorum befitting a secure, Self-respecting and self-aware human being rather than an insecure female who felt that her survival depends on her ability to attract or cajole those men who were interested not in her personality but only in her sexuality.
One of the verses in the Qur'an protects a woman's fundamental rights. Aya 59 from Sura al-Ahzab reads:
O Prophet! Tell Thy wives And daughters, and the Believing women, that They should cast their Outer garments over Their Persons (when outside): That they should be known (As such) and not Molested.
Although this verse is directed in the first place to the Prophet's "wives and daughters", there is a reference also to "the believing women" hence it is generally understood by Muslim societies as applying to all Muslim women. According to the Qur'an the reason why Muslim women should wear an outer garment when going out of their houses is so that they may be recognized as "believing" Muslim women and differentiated from street-walkers for whom sexual harassment is an occupational hazard. The purpose of this verse was not to confine women to their houses but to make it safe for them to go about their daily business without attracting unwholesome attention. By wearing the outer garment a "believing" Muslim woman could be distinguished from the others. In societies where there is no danger of "believing" Muslim being confused with the others or in which "the outer garment" is unable to function as a mark of identification for "believing" Muslim women, the mere wearing of "the outer garment" would not fulfill the true objective of the Qur'anic decree. For example that older Muslim women who are "past the prospect of marriage" are not required to wear "the outer garment". Surah 24: An-Nur, Aya 60 reads:
Such elderly women are past the prospect of marriage,-- There is no blame on them, if they lay aside their (outer) garments, provided they make not wanton display of their beauty; but it is best for them to be modest: and Allah is One who sees and knows all things.
Women who on account of their advanced age are not likely to be regarded as sex-objects are allowed to discard "the outer garment" but there is no relaxation as far as the essential Qur'anic principle of modest behavior is concerned. Reflection on the above-cited verse shows that "the outer garment" is not required by the Qur'an as a necessary statement of modesty since it recognizes the possibility women may continue to be modest even when they have discarded "the outer garment."
The Qur'an itself does not suggest either that women should be veiled or they should be kept apart from the world of men. On the contrary, the Qur'an is insistent on the full participation of women in society and in the religious practices prescribed for men.
Nazira Zin al-Din stipulates that the morality of the self and the cleanness of the conscience are far better than the morality of the chador. No goodness is to be hoped from pretence, all goodness is in the essence of the self. Zin al-Din also argues that imposing the veil on women is the ultimate proof that men suspect their mothers, daughters, wives and sisters of being potential traitors to them. This means that men suspect 'the women closest and dearest to them.' How can society trust women with the most consequential job of bringing up children when it does not trust them with their faces and bodies? How can Muslim men meet rural and European women who are not veiled and treat them respectfully but not treat urban Muslim women in the same way? 7 She concludes this part of the book, al-Sufur Wa'l-hijab 8 by stating that it is not an Islamic duty on Muslim women to wear hijab. If Muslim legislators have decided that it is, their opinions are wrong. If hijab is based on women's lack of intellect or piety, can it be said that all men are more perfect in piety and intellect than all women? 9 The spirit of a nation and its civilization is a reflection of the spirit of the mother. How can any mother bring up distinguished children if she herself is deprived of her personal freedom? She concludes that in enforcing hijab, society becomes a prisoner of its customs and traditions rather than Islam.
There are two ayahs which are specifically addressed to the wives of the Prophet Muhammad (S) and not to other Muslim women.
These are ayahs 32 and 53 of Sura al-Ahzab. ".. And stay quietly in your houses," did not mean confinement of the wives of the Prophet (S) or other Muslim women and make them inactive. Muslim women remained in mixed company with men until the late sixth century (A.H.) or eleventh century (CE). They received guests, held meetings and went to wars helping their brothers and husbands, defend their castles and bastions.10
Zin al-Din reviewed the interpretations of Aya 30 from Sura al-Nur and Aya 59 from sura al-Ahzab which were cited above by al-Khazin, al-Nafasi, Ibn Masud, Ibn Abbas and al-Tabari and found them full of contradictions. Yet, almost all interpreters agreed that women should not veil their faces and their hands and anyone who advocated that women should cover all their bodies including their faces could not face his argument on any religious text. If women were to be totally covered, there would have been no need for the ayahs addressed to Muslim men: 'Say to the believing men that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty.' (Sura al-Nur, Aya 30). She supports her views by referring to the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad (S), always taking into account what the Prophet himself said 'I did not say a thing that is not in harmony with God's book.'11 God says: 'O consorts of the Prophet! ye are not like any of the (other) women' (Ahzab, 53). Thus it is very clear that God did not want women to measure themselves against the wives of the Prophet and wear hijab like them and there is no ambiguity whatsoever regarding this aya. Therefore, those who imitate the wives of the Prophet and wear hijab are disobeying God's will.12
In Islam ruh al-madaniyya (Islam: The Spirit of Civilization) Shaykh Mustafa Ghalayini reminds his readers that veiling pre-dated Islam and that Muslims learned from other peoples with whom they mixed. He adds that hijab as it is known today is prohibited by the Islamic shari'a. Any one who looks at hijab as it is worn by some women would find that it makes them more desirable than if they went out without hijab13. Zin al-Din points out that veiling was a custom of rich families as a symbol of status. She quotes Shaykh Abdul Qadir al-Maghribi who also saw in hijab an aristocratic habit to distinguish the women of rich and prestigious families from other women. She concludes that hijab as it is known today is prohibited by the Islamic shari'a.14
Shaykh Muhammad al-Ghazali in his book Sunna Between Fiqh and Hadith 15 declares that those who claim that women's reform is conditioned by wearing the veil are lying to God and his Prophet. He expresses the opinion that the contemptuous view of women has been passed on from the first jahiliya (the Pre-Islamic period) to the Islamic society. Al-Ghazali's argument is that Islam has made it compulsory on women not to cover their faces during haj and salat (prayer) the two important pillars of Islam. How then could Islam ask women to cover their faces at ordinary times?16 Al-Ghazali is a believer and is confident that all traditions that function to keep women ignorant and prevent them from functioning in public are the remnants of jahiliya and that following them is contrary to the spirit of Islam.
Al-Ghazali says that during the time of the Prophet women were equals at home, in the mosques and on the battlefield. Today true Islam is being destroyed in the name of Islam.
Another Muslim scholar, Abd al-Halim Abu Shiqa wrote a scholarly study of women in Islam entitled Tahrir al-mara'a fi 'asr al-risalah: (The Emancipation of Women during the Time of the Prophet)17 agrees with Zin al-Din and al-Ghazali about the discrepancy between the status of women during the time of the Prophet Muhammad and the status of women today. He says that Islamists have made up sayings which they attributed to the Prophet such as 'women are lacking both intellect and religion' and in many cases they brought sayings which are not reliable at all and promoted them among Muslims until they became part of the Islamic culture.
Like Zin al-Din and al-Ghazali, Abu Shiqa finds that in many countries very weak and unreliable sayings of the Prophet are invented to support customs and traditions which are then considered to be part of the shari'a. He argues that it is the Islamic duty of women to participate in public life and in spreading good (Sura Tauba, Aya 71). He also agrees with Zin al-Din and Ghazali that hijab was for the wives of the Prophet and that it was against Islam for women to imitate the wives of the Prophet. If women were to be totally covered, why did God ask both men and women to lower their gaze? (Sura al-Nur, Ayath 30-31).
The actual practice of veiling most likely came from areas captured in the initial spread of Islam such as Syria, Iraq, and Persia and was adopted by upper-class urban women. Village and rural women traditionally have not worn the veil, partly because it would be an encumbrance in their work. It is certainly true that segregation of women in the domestic sphere took place increasingly as the Islamic centuries unfolded, with some very unfortunate consequences. Some women are again putting on clothing that identifies them as Muslim women. This phenomenon, which began only a few years ago, has manifested itself in a number of countries.
It is part of the growing feeling on the part of Muslim men and women that they no longer wish to identify with the West, and that reaffirmation of their identity as Muslims requires the kind of visible sign that adoption of conservative clothing implies. For these women the issue is not that they have to dress conservatively but that they choose to. In Iran Imam Khomeini first insisted that women must wear the veil and chador and in response to large demonstrations by women, he modified his position and agreed that while the chador is not obligatory, modest dress is, including loose clothing and non-transparent stockings and scarves.18
With Islam's expansion into areas formerly part of the Byzantine and Sasanian empires, the scripture-legislated social paradigm that had evolved in the early Medinan community came face to face with alien social structures and traditions deeply rooted in the conquered populations. Among the many cultural traditions assimilated and continued by Islam were the veiling and seclusion of women, at least among the urban upper and upper-middle classes. With these traditions' assumption into "the Islamic way of life," they of need helped to shape the normative interpretations of Qur'anic gender laws as formulated by the medireview (urbanized and acculturated) lawyer-theologians. In the latter's consensus-based prescriptive systems, the Prophet's wives were recognized as models for emulation (sources of Sunna). Thus, while the scholars provided information on the Prophet's wives in terms of, as well as for, an ideal of Muslim female morality, the Qur'anic directives addressed to the Prophet's consorts were naturally seen as applicable to all Muslim women.19
Semantically and legally, that is, regarding both the terms and also the parameters of its application, Islamic interpretation extended the concept of hijab. In scripturalist method, this was achieved in several ways. Firstly, the hijab was associated with two of the Qur'an's "clothing laws" imposed upon all Muslim females: the "mantle" verse of 33:59 and the "modesty" verse of 24:31. On the one hand, the semantic association of domestic segregation (hijab) with garments to be worn in public (jilbab, khimar) resulted in the use of the term hijab for concealing garments that women wore outside of their houses. This language use is fully documented in the medireview Hadith. However, unlike female garments such as jilbab, lihaf, milhafa, izar, dir' (traditional garments for the body), khimar, niqab, burqu', qina', miqna'a (traditional garments for the head and neck) and also a large number of other articles of clothing, the medireview meaning of hijab remained conceptual and generic. In their debates on which parts of the woman's body, if any, are not "awra" (literally, "genital," "pudendum") and many therefore be legally exposed to nonrelatives, the medireview scholars often contrastively paired woman's' awra with this generic hijab. This permitted the debate to remain conceptual rather than get bogged down in the specifics of articles of clothing whose meaning, in any case, was prone to changes both geographic/regional and also chronological. At present we know very little about the precise stages of the process by which the hijab in its multiple meanings was made obligatory for Muslim women at large, except to say that these occurred during the first centuries after the expansion of Islam beyond the borders of Arabia, and then mainly in the Islamicized societies still ruled by preexisting (Sasanian and Byzantine) social traditions.
With the rise of the Iraq-based Abbasid state in the mid-eighth century of the Western calendar, the lawyer-theologians of Islam grew into a religious establishment entrusted with the formulation of Islamic law and morality, and it was they who interpreted the Qur'anic rules on women's dress and space in increasingly absolute and categorical fashion, reflecting the real practices and cultural assumptions of their place and age. Classical legal compendia, medireview Hadith collections and Qur'anic exegesis are here mainly formulations of the system "as established" and not of its developmental stages, even though differences of opinion on the legal limits of the hijab garments survived, including among the doctrinal teachings of the four orthodox schools of law (madhahib). 20
Attacked by foreigners and indigenous secularists alike and defended by the many voices of conservatism, hijab has come to signify the sum total of traditional institutions governing women's role in Islamic society. Thus, in the ideological struggles surrounding the definition of Islam's nature and role in the modern world, the hijab has acquired the status of "cultural symbol."
Qasim Amin, the French-educated, pro-Western Egyptian journalist, lawyer, and politician in the last century wanted to bring Egyptian society from a state of "backwardness" into a state of "civilization" and modernity. To do so, he lashed out against the hijab, in its expanded sense, as the true reason for the ignorance, superstition, obesity, anemia, and premature aging of the Muslim woman of his time. He wanted the Muslim women to raise from the "backward" hijab into the desirable modernist ideal of women's right to an elementary education, supplemented by their ongoing contact with life outside of the home to provide experience of the "real world" and combat superstition. He understood the hijab as an amalgam of institutionalized restrictions on women that consisted of sexual segregation, domestic seclusion, and the face veil. He insisted as much on the woman's right to mobility outside the home as he did on the adaptation of shar'i Islamic garb, which would leave a woman's face and hands uncovered. Women's domestic seclusion and the face veil, then, were primary points in Amin's attack on what was wrong with the Egyptian social system of his time.21 Muhammad Abdu tried to restore the dignity to Muslim woman by way of educational and some legal reforms, the modernist blueprint of women's Islamic rights eventually also included the right to work, vote, and stand for election-that is, full participation in public life. He separated the forever-valid-as-stipulated laws of 'ibadat (religious observances) from the more time-specific mu'amalat (social transactions) in Qur'an and shari'a, which latter included the Hadith as one of its sources. Because modern Islamic societies differ from the seventh-century umma, time-specific laws are thus no longer literally applicable but need a fresh legal interpretation (ijtihad). What matters is to safeguard "the public good" (al-maslah al'-amma) in terms of Muslim communal morality and spirituality. 22
In The Veil and the Male Elite: A Feminist Interpretation of Women's Rights in Islam, the Moroccan sociologist Fatima Mernissi attacks the age-old conservative focus on women's segregation as mere institutionalization of authoritarianism, achieved by way of manipulation of sacred texts, "a structural characteristic of the practice of power in Muslim societies." In describing the feminist model of the Prophet's wives' rights and roles both domestic and also communal, Mernissi uses the methodology of "literal" interpretation of Qur'an and Hadith. In the selection and interpretations of traditions, she discredits some of textual items as unauthentic by the criteria of classical Hadith criticism. In Mernissi's reading of Qur'an and Hadith, Muhammad's wives were dynamic, influential, and enterprising members of the community, and fully involved in Muslim public affairs. He listened to their advice. In the city, they were leaders of women's protest movements, first for equal status as believers and thereafter regarding economic and sociopolitical rights, mainly in the areas of inheritance, participation in warfare and booty, and personal (marital) relations. Muhammad's vision of Islamic society was egalitarian, and he lived this ideal in his own household. Later the Prophet had to sacrifice his egalitarian vision for the sake of communal cohesiveness and the survival of the Islamic cause. To Mernissi, the seclusion of Muhammad's wives from public life (the hijab, Qur'an 33.53) is a symbol of Islam's retreat from the early principle of gender equality, as is the "mantel" (jilbab) verse of 33:59 which relinquished the principle of social responsibility, the individual sovereign will that internalizes control rather than place it within external barriers. Concerning A'isha's involvement in political affairs (the Battle of the Camel), Mernissi engages in classical Hadith criticism to prove the inauthenticity of the (presumably Prophetic) traditions "a people who entrust their command [or, affair, amr] to a woman will not thrive" because of historical problems relating to the date of its first transmission and also self-serving motives and a number of moral deficiencies recorded about its first transmitter, the Prophet's freedman Abu Bakra. Modernists in general disregard hadith items rather than question their authenticity by scrutinizing the transmitters' reliability.23 After describing the active participation of Muslim women in the battlefields as warriors and nurses to the wounded, Maulana Maudoodi24 says " This shows that the Islamic purdah is not a custom of ignorance which cannot be relaxed under any circumstances, on the other hand, it is a custom which can be relaxed as and when required in a moment of urgency. Not only is a woman allowed to uncover a part of her satr (coveredness) under necessity, there is no harm."
In the matter of hijab, the conscience of an honest, sincere Believer alone can be the true judge, as has been said by the Noble Prophet: "Ask for the verdict of your conscience and discard what pricks it."
Islam cannot be properly followed without knowledge. It is a rational law and to follow it rightly one needs to exercise reason and understanding at every step.25
• Copyright © 2001 irfiweb.org All Rights Reserved.
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Read other articles by Dr. Ibrahim B. Syed, Ph.D here.
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REFERENCES
1. Cyril Glasse. The Concise Encyclopedia of Islam. Harper and Row Publishers, New York, N.Y., 1989, p. 156
2. Ibid, p. 413
3. Ibid, p. 421
4. Translation by Abdullah Yusuf Ali. The Holy Quran (Amana Corp., Brentwood, Maryland), 1989. Pp 873-874
5. Riffat Hassan. Women's Rights and Islam: From the I.C.P.D. to Beijing. Louisville, Kentucky, 1995. pp. 65-76
6. Translated and explained by Muhammad Asad. The Message of the Qur'an. Dar al-Andalus, Gibraltar. 1984. p.538
7. Bouthaina Shaaban.The Muted Voices of Women Interpreters. In
FAITH AND FREEDOM: Women's Human Rights in the Muslim World, Mahnaz Afkhami (Editor). I. B. Tauris Publishers, New York, 1995. p.68.
8. Nazira Zin al-Din, al-Sufur Wa'l-hijab (Beirut: Quzma Publications, 1928), p 37
9. Bouthaina Shaaban, op.cit. P.69
10. Nazira Zin al-Din, op.cit.pp. 191-2
11. Ibid, p.226
12. Bouthaina Shaaban, op. cit. p.72
13. Shaykh Mustafa al-Ghalayini, Islam ruh al-madaniyya (Islam:
The Spirit of Civilization)(Beirut: al-Maktabah al-Asriyya,
1960) P.253
14. Ibid, pp.255-56
15. Shaykh Muhammad al-Ghazali.: Sunna Between Fiqh and Hadith
(Cairo: Dar al-Shuruq, 1989, 7th edition, 1990)
16. Ibid, p.44
17. Abd al-Halim Abu Shiqa.: Tahrir al-mara' fi 'asr al-risalah
(Kuwait: Dar al-Qalam, 1990)
18. Jane I. Smith.:The Experience of Muslim Women:Considerations
of Power and Authority. In The Islamic Impact. Haddad, Y.Y. (Editor), Syracuse University Press. 1984. Pp. 89-112
19. Barbara Freyer Stowasser.: Women in the Qur'an, Traditions, and Interpretation.Oxford University Press. 1994. P. 92
20. Ibid, p.93
21. Ibid, p.127
22. Ibid, p.132
23. Ibid, p.133
24. Syed Abu Ala Maudoodi. Purdah and the Status of Woman in Islam. Islamic Publications. Lahore, Pakistan. 1972. P.215
25. Ibid, p.203



