Hejab

[kmaherali]

http://www.latimes.com/news/printeditio ... 5525.story

From the Los Angeles Times
Me without my hijab
Removing my head covering changed how I saw myself and the world.

By Zainab Mineeia

June 8, 2008

When I came to this country, I took off my hijab. It wasn't an easy decision. I worried at night that God would punish me for it. That's what I had been taught would happen, and it filled me with fear.

I was 27, coming from my home country of Iraq to study in California. I hoped that by taking off the hijab I had been wearing for eight years, I would be able to maintain a low profile. In Baghdad, you keep a low profile to stay alive. But in the United States, I merely wanted not to be judged.

Still, I was filled with anxiety. As I flew toward the United States, I wondered how I would feel when the moment came to appear with my head uncovered.

I knew, of course, that most women in the United States didn't cover their heads. Despite that, I worried that my appearance would draw attention. I was going to stand bare in front of everyone. My neck, my hair, the top of my chest would all be exposed. This might (or might not) go unnoticed by others, but I would be keenly aware of it. I didn't know if I was ready to handle this feeling.

When I arrived at the airport in Frankfurt, Germany, at the end of the first leg of my journey, my head was still covered. I let my hair out briefly, but then I covered it again, unsure of myself. I packed the hijab away for good when I arrived at Denver International Airport.

I had talked with my parents about the fact that I might take off the hijab upon my arrival in the States; fortunately they were supportive of the idea. In fact, just a few days before leaving Iraq, I was sitting in the living room with my father.

"My daughter, when you arrive at the Jordanian airport, take your hijab off and fold it in your bag. There is no need to wear it anymore," he said while smoking his cigarette.

I did not comment, nor did I look him in the eye. I was embarrassed and did not want to talk about the subject with him or my mother. I was not used to talking to them about such sensitive, personal subjects. But his words meant a lot to me. Having his blessing was important.

Coming from Iraq, a conservative society in which Islam is the main religion, the hijab was something I had always known. Muslim women begin wearing the hijab at different ages -- some start as young as 8; others start later. Some never wear it at all. We wear it because we are told that it would be a sin not to cover ourselves -- and because we need to be without sin in order to get close to God. Women, we're told, are a source of enticement to men, and we need to be covered so that men won't desire us.

I made the decision to cover my head willingly and without any pressure from my family. My mother and sisters wore it, which made my choice easier. I was 19, and I was becoming more religious in those days and had begun to pray more frequently. I was convinced