Veil
This article is about the article of clothing, or a religious item. For other uses, see Veil (disambiguation).
A veil is an article of clothing, worn almost exclusively by women, that is intended to cover some part of the head or face.
One view is that as a religious item, it is intended to show honor to an object or space. The actual sociocultural, psychological, and sociosexual functions of veils have not been studied extensively but most likely include the maintenance of social distance and the communication of social status and cultural identity.[1][2] In Islamic society, various forms of the veil have been adopted from the Arab culture in which Islam arose.
History
The first recorded instance of veiling for women is recorded in an Assyrian legal text from the 13th century BCE, which restricted its use to noble women and forbade prostitutes and common women from adopting it. The Mycenaean Greek term a-pu-ko-wo-ko meaning "craftsman of horse veil" written in Linear B syllabic script is also attested since ca. 1300 BC.[3][4] Ancient Greek texts have also spoken of veiling and seclusion of women being practiced among the Persian elite. Statues fromPersepolis depict women both veiled and unveiled, and it seems to be regarded as an attribute of prostitution under their belief.
Classical Greek and Hellenistic statues sometimes depict Greek women with both their head and face covered by a veil. Caroline Galt and Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones have both argued from such representations and literary references that it was commonplace for women (at least those of higher status) in ancient Greece to cover their hair and face in public.
For many centuries, until around 1175, Anglo-Saxon and then Anglo-Norman women, with the exception of young unmarried girls, wore veils that entirely covered their hair, and often their necks up to their chins (see wimple). Only in the Tudor period (1485), when hoods became increasingly popular, did veils of this type become less common.
For centuries, women have worn sheer veils, but only under certain circumstances. Sometimes a veil of this type was draped over and pinned to the bonnet or hat of a woman in mourning, especially at the funeral and during the subsequent period of "high mourning". They would also have been used, as an alternative to a mask, as a simple method of hiding the identity of a woman who was traveling to meet a lover, or doing anything she didn't want other people to find out about. More pragmatically, veils were also sometimes worn to protect the complexion from sun and wind damage (when un-tanned skin was fashionable), or to keep dust out of a woman's face, much as the keffiyeh is used today.
Veils with religious significance
In Judaism, Christianity and Islam the concept of covering the head is or was associated with propriety. All traditional depictions of the Virgin Mary, the mother of Christ, show her veiled. Veiling was a common practice with church-going women until the 1960s, and a number of very traditional churches retain the custom. The wearing of various forms of the Muslim veil has provoked controversy in the West. In India, Hindu women veil for traditional purposes, it is custom in rural areas to veil in front of male elders. This veil is called the ghoonghat.
Although religion stands as a commonly held reason for choosing to veil, it has also reflects on political regimes and person conviction, allowing it to serve as a medium through which personal character can be revealed.[5]
In Judaism


Praying Jewish Woman wearing Tichel
After the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, the synagogues that were established took the design of the Tabernacle as their plan. The Ark of the Law, which contains the scrolls of the Torah, is covered with an embroidered curtain or veil called a parokhet. (See also below regarding the veiling — and unveiling — of the bride.)
In Christianity
Liturgical veils
See also: Altar cloth
Among Christian churches which have a liturgical tradition, several different types of veils are used. These veils are often symbolically tied to the veils in the Tabernaclein the wilderness and in Solomon's Temple. The purpose of these veils was not so much to obscure as to shield the most sacred things from the eyes of sinful men.
Tabernacle veil. Used to cover the church tabernacle, particularly in the Roman Catholic tradition but in some others as well, when the Eucharist is actually stored in it. The veil, which is in part meant to remind worshippers that the (usually metal) tabernacle cabinet is meant to echo the tabernacle tent of the Hebrew Scriptures, signals that the tabernacle is actually in use. It may be of any liturgical color, but is most often either white (always appropriate for the Eucharist), cloth of gold or cloth of silver (which may substitute for any liturgical color aside from violet), or of the liturgical color of the day (red, green or violet). It may be of simple, unadorned linen or silk, or it may be fringed or otherwise decorated. It is often designed to match the vestments of thecelebrants.
Ciborium veil. The ciborium is a goblet-like metal vessel with a cover, used in the Roman Catholic Church and some others to hold the consecrated hosts of the Eucharist when, for instance, it is stored in the tabernacle or when communion is to be distributed. It may be veiled with a white cloth, usually of silk. This was formerly required but is now optional. In part, it signals that the ciborium actually contains theconsecrated Eucharist at the moment.


Aër covering a chalice and diskos on theprothesis.


Sanctuary in the Basilique Saint-Denisshowing veiling to either side of the altar[6]


An altar cross veiled during Holy Week.
Chalice Veil. During Eucharistic celebrations, a veil is often used to cover the chalice and patento prevent dust and flying insects from coming in contact with the bread and wine. Often made of rich material, the chalice veils have not only a practical purpose, but are also intended to show honor to vessels used for the sacrament.


Western burse and chalice veil laid over the holy vessels. There is also a maniple sitting to the right of the chalice.
In the West, a single chalice veil is normally used. The veil will usually be of the same material and color as the priest's vestments, though it may always be white. It covers the chalice and paten when not actually in use on the altar.
In the East, three veils are used: one for the chalice, one for the diskos (paten), and a third one (the Aër) is used to cover both. The veils for the chalice and diskos are usually square with four lappets hanging down the sides, so that when the veil is laid out flat it will be shaped like a cross. The Aër is rectangular and usually larger than the chalice veil used in the West. The Aër also figures prominently in other liturgical respects.
Humeral Veil. The humeral veil is used in both Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches during the liturgy of Exposition and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, and on some other occasions when special respect is to be demonstrated to the Eucharist. From the Latin for "shoulders," it is an oblong piece of cloth worn as a short of shawl, used to symbolize a more profound awareness of the respect due to the Eucharist by shielding the celebrant's hands from actually contacting the vessel holding the Eucharist, either a monstrance or ciborium, or in some cases to shield the vessel itself from the eyes of participants. It is worn only by bishops, priests or deacons.
Vimpa. A vimpa is a veil or shawl worn over the shoulders of servers who carry the miter andcrosier in Roman Catholic liturgical functions when they are not being used by the bishop.
Chancel Veil. In the early liturgies, there was often a veil that separated the sanctuary from the rest of the church (again, based upon the biblical description of the Tabernacle). In the Byzantine liturgy this veil developed into the iconostasis, but a veil or curtain is still used behind the Royal Doors (the main doors leading into the sanctuary), and is opened and closed at specific times during the liturgy. In the West, it developed into the Rood Veil, and later the Rood Screen, and finally the chancel rail, the low sanctuary railing in those churches that still have this. In some of theEastern Churches (for instance, the Syrian liturgy) the use of a veil across the entire sanctuary has been retained.
Lenten Veiling. Some churches veil their crosses during Lent and Holy Week with a fine semi-transparent mesh. The color of the veil may be black, red, purple, or white, depending upon the particular day and the liturgical practices of the church. In traditional churches, there will sometimes be curtains placed to either side of the altar.
The Veil of our Lady is a liturgical feast celebrating the protection afforded by the intercessionsof the Virgin Mary.
Main article: Christian Headcovering
Traditionally, in Christianity, women were enjoined to cover their heads in church, just as it was (and still is) customary for men to remove their hat as a sign of respect. This practice is based on 1 Corinthians 11:4-16, where St. Paul writes:
Any man who prays or prophesies with his head covered brings shame upon his head. But any woman who prays or prophesies with her head unveiled brings shame upon her head, for it is one and the same thing as if she had had her head shaved. For if a woman does not have her head veiled, she may as well have her hair cut off. But if it is shameful for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, then she should wear a veil. A man, on the other hand, should not cover his head, because he is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man. For man did not come from woman, but woman from man; nor was man created for woman, but woman for man; for this reason a woman should have a sign of authority on her head, because of the angels. Woman is not independent of man or man of woman in the Lord. For just as woman came from man, so man is born of woman; but all things are from God. Judge for yourselves: is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head unveiled? Does not nature itself teach you that if a man wears his hair long it is a disgrace to him, whereas if a woman has long hair it is her glory, because long hair has been given (her) for a covering? But if anyone is inclined to be argumentative, we do not have such a custom, nor do the churches of God (New American Bible translation)
In many traditional Eastern Orthodox Churches, and in some very conservative Protestant churches as well, the custom continues of women covering their heads in church (or even when praying privately at home).
In the Roman Catholic Church, it was customary in most places before the 1960s for women to wear a headcovering in the form of a scarf, cap, veil or hat when entering a church. The practice now continues where it is seen as a matter of etiquette, courtesy, tradition or fashionable elegance rather than strictly of religion. Traditionalist Catholics also maintain the practice.
The wearing of a headcovering was for the first time mandated as a universal rule for the Latin Rite by the Code of Canon Law of 1917,[7]which code was abrogated by the advent of the present (1983) Code of Canon Law,[8] though many Traditional Catholics debate whether or not this actually occurred and many groups believe the original rule to still be in place. Canon 20[9] also states: "A later law abrogates, or derogates from, an earlier law if it states so expressly, is directly contrary to it, or completely reorders the entire matter of the earlier law." The photograph here of Mass in the Netherlands in about 1946, two decades before the changes that followed the Second Vatican Council, shows that, even at that time, when a hat was still considered part of formal dress for both women and men, wearing a headcovering at Mass was not a universal practice for Catholic women.
Women religious


Nuns also use veil
A veil forms part of the headdress of some orders of nuns or religious sisters; this is why a woman who becomes a nun is said "to take the veil". In many orders, a white veil is used as the "veil of probation" during novitiate, and a dark veil for the "veil of profession" once first or solemn vows are taken — the color scheme varies with the color scheme of the habit of the order. A veil of consecration, longer and fuller, is used by some orders for final profession of solemn vows.
Nuns are the female counterparts of monks, and many monastic orders of women have retained the veil. Regarding other orders of religious sisters who are notcloistered but who work as teachers, nurses or in other "active" apostolates outside of a nunnery or monastery, some wear the veil, while some others have abolished the use of the veil, a few never had a veil to start with, but used a bonnet-style headdress even a century ago, as in the case of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton.
The fullest versions of the nun's veil cover the top of the head and flow down around and over the shoulders. In Western Christianity, it does not wrap around the neck or face. In those orders that retain one, the starched white covering about the face neck and shoulders is known as a wimple and is a separate garment.
The Catholic Church has revived the ancient practice of allowing women to profess a solemn vow as consecrated virgins. These women are set aside as sacred persons who belong only to Christ and the service of the church. They are under the direct care of the local bishop, without belonging to a particular order and receive the veil as a sign of consecration.
There has also been renewed interest in the last half century in the ancient practice of women and men dedicating themselves as anchoritesor hermits, and there is a formal process whereby such persons can seek recognition of their vows by the local bishop — a veil for these women would also be traditional.
Some Anglican women's religious orders also wear a veil, differing according to the traditions of each order.
Eastern monasticism
In Eastern Orthodoxy and in the Eastern Rites of the Catholic Church, a veil called an epanokamelavkion is used by both nuns and monks, in both cases covering completely the kamilavkion, a cylindrical hat they both wear. In Slavic practice, when the veil is worn over the hat, the entire headdress is referred to as a klobuk. Nuns wear an additional veil under the klobuk, called an apostolnik, which is drawn together to cover the neck and shoulders as well as their heads, leaving the face itself open.
Biblical references
 Hebrew mitpahath (Ruth 3:15; marg., "sheet" or "apron;" R.V., "mantle"). In Isaiah 3:22 this word is plural, rendered "wimples;" R.V., "shawls" i.e. wraps.book of Isaiah]] 3:23 The glasses, and the fine linen, and the hoods, and the vails.
 Massekah (Isaiah 25:7; in Isa. 28:20 rendered "covering"). The word denotes something spread out and covering or concealing something else (comp. 2 Cor. 3:13-15).
 Masveh (Exodus 34:33, 35), the veil on the face of Moses. This verse should be read, "And when Moses had done speaking with them, he put a veil on his face," as in the Revised Version. When Moses spoke to them he was without the veil; only when he ceased speaking he put on the veil (comp. 2 Cor. 3:13, etc.).
 Paroheth (Ex. 26:31-35), the veil of the tabernacle and the temple, which hung between the holy place and the most holy (2 Chr. 3:14). In the temple a partition wall separated these two places. In it were two folding doors, which are supposed to have been always open, the entrance being concealed by the veil which the high priest lifted when he entered into the sanctuary on the day of Atonement. This veil was rent when Christ died on the cross (Matt. 27:51; Gospel of Mark 15:38; Luke 23:45).
 Tza'iph (Genesis 24:65). Rebekah "took a veil and covered herself." (See also 38:14, 19.) Hebrew women generally appeared in public without veils (12:14; 24:16; 29:10; 1 Sam. 1:12).
 Radhidh (Cant. 5:7, R.V. "mantle;" Isaiah 3:23). The word probably denotes some kind of cloak or wrapper.
 Masak, the veil which hung before the entrance to the holy place (Ex. 26:36, 37).
Note: Genesis 20:16, which the King James Version renders as: "And unto Sarah he said, Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand pieces of silver: behold, he is to thee a covering of the eyes, unto all that are with thee, and with all other: thus she was reproved" has been interpreted in one source as implied advice to Sarah to conform to a supposed custom of married women, and wear a complete veil, covering the eyes as well as the rest of the face,[10] but the phrase is generally taken to refer not to Sarah's eyes, but to the eyes of others, and to be merely a metaphorical expression concerning vindication of Sarah (NASB, RSV), silencing criticism (GWT), allaying suspicions (NJB), righting a wrong (BBE, NLT), covering or recompensing the problem caused her (NIV, New Life Version, NIRV, TNIV, JB), a sign of her innocence (ESV, CEV, HCSB). The final phrase in the verse, which KJV takes to mean "she was reproved", is taken by almost all other versions to mean instead "she was vindicated", and the word "הוא", which KJV interprets as "he" (Abraham), is interpreted as "it" (the money). Thus, the general view is that this passage has nothing to do with material veils.
This article incorporates text from Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897), a publication now in the public domain.
In Islam
Further information: Islam and clothing, Hijab, and Purdah


Women head scarves for sale in East Jerusalem
A variety of headdresses worn by Muslim women in accordance with hijab (the principle of dressing modestly) are sometimes referred to as veils. Many of these garments cover the hair, ears and throat, but do not cover the face. The khimar is a type of headscarf. The niqāb and burqaare two kinds of veils that cover most of the face except for a slit or hole for the eyes.
The Afghan burqa covers the entire body, obscuring the face completely, except for a grille or netting over the eyes to allow the wearer to see. The boshiya is a veil that may be worn over a headscarf; it covers the entire face and is made of a sheer fabric so the wearer is able to see through it. It has been suggested that the practice of wearing a veil - uncommon among the Arabtribes prior to the rise of Islam - originated in the Byzantine Empire, and then spread.[11]
The wearing of head and especially face coverings by Muslim women has raised political issues in the West; see for example Hijab controversy in Quebec, Islamic dress controversy in Europe,Islamic scarf controversy in France, and United Kingdom debate over veils. There is also high debate of the veil in Turkey, a Muslim majority country but secular, which banned the headscarves in universities and government buildings, due to the türban (a Turkish styled headscarf) being viewed as a political symbol of Islam, see Headscarf controversy in Turkey.
Other veils


Frances Perkins wearing a veil after the death of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Veils with hats
Veils pinned to hats have survived the changing fashions of the centuries and are still common today on formal occasions that require women to wear a hat. However, these veils are generally made of netting or another material not actually designed to hide the face from view, even if the veil can be pulled down.


Wedding veils
An occasion on which a Western woman is likely to wear a veil is on her wedding day, if she follows the traditions of a white wedding. Brides used to wear their hair flowing down their back at their wedding to symbolise their virginity.
It is not altogether clear that the wedding veil is a non-religious use of this item, since weddings have almost always had religious underpinnings, especially in the West. Veils, however, had been used in the West for weddings long before this. Roman brides, for instance, wore an intensely flame-colored and fulsome veil, called the flammeum, apparently intended to protect the bride fromevil spirits on her wedding day. In the 19th century, wedding veils came to symbolise the woman'smodesty.[12]
The lifting of the veil was often a part of ancient wedding ritual, symbolising the groom taking possession of the wife, either as lover or as property, or the revelation of the bride by her parents to the groom for his approval.


A bride wearing a typical wedding veil
In Judaism, the tradition of wearing a veil dates back to biblical times. When Rebekah went to meet her betrothed, Isaac, she veiled herself as he approached. The veiling was both a symbol of modesty, and a definition of her personal space.[citation needed] Rebekah is known as the most self-assured of the matriarchs,[citation needed] and by veiling herself she indicated that she would still be her own person even when she would be living her life with Isaac.[13] It is important to note that Rebekah did not veil herself when traveling with men to meet Isaac, but only did so when he was approaching. Just before the wedding ceremony the badeken or bedeken is held. The groom places the veil over the bride's face, and either he or the officiating Rabbi gives her a blessing. The veil stays on her face until just before the end of the wedding ceremony - when they are legally married according to Jewish law - then the groom helps lift the veil from off her face.
The most often cited interpretation for the badeken is that when Jacob went to marry Rachel, his father in law Laban tricked him into marrying Leah, Rachel's older and homlier sister. Many say that the veiling ceremony takes place to make sure that the groom is marrying the right bride! Some say that as the groom places the veil over his bride, he makes an implicit promise to clothe and protect her. Finally, by covering her face, the groom recognizes that he his marrying the bride for her inner beauty; while looks will fade with time, his love will be everlasting. In some ultra-orthodox traditions the bride wears an opaque veil as she is escorted down the aisle to meet her groom. This shows her complete willingness to enter into the marriage and her absolute trust that she is marrying the right man. In Judaism, a wedding is not considered valid unless the bride willingly consents to it.
In ancient Judaism the lifting of the veil took place just prior to the consummation of the marriage in sexual union. The uncovering or unveiling that takes place in the Wedding ceremony is a symbol of what will take place in the marriage bed. Just as the two become one through their words spoken in wedding vows, so these words are a sign of the physical oneness that they will consummate later on. The lifting of the veil is a symbol and an anticipation of this.
In the Western world, St. Paul's words concerning how marriage symbolizes the union of Christ and His Church may underlie part of the tradition of veiling in the marriage ceremony.[14]

Veils in dance
Veils are part of the stereotypical images of courtesans and harem women. Here, the mysterious veil hints at sensuality, an example being the dance of the seven veils. This is the context into which belly dancing veils fall, with a large repertoire of ways to wear and hold the veil, framing the body and accentuating movements. Dancing veils can be as small as a scarf or two, silk veils mounted on fans, a half circle, three-quarter circle, full circle, a rectangle up to four feet long, and as large as huge Isis wings with sticks for extensions. There is also a giant canopy type veil used by a group of dancers. Veils are made of rayon, silk, polyester, mylar and other fabrics (never wool, though). Rarely used in Egyptian cabaret style, veil dancing has always played an important part in the international world of belly dance, extending the range of the dance and offering lovely transitory imagery.[15]
Courtesans
Conversely, veils are often part of the stereotypical image of the courtesan and harem woman. Here, rather than the virginity of the bride's veil, modesty of the Muslim scarf or the piety of the nun's headdress, the mysterious veil hints at sensuality and the unknown. An example of the veil's erotic potential is the dance of the seven veils.
In this context, the term may refer to a piece of sheer cloth approximately 3 x 1.5 metres, sometimes trimmed with sequins or coins, which is used in various styles of belly dancing. A large repertoire of ways to wear and hold the veil exists, many of which are intended to frame the body from the perspective of the audience.
Male Veils
Among the Tuareg of West Africa, women do not traditionally wear the veil, while men do. The men's facial covering originates from the belief that such action wards off evil spirits, but most probably relates to protection against the harsh desert sands as well; in any event, it is a firmly established tradition. Men begin wearing a veil at age 25 which conceals their entire face excluding their eyes. This veil is never removed, even in front of family members.[16][17]
Etymology
"Veil" came from Latin vēlum, which also means "sail". There are two theories about the origin of the word vēlum:-
 Via the "covering" meaning, from (Indo-European root) *wel- = "to cover, to enclose".
 Via the "sail" meaning, from Indo-European *weghslom, from root *wegh- = "way" or "carry in a vehicle", because it makes the ship move.
References
1. ^ Murphy, R.F. (1964). Social Distance and the Veil. American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 66, No. 6, Part 1, pp. 1257-1274
2. ^ Brenner, S. (1996). Reconstructing Self and Society: Javanese Muslim Women and "The Veil". American Ethnologist, Vol. 23, No. 4, pp. 673-697
3. ^ "Palaeolexicon". Word study tool of ancient languages.
4. ^ Melena, Jose L.. "Index of Mycenaean words".
5. ^ Secor, A. (2002). The Veil and Urban Space in Istanbul: Women’s Dress, Mobility and Islamic Knowledge. Gender, Place and Culture, Vol. 9, No. 1, pp. 5-22
6. ^ Dictionary of French Architecture from 11th to 16th century [1856] by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc
7. ^ "1917 Codex Iuris Canonici". Canon 1262, Section 2.
8. ^ "Canon 6 §1 of the Code of Canon Law".
9. ^ "Canon 20".
10. ^ "Covering of the eyes". The Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Third Edition, by Matthew George Easton M.A., D.D, 1897.
11. ^ Review of Herrin book and Michael Angold. Cambridge University Press. pp. 426–7 & ff;1995. ISBN 0521269865. see also John Esposito(2005). Islam: The Straight Path. Oxford University Press. pp. 98, 3rd Edition.
12. ^ Ingrassia, Catherine (2007). "Diana, Martha and Me". In Curran, Colleen. Altared: bridezillas, bewilderment, big love, breakups, and what women really think about contemporary weddings. New York: Vintage Books. pp. 24–30. ISBN 0-307-27763-1.
13. ^ Camm, Maurice. The Jewish Way in Love and Marriage. Jonathan David Publishers, New York, 1991, p. 208.
14. ^ (cf. Letter to the Ephesians, chapter 5)
15. ^ "Veil Tale".
16. ^ "?".[dead link]
17. ^ "Tuareg Information". uiowa.edu. revised 3 November 1998. Retrieved 1 December 2010.
Further reading
 Heath, Jennifer (ed.). (2008). The Veil: Women Writers On Its History, Lore, And Politics. University of California Press. ISBN 0520255186.
Islam and clothing

Adherents of Islam are concerned with clothing in two contexts: clothing for everyday wear, inside and outside the house; and clothing required in specifically religious contexts.
Say to the believing men that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty: that will make for greater purity for them: And Allah is well acquainted with all that they do.
And say that 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 and not display their beauty except to their husbands, their fathers, their husband's fathers, their sons, their husbands' sons, their brothers or their brothers' sons, or their sisters' sons, or their women, or the slaves whom their right hands possess, or male servants free of physical needs, or small children who have no sense of the shame of sex; and that they should not strike their feet in order to draw attention to their hidden ornaments. And O ye Believers! turn ye all together towards Allah, that ye may attain Bliss.
—Sura 24 (An-Nur), ayat 30-31, Qur'an[1]
O Prophet! Tell thy wives and thy daughters and the women of the believers to draw their cloaks close round them. That will be better, so that they may be recognized and not harassed. Allah is ever Forgiving, Merciful.
—Sura 33 (Al-Ahzab), ayah 59, Qur'an[2]
However, there are many different interpretations of what "modesty" requires. Most agree[citation needed] that it is covering the awrah, from the belly button to the knees for men and from the head to the toes for women except the hands and the face or eyes, depending on what view one follows.
Islamic dress in Europe
Main article: Islamic dress in Europe
Islamic dress in Europe, notably the variety of headdresses worn by Muslim women, has become a prominent symbol of the presence ofIslam in western Europe. In several countries the adherence to hijab (an Arabic noun meaning "to cover") has led to political controversies and proposals for a legal ban. The Netherlands government has decided to introduce a ban on face-covering clothing, popularly described as the "burqa ban", although it does not only apply to the Afghan-model burqa. Other countries are debating similar legislation, or have more limited prohibitions. Some of them apply only to face-covering clothing such as the burqa, chador, boushiya, or niqab; some apply to any clothing with an Islamic religious symbolism such as the khimar, a type of headscarf. (Some countries already have laws banning the wearing of masks in public, which can be applied to veils that conceal the face). The issue has different names in different countries, and "the veil" or "hijab" may be used as general terms for the debate, representing more than just the veil itself, or the concept of modesty embodied in hijab.
Although the Balkans and Eastern Europe have indigenous Muslim populations, most Muslims in western Europe are members of immigrant communities. The issue of Islamic dress is linked with issues of immigration and the position of Islam in western society. European Commissioner Franco Frattini said in November 2006, that he did not favour a ban on the burqa.[3] This is apparently the first official statement on the issue of prohibition of Islamic dress from the European Commission, the executive of the European Union. The reasons given for prohibition vary. Legal bans on face-covering clothing are often justified on security grounds, as an anti-terrorismmeasure.[citation needed]
Ayaan Hirsi Ali sees Islam as incompatible with Western values, at least in its present form. She advocates the values of 'Enlightenmentliberalism', including secularism and equality of women. For her, the burqa or chador are both a symbol of religious obscurantism and the oppression of women. Western Enlightenment values, in her view, require prohibition, regardless of whether a woman has freely chosen Islamic dress. Islamic dress is also seen as a symbol of the existence of parallel societies (German: Parallelgesellschaft), and the failure ofintegration: in 2006 British Prime Minister Tony Blair described it as a "mark of separation".[4] Visible symbols of a non-Christian culture conflict with the national identity in European states, which assumes a shared (non-religious) culture. Proposals for a ban may be linked to other related cultural prohibitions: the Dutch politician Geert Wilders proposed a ban on hijabs, in Islamic schools, in new mosques, and in non-western immigration.
In France and Turkey, the emphasis is on the secular nature of the state, and the symbolic nature of the Islamic dress, and bans apply at state institutions (courts, civil service) and in state-funded education. These bans also cover Islamic headscarves, which in some other countries are seen as less controversial, although law court staff in the Netherlands are also forbidden to wear Islamic headscarves on grounds of 'state neutrality'. An apparently less politicised argument is that in specific professions (teaching), a ban on "veils" (niqab) is justified, since face-to-face communication and eye contact is required. This argument has featured prominently in judgements in Britain and the Netherlands, after students or teachers were banned from wearing face-covering clothing. Public and political response to such prohibition proposals is complex, since by definition they mean that the government decides on individual clothing. Some non-Muslims, who would not be affected by a ban, see it as an issue of civil liberties, as a slippery slope leading to further restrictions on private life. A public opinion poll in London showed that 75 percent of Londoners support "the right of all persons to dress in accordance with their religious beliefs".[5] In another poll in the United Kingdom by Ipsos MORI, 61 percent agreed that "Muslim women are segregating themselves" by wearing a veil, yet 77 percent thought they should have the right to wear it.[6]
Hijab by country
Main article: Hijab by country
The hijab has different legal and cultural statuses in various countries. There are currently four countries, including France (since 2004), which have banned the wearing of all overt religious symbols, including the hijab (a Muslim headscarf, literally Arabic "to cover"), in public schoolsand universities or government buildings.[7]
Currently Tunisia since 1981,[8] and Turkey since 1997,[9] are the only Muslim countries which have banned the hijab in public schools and universities or government buildings, whilst Syria banned face veils in universities from July 2010.[10] In other Muslim states such asMorocco,[11] there has been some restriction or discrimination against women who wear the hijab. The hijab in these cases is seen as a sign of political Islam or fundamentalism against secular government.
Islamic dress, notably the variety of headdresses worn by Muslim women, has become a prominent symbol of the presence of Islam inwestern Europe. In several countries this adherence to hijab has led to political controversies and proposals for a legal ban. The Dutchgovernment has decided to introduce a ban on face-covering clothing, popularly described as the "burqa ban", although it does not only apply to the Afghan-model burqa.
Other countries are debating similar legislation, or have more limited prohibitions. Some of them apply only to face-covering clothing such as the burqa, chador, boushiya, or niqāb; some apply to any clothing with an Islamic religious symbolism such as the khimar, a type ofheadscarf. (Some countries already have laws banning the wearing of masks in public, which can be applied to veils that conceal the face). The issue has different names in different countries, and "the veil" or "hijab" may be used as general terms for the debate, representing more than just the veil itself, or the concept of modesty embodied in hijab.
Although the Balkans and Eastern Europe have indigenous Muslim populations, most Muslims in western Europe are members of immigrant communities. The issue of Islamic dress is linked with issues of immigration and the position of Islam in Western Europe.
References
1. ^ Qur'an 24:30–31
2. ^ Qur'an 33:59
3. ^ Reformatorisch dagblad: Brussel tegen boerkaverbod, 30 November 2006.
4. ^ Blair's concerns over face veils BBC News Online. October 17, 2006.
5. ^ Guardian: Livingstone decries vilification of Islam, November 20, 2006.
6. ^ Ipsos MORI Muslim Women Wearing Veils.
7. ^ French MPs back headscarf ban BBC News (BBC). Retrieved on 13 February 2009.
8. ^ Abdelhadi, Magdi Tunisia attacked over headscarves, BBC News, September 26, 2006. Accessed June 6, 2008.
9. ^ Turkey headscarf ruling condemned Al Jazeera English (07 June 2008). Retrieved on February 2009.
10. ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-10684359 Syria bans face veils at universities
11. ^ Richard Hamilton (6 October 2006) Morocco moves to drop headscarf BBC News (BBC). Retrieved on 13 February 2009.

Hijab by country
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The hijab has different legal and cultural statuses in various countries. There are currently four countries, including France (since 2004), which have banned the wearing of all overt religious symbols, including the hijab (a Muslim headscarf, literally Arabic "to cover"), in public schools and universities or government buildings.[1]
Currently Tunisia since 1981,[2] and Turkey since 1997,[3] are the only Muslim countries which have banned the hijab in public schools and universities or government buildings, whilst Syria banned face veils in universities from July 2010.[4] In other Muslim states such as Morocco,[5] there has been some restriction or discrimination against women who wear the hijab. The hijab in these cases is seen as a sign of political Islam or fundamentalism against secular government.
Islamic dress, notably the variety of headdresses worn by Muslim women, has become a prominent symbol of the presence of Islam in western Europe. In several countries this adherence to hijab has led to political controversies and proposals for a legal ban. The Dutch government has decided to introduce a ban on face-covering clothing, popularly described as the "burqa ban", although it does not only apply to the Afghan-model burqa.
Other countries are debating similar legislation, or have more limited prohibitions. Some of them apply only to face-covering clothing such as the burqa, chador, boushiya, or niqāb; some apply to any clothing with an Islamic religious symbolism such as the khimar, a type of headscarf. (Some countries already have laws banning the wearing of masks in public, which can be applied to veils that conceal the face). The issue has different names in different countries, and "the veil" or "hijab" may be used as general terms for the debate, representing more than just the veil itself, or the concept of modesty embodied in hijab.
Although the Balkans and Eastern Europe have indigenous Muslim populations, most Muslims in western Europe are members of immigrant communities. The issue of Islamic dress is linked with issues of immigration and the position of Islam in Western Europe.
Contents [hide]
1 Europe
2 Muslim world
2.1 Afghanistan
2.2 Bangladesh
2.3 Egypt
2.4 Indonesia
2.5 Iran
2.6 Jordan
2.7 Kuwait
2.8 Lebanon
2.9 Malaysia
2.10 Morocco
2.11 Pakistan
2.12 Saudi Arabia
2.13 Somalia
2.14 Syria
2.15 Tunisia
2.16 Turkey
3 Greater Middle East
3.1 Cyprus
3.2 Israel
3.3 The Palestinian territories
4 former USSR
5 North America
5.1 Canada
5.2 United States
5.3 Mexico
6 See also
7 References
8 External links
[edit]Europe

Main article: Islamic dress in Europe
European Commissioner Franco Frattini said in November 2006, that he did not favour a ban on the burqa.[6] This is apparently the first official statement on the issue of prohibition of Islamic dress from the European Commission, the executive of the European Union.
The reasons given for prohibition vary. Legal bans on face-covering clothing are often justified on security grounds, as an anti-terrorism measure.[citation needed]
Ayaan Hirsi Ali sees Islam as incompatible with Western values, at least in its present form. She advocates the values of 'Enlightenment liberalism', including secularism and equality of women. For her, the burqa or chador are both a symbol of religious obscurantism and the oppression of women. Western Enlightenment values, in her view, require prohibition, regardless of whether a woman has freely chosen Islamic dress.
Islamic dress is also seen as a symbol of the existence of parallel societies (German: Parallelgesellschaft), and the failure of integration: in 2006 British Prime Minister Tony Blair described it as a "mark of separation".[7] Visible symbols of a non-Christian culture conflict with the national identity in European states, which assumes a shared (non-religious) culture. Proposals for a ban may be linked to other related cultural prohibitions: the Dutch politician Geert Wilders proposed a ban on Hijab, on Islamic schools, on new mosques, and on non-western immigration.
In France and Turkey, the emphasis is on the secular nature of the state, and the symbolic nature of the Islamic dress, and bans apply at state institutions (courts, civil service) and in state-funded education. These bans also cover Islamic headscarves, which in some other countries are seen as less controversial, although law court staff in the Netherlands are also forbidden to wear Islamic headscarves on grounds of 'state neutrality'.
An apparently less politicised argument is that in specific professions (teaching), a ban on "veils" (niqab) is justified, since face-to-face communication and eye contact is required. This argument has featured prominently in judgments in Britain and the Netherlands, after students or teachers were banned from wearing face-covering clothing.
Public and political response to such prohibition proposals is complex, since by definition they mean that the government decides on individual clothing. Some non-Muslims, who would not be affected by a ban, see it as an issue of civil liberties, as a slippery slope leading to further restrictions on private life. A public opinion poll in London showed that 75 percent of Londoners support "the right of all persons to dress in accordance with their religious beliefs".[8] In another poll in the United Kingdom by Ipsos MORI, 61 percent agreed that "Muslim women are segregating themselves" by wearing a veil, yet 77 percent thought they should have the right to wear it.[9]
[edit]Muslim world

[edit]Afghanistan
Under the Taliban, the burqa was obligatory.[10] While this is officially no longer the case, there remains intense social pressure to wear the burqa, and President Hamid Karzai has been accused by critics of compromising on women's rights in order to appease insurgents.[11][12]
[edit]Bangladesh
There are no laws that require women to cover their heads, and it is neither encouraged nor discouraged by the government. Any woman can wear the hijab without any restrictions applied. However the national airline, Biman does not allow women flight attendants to wear hijab[citation needed]. It is mostly worn by women in rural areas, and a few in urban areas, however in recent times there has been an increase in the number of women wearing the hijab.[13]
[edit]Egypt
In 1923, Hoda Shaarawi made history when, while waiting for the press, she removed her veil in a symbolic act of liberation. The veil gradually disappeared in the following decades, so much so that by 1958 an article by the United Press (UP) stated that "the veil is unknown here."[14] However, the veil has been having a resurgence since the 1970s, concomitant with the global revival of Muslim piety. According to The New York Times, about 90 percent of Egyptian women currently wear a headscarf.[15] Small numbers of people wear the niqab. The secular government does not encourage women to wear it, fearing it will present an Islamic extremist political opposition. In the country, it is negatively associated with Salafist political activism.[16][17] There has been some restrictions of wearing the hijab by the government of which it views hijab as a political symbol, in 2002, two presenters were excluded from a state run TV station for deciding to wear hijab on national television.[18] The American University in Cairo and the Helwan University once attempted ban niqab wearer entry in 2004 and 2007.[19][20][21] Mohammad Tantawi, a leading Islamic scholar in the country and the head of Al-Azhar University, issued a fatwa in October 2009 arguing that veiling of the face is not required under Islam. He had reportedly asked a student to take off her niqab when he spotted her in a classroom, and he told her that the niqab is a cultural tradition without Islamic importance.[16] It is widely believed that the hijab is becoming more of a fashion statement than a religious one in Egypt, with many Egyptian women, influenced by social peer pressure, wearing colorful, stylish head scarves along with western style clothing. Government ban on wearing the niqab on college campuses at the University of Cairo and university exams in 2009 were overturned later.[22][23][24][25] Minister Hany Mahfouz Helal met protests by some human rights and islamist groups.
[edit]Indonesia
The hijab is a relatively new phenomenon in Indonesia. Even before Western influence, most Indonesian women (especially Javanese) rarely covered their hair except when praying, and even then the hair was only loosely covered by a transparent cloth.
In Indonesia, the term jilbab is used without exception to refer to the hijab.[26] Under Indonesian National and Regional Law, female head-covering is entirely optional and not obligatory.
However, male and female head-dress is a near universal Indonesian cultural and status-marking accoutrement, including areas devoutly Hindu, Protestant and even animist- which may be mistaken by the uninformed observer as the Muslim hijab.
Indonesia had, as of 2008, the largest single global population of Muslims, yet the Indonesian Constitution of Panca Sila provides equal State protection for five state-sanctioned religions (namely Islam, Catholicism, Protestantism, Buddhism and Hinduism), without any one supreme or official state religion, despite continuing Islamic fundamentalists' Saudi-funded campaigns to impose Islam as the official State religion,[citation needed] such as the terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah and the formerly eradicated Darul Islam.
In daily practice, the jilbab is more of a fashion accessory and status symbol. Wealthy women use the hijab as an excuse to wear their latest prêt-à-porter designer label scarves.
Some women may elect to wear a headscarf to be more "formal" or "religious", such as the jilbab or kerudung (a native tailored veil with a small, stiff visor), especially for formal or cultural events especially such where the Muslim religion may be involved – such as official governmental events, funerals, circumcision (sunatan) ceremonies or weddings – although wearing this "Muslim" attire to Christian relatives' funerals and weddings and entering the church is quite uncommon.
Culturally to the Javanese majority, plain, Saudi-style hijab, the niqab or socially worse yet the indigenous peasant kerudung (known in North Sumatran languages as tudung) is considered vulgar, low-class and a faux pas – the traditional Javanese hijab are transparent, sheer, intricately brocaded or embroidered fine silk or lace tailored to match either their sarung or kebaya blouse.
Young females may also elect to wear the hijab publicly to avoid unwanted low-class male attention and molestation and thus display their respectability as "good Muslim girls": that is, they are not "easy" conquests.[27]
Additionally, Islamic private school uniform code dictate that female students must wear the jilbab (commonly white or blue-grey, Indonesia's national secondary school colours), in addition to long-sleeved blouse and ankle-length skirt. While Islamic schools must by law provide access to Christians (and vice-versa Catholic and Protestant schools allow Muslim students) it is worn without complaint by Christian students and its use is not objected to in Christian schools, as nuns in Indonesia also wear habits.
Many nuns refer to their habit as a jilbab, perhaps out of the colloquial use of the term to refer to any religious head covering.
The sole exception where jilbab is mandatory is in Aceh Province, under Islamic Sharia-based Law No 18/2001, granting Aceh special autonomy and through its own Regional Legislative body Regulation Nr. 5/2001, as enacted per Acehnese plebiscite (in favour). This Acehnese Hukum Syariah and the reputedly over-bearing "Morality Police" who enforce its (Aceh-only) mandatory public wearing are the subject of fierce debate, especially with regards to its validity vis-a-vis the Constitution among Acehnese male and female Muslim academics, Acehnese male and female politicians and female rights advocates.
Compounding the friction and often anger toward baju Arab (Arab clothes), is the ongoing physical and emotional abuse of Indonesian females in Saudi Arabia, as guest workers, commonly maids or as Hajja pilgrims and Saudi Wahhabi intolerance for non-Saudi dress code has given rise to mass protests and fierce and fiery Indonesian debate up to the highest levels of government about boycotting Saudi Arabia – especially the profitable all Hajj pilgrimage – as many high-status women have been physically assaulted by Saudi morality police for non-conforming head-wear or even applying lip-balm – leading some to comment on the post-pan Arabist repressiveness of certain Arab nations due to excessively rigid, narrow and erroneous interpretation of Sharia law.[28][29]
[edit]Iran
The headscarf (maghna'eh) was traditionally worn as a praying cloth by religious women in their prayer room. After the revolution, the maghna'eh has been transformed from a private sign of piety into a compulsory Islamic dress that must be worn by women and girls in nurseries, schools, universities, workplaces, government buildings, cinemas and other public places. It is recognized by many Islamic jurists and educational authorities as an acceptable form of veiling and a suitable Islamic symbol. The maghna'eh should ideally cover the hair on a woman’s head, as well as the forehead, shoulders, neck and breasts. Only an opening the size of the face should remain. Another common type of veiling is the chador.
[edit]Jordan
There are no laws requiring the wearing of headscarves nor any banning such from any public institution. The use of the headscarf increased during the 1980s, however the use of the headscarf among the Jordanian population stands at about half of the female population. Veils covering the face are rare. The chador is worn by members of the older generations but its popularity is declining. It is widely believed that the hijab is increasingly becoming more of a fashion statement in Jordan than a religious one with Jordanian women wearing colorful, stylish head scarves along with western style clothing.[30]
[edit]Kuwait
Kuwait's fatwa authority at the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs ruled in October 2009 that wearing the hijab is mandatory for Muslim women. The ruling has attracted support from Islamist and Salafist Members of Parliament. Maasouma Al-Mubarak has promised to bring the matter to the Constitutional Court, the highest legal body in Kuwait.[16]
[edit]Lebanon
The wearing of headscarves has become more common since the Israeli invasion and occupation of Lebanon in the 1980s, even though Lebanon is a religiously diverse country and generally seen as more liberal than other Middle Eastern countries. The percentage of women wearing the headscarf is considerably lower than any other Middle Eastern nation. Observance of this custom ranges from no headscarf at all to just a regular hijab to a chador.[17]
[edit]Malaysia
The headscarf is known as a tudung, which simply means "cover". (The word is used with that meaning in other contexts, e.g. tudung saji, a dish cover for food.) Muslim women may freely choose whether or not to wear the headscarf, except when visiting a mosque where the tudung must be worn; this requirement also includes non-Muslims.
Although headscarves are permitted in government institutions, public servants are forbidden from wearing the full-face niqab. A judgment from the then-Supreme Court of Malaysia cites that the niqab, or purdah, "has nothing to do with (a woman's) constitutional right to profess and practise her Muslim religion", because Islam does not make it obligatory to cover the face. (See Hjh Halimatussaadiah bte Hj Kamaruddin v Public Services Commission, Malaysia & Anor [1994] 3 MLJ 61.)
[edit]Morocco
The headscarf is not encouraged by governmental institutions, and generally frowned upon by urban middle and higher classes but it is not forbidden by law. The headscarf is becoming gradually more frequent in the north, but as it is not traditional, to wear one is considered rather a religious or political decision. In 2005, a schoolbook for basic religious education was heavily criticized for picturing female children with headscarfs.[citation needed]
[edit]Pakistan
Pakistan has no laws banning or enforcing the ħijāb. Lot of the women in Pakistan wear the ħijāb but it varies in design; for example in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas most of the women wear the full head-to-toe black burqa/chador while in the rest of the provinces, including Azad Kashmir, most of the women wear the dupatta (a long scarf that matches the woman's garments). The ħijāb together with a duppatta is becoming popular among the younger generation. Surveys conducted in Pakistan show that most women wearing the ħijāb do so of their own choice.
[edit]Saudi Arabia

This section does not cite any references or sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2010)
The Saudi niqāb usually leaves a long open slot for the eyes; the slot is held together by a string or narrow strip of cloth.[31] Many also have two or more sheer layers attached to the upper band, which can be worn flipped down to cover the eyes. Although a person looking at a woman wearing a niqab with an eyeveil would not be able to see her eyes, she is able to see out through the thin fabric.
Most Saudi women use a headscarf along with the niqab or another simple veil to cover all or most of the face when in public, as do most foreign Muslim women (i.e., those from other Arab states, South Asia, Indonesia, or European converts to Islam). Most non-Muslim women use only a headscarf or no head covering at all.
[edit]Somalia


A Somali girl in Mogadishu wearing a hijab.
During regular, day-to-day activities, Somali women usually wear the guntiino, a long stretch of cloth tied over the shoulder and draped around the waist. In more formal settings such as weddings or religious celebrations like Eid, women wear the dirac, which is a long, light, diaphanous voile dress made of cotton or polyester that is worn over a full-length half-slip and a brassiere. Married women tend to sport head-scarves referred to as shash, and also often cover their upper body with a shawl known as garbasaar. Unmarried or young women, however, do not always cover their heads. Traditional Arabian garb such as the hijab and the jilbab is also commonly worn.[32]
[edit]Syria
Ghiyath Barakat, Syria's minister of higher education, announced that Syria would ban women from wearing full face veils (such as the niqab, but not other forms of hijab that do not cover the entire face), at universities stating that the veils ran counter to secular and academic principles of Syria.[33]
[edit]Tunisia
Tunisian authorities say they are encouraging women, instead, to "wear modest dress in line with Tunisian traditions" i.e. no headscarf. In 1981, women with headscarves were banned in schools and government buildings, those who insist on it face losing their jobs.[2] Recently in 2006, the Authorities launched a campaign against the hijab, banning it in some public places, where police stop women on the streets and ask them to remove it, and encourage them not to wear it again. The government described the headscarf as a sectarian form of dress which came uninvited to the country.[34]
[edit]Turkey
Main article: Headscarf controversy in Turkey


Atatürk's wife, Lâtife Uşaklıgil, wearing a hijab and jilbāb in 1923.
Turkey is officially a secular state, and the hijab is banned in universities and public buildings – this includes libraries or government buildings. The ban was first in place during the 1980 military coup, but the law was strengthened more in 1997.[35] Over the years thousands of women have been arrested or prosecuted for refusing to take off the hijab or protesting against the ban, by the secular institution.[36] There has been an increase in the number of people who wear the hijab particularly in Ankara and Istanbul[citation needed]. There has been some unofficial relaxation of the ban under governments led by the conservative party AKP in recent years,[17] for example the current government of the AKP is willing to lift the ban in universities, however the new law was upheld by the constitutional court, and on the other hand the military sees itself as the protector of secularism. The ban has been highly controversial since its implementation, in a country where 99% are either practicing or nominal Muslims or assumed as Muslim by the state. About 11% of Turkish women wear the hijab, although more women wear a cultural headscarf that isn't a symbol of the Qu'ran.[37] This is often mistaken by some people, who instead assume that the headscarf in Turkish research only symbolises the hijab and not the cultural one. This is why many people think that a majority of Turkish women wear islamic covering. In cities like Istanbul and Ankara most women do not cover their heads. In some cities in eastern Turkey where the AKP has much support more of the women cover their heads.[35][38][39] On February 7, 2008, the Turkish Parliament passed an amendment to the constitution, allowing women to wear the headscarf in Turkish universities, arguing that many women would not seek an education if they could not wear the hijab.[40][41][42][43] The decision was met with powerful opposition and protests from secularists. On June 5, 2008, the Constitutional Court of Turkey reinstated the ban on constitutional grounds of the secularity of the state.[44] Headscarves had become a focal point of the conflict between the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the secularist establishment, which includes the courts, universities, and army. The ruling was widely seen as a victory for Turks who claim this maintains Turkey's separation of state and religion.
[edit]Greater Middle East



Local village Cypriots wearing the Mandili (the masculine version of which is a Keffiyeh).
[edit]Cyprus
Traditionally in Cyprus both Orthodox Christian Greek- and Muslim Turkish-Cypriot women wore headscarves, including a variant known as the Mandili or Mandila.[45] Women in Cypriot villages would wear different coloured hijabs depending on her position, the wealthiest affording silk headscarves dyed with vivid plant colorants — generally, young women wore bright red, whilst those married wore deep scarlet (known as xithi), and older women wore dark brown. When leaving their homes, Cypriot women would cover their faces by pulling a corner of the headscarf across their nose and mouth, a custom recorded as early as 1769:[46]
Their head dress...consists of a collection of various handkerchiefs of muslin, prettily shaped, so that they form a kind of casque of a palm's height, with a pendant behind to the end of which they attach another handkerchief folded in a triangle, and allowed to hang on their shoulders. When they go out of doors modesty requires that they should take a corner and pull it in front to cover the chin, mouth and nose. The greater part of the hair remains under the ornaments mentioned above, except on the forehead where it is divided into two locks, which are led along the temples to the ears, and the ends are allowed to hang loose behind over the shoulders.
—Giovanni Mariti, Travels in the Island of Cyprus, 1769


Cypriot women travelling from Kouklia to Paphos wearing large, white garments resembling the Burqa or Niqāb.
Additionally, some women wore very large, white outer garments (similar to the burqa), either when working in fields or travelling in exposed sun, as the colour absorbed less heat and the size provided shade.[47] Black headscarves are still often worn by women as a symbol of mourning. Moreover, in accordance with the islands' strict moral code, Cypriot women also wore long skirts or pantaloons in order to cover the soles of their feet. Most men covered their heads with either a headscarf (similar to a wrapped keffiyeh, "a form of turban"[48]) or a fez. Turbans have been worn by Cypriot men since ancient times and were recorded by Herodotus, during the Persian rule of the island, to demonstrate their "oriental" customs compared to Greeks.[49]
Following the globalisation of the island, however, many younger Cypriots abandoned wearing traditional dress, such as headscarves, including Sunni Muslim Turkish-Cypriots.[50] Yet they are still worn by older Christian and Muslim Cypriot women. The mandili also features prominently in marriage rituals where it is used to represent the inheritance of the families' bond.[51] Several universities in Northern Cyprus, including the Eastern Mediterranean University, have attempted to adhere to Turkey's ban on headscarves, but as "Cyprus is seen as a foreign country as far as YOK [Turkey's Higher Education Council] is concerned", they are not obliged to follow these regulations.[52] To avoid the ban, women from Turkey moved to study in northern Cyprus, but Turkish authorities followed and established "rules that forbid Turkish citizens to wear their scarves in schools" on the island when other Muslims from Europe and Africa were allowed.[53] Whilst many Cypriot women no longer wear headscarves, recent immigrants from Turkey, settled in villages in northern Cyprus, do.[54]
[edit]Israel
See also: Islam in Israel and the Palestinian territories
In July 2010, some Israeli lawmakers and women’s rights activists proposed a bill to the Knesset banning face-covering veils. According to the Jerusalem Post, the measure is generally "regarded as highly unlikely to become law." Hanna Kehat, founder of the Jewish women’s rights group Kolech, criticized a ban and also commented "[f]ashion also often oppresses women with norms which lead to anorexia." Eilat Maoz, general coordinator for the Coalition of Women for Peace, referred to a ban as "a joke" that would constitute "racism".[55]
[edit]The Palestinian territories
See also: Islamization of the Gaza Strip
Successful informal coercion of women by sectors of society to wear Islamic dress or Hijab has been reported in the Gaza Strip where Mujama' al-Islami, the predecessor of Hamas, reportedly used a mixture of consent and coercion to "'restore' hijab" on urban educated women in Gaza in the late 1970s and 1980s.[56] Similar behavior was displayed by Hamas during the first intifada.[57] Hamas campaigned for the wearing of the hijab alongside other measures, including insisting women stay at home, segregation from men and the promotion of polygamy. In the course of this campaign women who chose not to wear the hijab were verbally and physically harassed, with the result that the hijab was being worn "just to avoid problems on the streets".[58]
Following the takeover of the Gaza Strip in June 2007, Hamas has attempted to implement Islamic law in the Gaza Strip, mainly at schools, institutions and courts by imposing the Islamic dress or Hijab on women.[59]
Some of the Islamization efforts met resistance. When Palestinian Supreme Court Justice Abdel Raouf Al-Halabi ordered women lawyers to wear headscarves and caftans in court, attorneys contacted satellite television stations including Al-Arabiya to protest, causing Hamas’s Justice Ministry to cancel the directive.[60]
In 2007, the Islamic group Swords of Truth threatened to behead female TV broadcasters if they didn't wear the Hijab. "We will cut throats, and from vein to vein, if needed to protect the spirit and moral of this nation," their statement said. The group also accused the women broadcasters of being "without any ... shame or morals". Personal threats against female broadcasters were also sent to the women's mobile phones, though it was not clear if these threats were from the same group. Gazan anchorwomen interviewed by Associated Press said that they were frightened by the Swords of Truth statement.[61]
In February 2011, Hamas banned the styling of women's hair, continuing its policy of enforcing Sharia upon women's clothing.[62]
[edit]former USSR

The Hijab was not commonly worn until fall of USSR, as some Islamic peoples (like Uzbeks) used to wear the paranja, while others (chechens, kara-chai, kazakhs, turkmens, etc.) banded traditional scarfs the same way as a bandana.
This section requires expansion.
[edit]North America

[edit]Canada
See also: Islam in Canada
Supporters of restrictions such as the Muslim Canadian Congress identify them as oppressive to women as well as interfering with communication and presenting a safety issue.[63] There have been many debates about this issue in Canada, particularly in Quebec. In February 2007, soccer player Asmahan Mansour, part of the team Nepean U12 Hotspurs, was expelled from a Quebec tournament for wearing her headscarf. Quebec soccer referees also ejected an 11-year-old Ottawa girl while she was watching a match, which generated a public controversy.[64]
The Muslim Canadian Congress officially states that garments covering the face have no basis in Islam and are merely a pre-Muslim Arabic social tradition. Group spokesperson Farzana Hassan has commented that nothing in the Qur'an stipulates that women must cover their faces. As such, the group favors a ban on the burka and the niqab.[63]
Mohamed Elmasry, a controversial former president of the Canadian Islamic Congress (CIC), has stated that only a small minority of Muslim Canadian women actually wear these types of clothing. He has also said that women should be free to choose, as a matter of culture and not religion, whether they wear it.[63] The CIC criticized a proposed law that would have required all voters to show their faces before being allowed to cast ballots. The group described the idea as unnecessary, arguing that it would only promote discrimination against Muslims and provide "political mileage among Islamophobes".[65]
In 2010, the province of Quebec tabled Bill 94 to introduce a veil ban to deny government services to those covering their faces with a niqab.[66]
[edit]United States
See also: Islam in the United States
The people of the United States have a firm 1st Amendment protection of freedom of speech from government interference that explicitly includes clothing items, as described by Supreme Court cases such as Tinker v. Des Moines.[67] As such, a ban on Islamic clothing is considered presumptively invalid by U.S. socio-political commentators such as Mona Charen of National Review.[68] Journalist Howard LaFranchi of the Christian Science Monitor has referred to "the traditional American respect for different cultural communities and religions under the broad umbrella of universal freedoms" as forbidding the banning of Islamic dress. In his prominent June 2009 speech to the Muslim World in Cairo, President Barack Obama called on the West "to avoid dictating what clothes a Muslim woman should wear", and he elaborated that such rules involve "hostility" towards Muslims in "the pretense of liberalism".[69]
A 2010 survey by the Pew Global Attitudes Project found that the vast majority of Americans – two out of three of those polled – oppose banning Islamic clothing.[70]
Muslim women face some issues regarding their cultural differences with American society. For example, most gyms, fitness clubs, and other workout facilities in the United States are mixed-sex. So exercise without a hijab or burka can be difficult for some observant Muslim women. Maria Omar, director of media relations for the Islamic Food and Nutrition Council of America (IFANCA), has advised Muslim women to avoid these complexes entirely. Some women decide to wear something colloquially known as the "sports hijab". Similarly, Muslim women may feel uncomforable around other women with traditionally revealing American outfits, especially during the summer "Bikini season". An outfit colloquially known as the burqini allows Muslim women to swim without displaying any significant amount of skin.[71]
[edit]Mexico
This section requires expansion.
There is no ban on any of the Muslim clothing items. The Muslim community is a minority; according to the 2008 census there are 25,000 Muslims in Mexico, 0.02 percent of the total population.[72] In recent years, conversions to Islam may have increased this number by between 1,500 and 3,000 people.[citation needed] There is an almost complete lack of knowledge of Islam in Mexico, and any interest is more curiosity and tolerance than hatred or racism.[73] Some Muslims suggest that it is easier to fit in if they are lax with the rules of their religion, for example by wearing regular clothing.[74] Muslim women's clothing can vary from non-Muslim clothing to a hijab or a chador.
[edit]See also


Niqāb
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Niqab)
A niqāb (Arabic: نِقاب‎ "mask") is a veil which covers the face, worn by some Muslim women as a part of sartorial hijāb. The niqab is most common in the Arab countries of the Arabian Peninsula such as Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, and the UAE. It is also common in Pakistan and some parts of India[citation needed].
Women who wear the niqāb are often called niqābīah; this word is used both as a noun and as an adjective. However, some prefer the participial form munaqqabah (plural munaqqabāt) as "niqābīah" may be used in a derogatory manner (much as with "hijābīah" versus muhajjabah).[1]
Because of the wide variety of hijab worn in the Muslim world, it can be difficult to definitively distinguish between one type of veil and another. The terms niqāb and burqa are often incorrectly used interchangeably, a niqab covers the face while a burka covers the whole body from the top of the head to the ground.
Origin
It is sometimes alleged that the face-veil was originally part of women's dress among certain classes in theByzantine Empire and was adopted into Muslim culture during the Arab conquest of the Middle East.[2]However, although Byzantine art before Islam commonly depicts women with veiled heads or covered hair, it does not depict women with veiled faces. In addition, the Greek geographer Strabo, writing in the first century CE, refers to some Persian women veiling their faces;[3][not in citation given] and the early third-century Christian writer Tertullian clearly refers in his treatise The Veiling of Virgins to some pagan women of "Arabia" wearing a veil that covers not only their head but also the entire face.[4] These primary sources show that some women in Arabia and Persia veiled their faces long before Islam.



Niqāb in Islam
Rationale
The majority of Islamic scholars say the niqab is not obligatory in Islam and is merely a custom that dates back to tribal nomadic societies living in the Arabian desert and other dusty and dry areas before Islam began, in order to provide protection against dust and sand.[5] But the issue has continued to arouse debate between Muslim scholars and jurists both past and present concerning whether it is fard (obligatory), mustahabb (loved to do), or forbidden for a woman to wear niqāb.[6] Many Salafi Muslims believe that a woman's awrah in front of unrelated men is her entire body including her face and hands.[7] [8][9][10] [11][12][13][14][15]
Salafi women in countries such as Saudi Arabia veil their faces because they believe the face of a woman is considered awrah. Awrah denotes the parts of the body that are not meant to be exposed in public.[16] However, wearing the niqab is not exclusive to Salafi Muslims and some other Muslims whether Shia or Sunni, regard niqab as mustahabb (seeking the love of Allah).[17] [18]
The claimed rationale of the niqāb comes from the Qur'an and Hadith. It was known that the many wives ofMuhammad were made to cover themselves around men they did not know. However the Quran explicitly states that the wives of the Prophet are held to a different standard.[19] It is claimed that under Islam the niqāb is a requirement for all women, since womanhood is mentioned along with the wives of Muhammad in the Qur'anic dictat to cover.[20] The following verse from the Qur'ān is cited as support for this:[21]
"O Prophet! Tell your wives and your daughters, and the believing women, to draw their cloaks (veils) over their bodies. That will be better that they should be known (as respectable woman) so as not to be annoyed. And Allah is Ever Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful."God is forgiving and kind.[Qur'an 33:59 (Translatedby Ahmed Ali)]
This verse was in response to harassment on the part of the "hypocrites".[22]
This Quranic verse does not clearly refer to covering the face itself.
It is argued by some Muslims that the reasons for the niqāb are to keep Muslim women from worrying about their appearances and to conceal their looks.[21][23]
Hadith
The hadith (Arabic plural:ahādīth) are narrations originating from the words and deeds of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
The Arabic word jilbāb is used in the following traditions:
2. Narrated Aisha (part of a much longer narration): "...When he reached my place in the morning, he saw the figure of a sleeping person and he recognized me on seeing me as he had seen me before the order of compulsory veiling (was prescribed). So I woke up when he recited Istirja' (i.e. "Inna lillahi wa inna llaihi raji'un") as soon as he recognized me. I veiled my face with my head cover at once, and by Allah, we did not speak a single word, and I did not hear him saying any word besides his Istirja'. (Volume: 5, Book Number: 59, Hadith Number: 462)
• Narrated Aisha: The woman is to bring down her Jilbāb from over her head and [then place it] upon her face. {Bukhari:6:60:282}, {Sunnan Abu Dawud 32:4091}
• Narrated Aisha: The riders used to pass by us when we were with the Messenger of Allaah in ihrām When they came near, each of us would lower her Jilbāb from her head over her face, and when they passed by we would uncover our faces. 1:1833
• Narrated Aisha: Safwaan ibn al-Mu’attal al-Sulami al Dhakwaani was lagging behind the army. She said, “He came to where I had stopped and saw the black shape of a person sleeping. He recognized me when he saw me, because he had seen me before Hijāb was enjoined. I woke up when I heard him saying ‘Inna Lillaahi wa inna ilayhi raaji’oon (verily to Allaah we belong and unto Him is our return),’ and I covered my face with my Jilbāb Sahih Muslim, 2:2770
• Narrated‘Aasim al-Ahwal: We used to enter upon Hafsah bint Sirīn who had put her Jilbāb thus and covered her face with it, and we would say to her: May Allah have mercy on you. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): “And as for women past childbearing who do not expect wedlock, it is no sin on them if they discard their (outer) clothing in such a way as not to show their adornment” [al-Noor 24:60]. And she would say to us: What comes after that (of the āyah)? We would say: “But to refrain (i.e. not to discard their outer clothing) is better for them”. And so she said: [Referring to, ‘But to refrain is better for them’], “It is to keep the Jilbāb.” Sahih al-Bukhari, []
• Narrated Ibn ‘Abbās: Allah commanded the believing women, when going out of their homes for some need, to cover their faces from above their heads with their Jilbābs, leaving one eye(or both) to see the path.[24]
• From Asmā’ bint Abi Bakr, that she said, “We are used to cover our faces from the men, and cut our hair before that in Ihrām (for Hajj).[25]
• From Asmā’ bint Abi Bakr, We would cover our faces while we were Muhrim, and while doing that we would be with Asmā’ bint Abi Bakr As-Siddeeq.[26]
• From Ibn Abi Khaythamah, We entered upon Umm Al-Mu’minīn on Yawm At-Tarwayah and we said to her, ‘Oh Mother of the Believers! Here is a woman who refuses to cover her face and she is a Muhrimah (in ihrām). So ‘Aa’ishah lifted her Khimār from her chest, and covered the woman’s face with it.[27]
• Narrated Aisha: "When (the Verse): "They should draw their veils over their Juyubihinna," was revealed, (the ladies) cut their waist sheets at the edges and covered their faces with the cut pieces. Sahih al-Bukhari, []
• Narrated 'Aisha: The Apostle of Allah used to offer the Fajr prayer and some believing women covered with their veiling sheets used to attend the Fajr prayer with him and then they would return to their homes unrecognized Sahih al-Bukhari, []
• Narrated Um 'Atiya: We were ordered the Apostle of Allah to bring out our menstruating women and veiled women in the religious gatherings and invocation of Muslims on the two 'Eid festivals. These menstruating women were to keep away from their Musalla. A woman asked, "O Allah's Apostle ' What about one who does not have a niqab?" He said, "Let her share the veil of her companion." Sahih al-Bukhari, []
• From Anas that the Muhammad said: And if one of the women of Paradise looked at the earth, she would fill the whole space between them the earth and the heaven with light, and would fill whatever is in between them, with perfume, and the veil of her face is better than the whole world and whatever is in it."Sahih al-Bukhari, []
• Narrated Thabit ibn Qays : A woman called Umm Khallad came to the Prophet while she was veiled. She was searching for her son who had been killed in the battle. Some of the Companions of the Prophet said to her: You have come here asking for your son while veiling your face? She said: If I am afflicted with the loss of my son, I shall not suffer the loss of my modesty. The Apostle of Allah said: You will get the reward of two martyrs for your son. She asked: Why is that so, oh Prophet of Allah? He replied: Because the people of the Book have killed him."Sahih al-Bukhari, []
• All of a woman is awrah. Whenever she leaves her home Satan reaches by her."2:311
• A woman called Umm Khallad came to the Prophet while she was veiled. She was searching for her son who had been killed in the battle. Some of the Companions of the Prophet said to her: You have come here asking for your son while veiling your face? She said: If I am afflicted with the loss of my son, I shall not suffer the loss of my modesty. The Apostle of Allah said: You will get the reward of two martyrs for your son. She asked: Why is that so, Apostle of Allah? He replied: Because the people of the Book have killed him. (Book Number: 14, Hadith Number: 2482)
Criticism
Sheikh Muhammad Sayyid Tantawy, previous dean of Al-Azhar University, called full-face veiling a custom that has nothing to do with the Islamic faith. “The niqab is a cultural tradition and has nothing to do with Islam.”[28] The decision came from an incident involving a school girl to remove her niqab during a visit to an Al-Azhar school, when Tantawi reportedly said that he would call for an official ban for the face veil in Islamic schools. Tantawi's decision stems from his views that more younger Muslims have lost touch with traditional Islamic scholarship and have come under the influence of extremist imams who have little or no formal training in Islamic scholarship.

Styles


A woman wearing a niqāb in Monterey, California


A woman wearing a niqābin Yemen
There are many styles of niqāb and other facial veils worn by Muslim women around the world. The two most common forms are the half niqāb and the gulf-style or full niqāb.
The half niqāb is a simple length of fabric with elastic or ties and is worn around the face. This garment typically leaves the eyes and part of the forehead visible.
The gulf-style or full niqāb completely covers the face. It consists of an upper band that is tied around the forehead, together with a long wide piece of fabric which covers the face, leaving an opening for the eyes. Many full niqāb have two or more sheer layers attached to the upper band, which can be worn flipped down to cover the eyes or left over the top of the head. Contrary to common belief, eyeveils do not generally restrict vision any more than a dark pair of sunglasses would. While a person looking at a woman wearing a niqāb with an eyeveil would not be able to see her eyes, the woman wearing the niqāb would be able to see out through the thin fabric.
Other less common and more cultural or national forms of niqāb include the Afghani style burqa, a long pleated gown that extends from the head to the feet with a small crocheted grille over the face.[1] The Pak Chador is a relatively new style from Pakistan, which consists of a large triangular scarf with two additional pieces.[1] A thin band on one edge is tied behind the head so as to keep the chador on, and then another larger rectangular piece is attached to one end of the triangle and is worn over the face, and the simple hijāb wrapped, pinned or tied in a certain way so as to cover the wearer's face.
Other common styles of clothing popularly worn with a niqāb in Western countries include the khimar, a semi-circular flare of fabric with an opening for the face and a small triangular underscarf. A khimar is usually bust-level or longer, and can also be worn without the niqāb. It is considered a fairly easy form of headscarf to wear, as there are no pins or fasteners; it is simply pulled over the head. Gloves are also sometimes worn with the niqab, because many munaqabāt believe no part of the skin should be visible other than the area immediately around the eyes or because they do not want to be put in a position where they would touch the hand of an unrelated man (for instance, when accepting change from a cashier).
Most munaqabāt also wear an overgarment (jilbab, abaya etc.) over their clothing, though some munaqabat in Western countries wear a long, loose tunic and skirt instead of a one-piece overgarment.
In different countries


A woman wearing a niqābin the United Arab Emirates
Egypt
The niqab in Egypt has a complex and long history. On October 8, 2009, Egypt's top Islamic school and the world's leading school of Sunni Islam, Al-Azhar, banned the wearing of the niqab in classrooms and dormitories of all its affiliate schools and educational institutes.[5]
Iran


A woman wearing a niqābin Bandar Abbas, southern Iran
The Niqab was traditionally worn in Southern Iran from the arrival of Islam until the end of the Qajar era. There were many regional variations of Niqāb, which were also called Ruband or Pushiye.
The 20th century ruler, Reza Shah, banned all variations of face veil in 1936, as incompatible with his modernistic ambitions. Reza Shah ordered the police to arrest women who wore the niqāb and to remove their face veils by force. This policy outraged the clerics who believed it was obligatory for women to cover their faces. Many women gathered at the Goharshad Mosque in Mashhad with their faces covered to show their objection to the niqāb ban.[29]
Between 1941 and 1979 wearing the niqāb was no longer against the law, but it was considered by the government to be a “badge of backwardness." During these years, wearing the niqāb and chador became much less common and instead most religious women wore headscarves only. Fashionable hotels and restaurants refused to admit women wearing niqābs. High schools and universities actively discouraged or even banned the niqāb, though the headscarf was tolerated.[30]
After the new government of Islamic Republic was established, the niqāb was not enforced by officials.
In modern Iran, the wearing of niqāb is not common and is only worn by certain ethnic minorities and a minority of Arab Muslims in the southern iranian coastal cities, such as Bandar Abbas, Minab and Bushehr. Some women in the Arab-populated province of Khuzestan still wear niqab.
Saudi Arabia
Saudi women are not required by law to wear the niqāb. However, in cities such as Dammam, Riyadh, Mecca, Medina and Abha most women observe niqāb as tradition and it remains de facto obligatory. Women may be harassed by the religious police if they do not cover their faces. Jeddah, as the most liberal city of Saudi Arabia, is an exception.
The Saudi niqāb usually leaves a long open slot for the eyes; the slot is held together by a string or narrow strip of cloth.[31] Many also have two or more sheer layers attached to the upper band, which can be worn flipped down to cover the eyes. Although a person looking at a woman wearing a niqāb with an eyeveil would not be able to see her eyes, she would still be able to see out through the thin fabric. In 2008, the religious authority in Mecca, Mohammad Habadan called on women to wear veils that reveal only one eye, so that women would not be encouraged to use eye make-up.[32]
According to Saudi Arabia's Shariah law, women's clothing should meet the following conditions:
 Women must cover their entire body, but they are allowed to expose one or both eyes in necessity.
 Women should wear abaya and niqāb thick enough to conceal what is underneath, and the abaya should be loose-fitting.
 Women should not wear brightly coloured clothes or clothes that are adorned so that they may attract men's attention.[33]
Syria
1200 niqab-wearing teachers were transferred to administrative duties in the summer of 2010 in Syria because the face veil was undermining the secular policies followed by the state as far as education is concerned.[34] In the near future, other ministers are expected to do the same as Ali Saad, the Syrian Minister of Education.[34] Also, in the summer of 2010, students wearing the Niqāb were prohibited from registering for university classes. The ban was associated with a move by the Syrian government to re-affirm Syria's traditional secular atmosphere.[35]
On 6 April 2011 it was reported that teachers would be allowed to once again wear the niqab.[36]
Yemen
Since antiquity, the Arab tradition of wearing the niqāb has been practiced by women living in Yemen.[37] Traditionally, girls begin wearing veils in their teenage years.[38] [39] Acceptance of the niqāb is not universal in Yemen. Senior member of the Al-Islah political party, Tawakel Karman, removed her niqāb at a human rights conference in 2004 and since then has called for "other women and female activists to take theirs off".[40]
Enforcement, encouragement and bans
Enforcement
Covering the face was enforced by the Taliban regime with the traditional Afghan face veil called the burkha.[41] While some women wholeheartedly embraced the rules, others protested.
Non-governmental enforcement of niqab is found in many parts of the Muslim world. In Saudi Arabia, all Saudi Muslim women are required to wear the niqab in cities such as Mecca, Medina and Taif. In other cities such as Dammam and Abha, women are not required to wear it by law but it remains de facto obligatory. In southern cities also, most women observe niqab. The Saudi niqāb usually leaves a long open slot for the eyes; the slot is held together by a string or narrow strip of cloth. In 2008, the religious authority in Mecca, Mohammad Habadan called on women to wear veils that reveals only one eye, so that women would not be encouraged to use eye makeup.[32]
Politics
The niqāb has had a significant role for women in the West Bank during the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Many Palestinian women, especially students, have worn white niqābs during protests against Israel's actions.[42][43] These women often wear green banners with Arabic messages in them. Female candidates from the Hamas party in the 2006 Palestinian parliamentary elections campaigned in niqābs, even in photographs. Since Hamas took over Gaza strip during the Battle of Gaza (2007) women are wearing Niqab in large numbers.[44][45]
Sultaana Freeman gained national attention in 2003 when she sued the U.S. state of Florida for the right to wear a niqāb for her driver's license photo.[46] However, a Florida appellate court ruled that there was no violation in the state requiring her to show her face to a camera in a private room with only a female employee to take the picture, in exchange for the privilege of driving.
In 2005, a non-Muslim student at Eastern Michigan University spent a semester wearing a niqāb for a class project (she referred to the face veil as a 'burqa,' a term which can be used to describe both the full, "gulf-style" niqab she wore and the Afghani style head-to-toe garment). Her experiences, such as feeling like no one wanted to be near her, led her to conclude that conservative Muslim dress is disapproved of in the United States.[47]
The niqāb is outlawed in the Muslim country of Tunisia. In Turkey, where the overwhelming majority of the population is Muslim, the traditional womenswear in cities at the turn of the twentieth century was called çarşaf (an outer garment similar to the Iranian chador) which would be accompanied by a piece of semi-transparent clothing to cover the lower face, called peçe. Although this combination is still being worn in some localities, the practice of covering the face has largely died off. In Turkey today, niqabi women, just like women wearing hijab, cannot work as public servants, neither can they continue studies at schools, including the private schools. Although there is no single law banning niqab at private companies, it would be nearly impossible for a niqabi woman to find work.
In February 2010, an Arab country's ambassador to Dubai had his marriage annulled after discovering that his bride was cross-eyed and hadfacial hair. The woman had worn a niqab on the occasions that the couple had met prior to the wedding. The ambassador informed the Sharia court that he had been deliberately deceived by the bride's mother, who had shown him photographs of the bride's sister. He only discovered the problem when he lifted the niqab to kiss his bride. The court annulled the marriage, but refused a claim for compensation.[48][49][50]
Europe
Main article: Islamic dress controversy in Europe
Although the burqa is a more emphatic symbol, the niqāb has also been prominent in political controversies on Islamic dress in Europe. TheNetherlands government plans a legal ban on face-covering Islamic clothing, popularly described as the 'burqa ban', which includes the niqāb.[51]
On 29 April 2010, the Belgian Chamber of Representatives adopted a law prohibiting people to wear "attire and clothing masking the face in such a way that it impairs them to be recognizable". The penalty for violating this directive can run from up to 14 days imprisonment and a 250 euro fine. Even though there is no direct mention of the burqa or niqāb, this decision practically does prohibit its use in public spaces. This new law has spurred a lot of anger amongst members of the traditional islamist community.
In the United Kingdom, comments by Jack Straw, MP started a national debate over the wearing of the "veil" (niqāb), in October 2006. This was further inflamed by extensive media coverage of the case of Aishah Azmi, a teaching assistant in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, who lost her appeal against suspension from her job for wearing the niqāb while teaching English to young children whose first language is different. It was decided that being unable to see her face prevented the children from learning effectively. Azmi argued that it was helping the children understand different people's beliefs.[52]
On 13 July 2010 France's lower house of parliament overwhelmingly approved a ban on wearing burqa-style Islamic veils. The legislation would forbid face-covering Muslim veils in all public places in France and calls for fines or citizenship classes, or both. The bill also is aimed at husbands and fathers — anyone convicted of forcing someone else to wear the garb risks a year of prison and a fine, with both penalties doubled if the victim is a minor. In Italy, by a Law issued in 1975, is strictly forbidden wearing any dress or supply that could hide the face of a person. Penalties (fines and imprisonment) are provided for such behaviour.
North America
United States
The niqab in its extreme forms is uncommon in the US.[53] In 2002, Sultaana Freeman, (aka Sandra Keller, who converted to Islam in 1997 when marrying a Muslim man) sued the U.S. state of Florida for the right to wear a niqāb for her driver's license photo.[46] However, a Florida appellate court ruled that there was no violation in the state requiring her to show her face to a camera in a private room with only a female employee to take the picture, in exchange for the privilege of driving. The prevailing view in Florida is currently that hiding one's face on a form of photo identification defeats the purpose of having the picture taken,[46] although 15 other states (including Arkansas, California, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, and Louisiana) have provisions that allow for driver's licenses absent of an identifying photograph in order to accommodate individuals who may have a religious reason to not have a photograph taken.[54]
Canada
Elections Canada, an independent agency responsible for elections and referendums, stated that Muslim women can cover their faces while voting. The decision was criticized by all major political parties of Canada except the New Democrats who did not oppose this decision.[55]
More recently the Conservative Government has introduced legislation which would bar Muslim women from voting if they show up at polling stations with a veiled face. This law was proposed in the wake of the Government's recent dispute with Elections Canada, which has refused to bar people with veiled faces from polling places.[56]
The niqāb became an issue in the 2007 election in Quebec after it became public knowledge that women wearing the niqāb were allowed to vote under the same rules as electors who did not present photo ID, namely, by sworn oath in the presence of a third party who could vouch for their identity. The chief electoral officer received an overwhelming number of complaints that this policy was too accommodating of cultural minorities (a major theme in the election), and had to be accompanied by bodyguards due to death threats. All three major political parties were against the policy, with the Parti Québécois and Action démocratique du Québec vying for position as most opposed. The policy was soon changed to require all voters to show their face, even if they did not carry photo ID. However, Quebec residents who wear the niqāb stated that they had no issue with showing their faces for official purposes, such as voting.[57] Salam Elmenyawi of the Muslim Council of Montreal estimated that only 10 to 15 Muslim voters in all of the province wear the niqāb, and that since their veils have become controversial, most would probably not vote due to threats and concern for their safety.[58]
In October 2009, the Muslim Canadian Congress called for a ban on burqa and niqāb (though not the hijab), saying that they have "no basis in Islam."[59] Spokesperson Farzana Hassan cited public safety issues, such as identity concealment, as well as gender equality, stating that wearing the burqa and niqāb is "a practice that marginalizes women."[59]
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 ^ See for instance F.R.C. Bagley, "Introduction", in B. Spuler, A History of the Muslim World. The Age of the Caliphs, 1995, X; for a different view T. Dawson, "Propriety, practicality and pleasure : the parameters of women's dress in Byzantium, A.D. 1000-1200", in L. Garland (ed.), Byzantine women: varieties of experience 800-1200, 2006, 41-76.
 ^ Geography 11.13. 9-10.
 ^ The Veiling of Virgins Ch. 17. Tertullian writes, "The pagan women of Arabia, who not only cover their head but their whole face, so that they would rather enjoy half the light with one eye free than prostitute the face, will judge you. (Judicabunt vos Arabiae feminae ethnicae quae non caput, sed faciem totam tegunt, ut uno oculo liberato contentae sint dimidiam frui lucem quam totam faciem prostituere)."
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 ^ Blomfield, Adrian (October 5, 2009). "Egypt purges niqab from schools and colleges". The Telegraph (London). Retrieved October 6, 2009.
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 ^ Fiqhus Sunnah
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 ^ Niqāb - Introduction BBC - Religion and Ethics. 16 October 2003. Retrieved 14 April 2007.
 ^ Matter of Choice BBC - Religion and Ethics. 16 October 2003. Retrieved 14 April 2007.
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 ^ Marfuqi, Kitab ul Mar'ah fil Ahkam, pg 133
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 ^ Quran, Surah Azhab verse 30-31
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 ^ a b Why Women Should Wear the Veil Jamiatul Ulama (KwaZulu-Natal) - Council of Muslim Theologians. 2 August 2001. Retrieved 14 April 2007.
 ^ http://www.renaissance.com.pk/Feb242y5.htm
 ^ Ruling on covering the face, with detailed evidence
 ^ Tafsīr At-Tabari|2|123
 ^ Ibn Khuzaymah |4|203
 ^ Imām Maalik Muwatta’ |3|217
 ^ At-Talkhees Al-Habeer of Ibn Hajr Al-’Asqalaani |2|272
 ^ Azhar Imam Orders Niqab off, Wants Ban
 ^ Asnad e Kashf e Hijab 24:2
 ^ El-Guindi, Fadwa, Veil: Modesty, Privacy, and Resistance, Berg, 1999
 ^ Moqtasami (1979), pp. 41-44
 ^ a b "Saudi cleric favours one-eye veil". BBC. 3 October 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-02.
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 ^ a b "Syria suspends fully veiled school teachers". Al Arabiya. June 29, 2010. Retrieved July 13, 2010.
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 ^ Ridhwan Al-Saqqaf and Mariam Saleh Aden Bureau (3 October 2008). "Saudi cleric favours one-eye veil". Yemeni Times. Retrieved 2008-06-02.
 ^ Ridhwan Al-Saqqaf and Mariam Saleh Aden Bureau (3 October 2008). "Girls’ niqab". Yemeni Times. Retrieved 2008-06-02.
 ^ Ridhwan Al-Saqqaf and Mariam Saleh Aden Bureau (3 October 2008). "The niqab through a foreigner’s eyes". Yemeni Times. Retrieved 2008-06-02.
 ^ Al-Sakkaf, Nadia (2010-06-17). "Renowned activist and press freedom advocate Tawakul Karman to the Yemen Times: "A day will come when all human rights violators pay for what they did to Yemen"". Women Journalists Without Chains. Archived from the original on 2011-01-30. Retrieved 2011-01-30.
 ^ M. J. Gohari (2000). The Taliban: Ascent to Power. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 108-110.
 ^ Palestinians Debate Women's Future Under Hamas By Brenda Gazzar. Women's eNews23 April 2006. Retrieved 13 April 2007.
 ^ Islamist women redraw Palestinian debate on rights by Thanassis Cambanis. Boston Globe. Retrieved 13 April 2007.
 ^ Gaza's deadly guardians
 ^ The eyes have it: Muslim women win role in Palestinian body politic by Ed O'Loughlin. The Age. 24 January 2006. Retrieved 13 April 2007.
 ^ a b chttp://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/06/06/florida.license.veil/[dead link]Judge: Woman can't cover face on driver's license 10 June 2003. Cnn.com Retrieved 13 April 2007.
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 ^ "Dubai 'bearded lady' marriage off". BBC News. 10 February 2010. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
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 ^ Dutch Muslims condemn burqa ban BBC News. Retrieved 13 April 2007.
 ^ 'No discrimination' in veil row BBC News. 19 October 2006
 ^ The Diversity of Muslims in the United States: Views as Americans
 ^ THE CASE OF MRS. SULTAANA FREEMAN
 ^ LeBlanc, Daniel. Elections Canada blasted for allowing Muslim women to vote with faces covered. Globe and Mail.
 ^ [1] yahoo news.
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 ^ a b "Muslim group calls for burka ban". CBC News. 2009-10-08. Retrieved 2009-10-08.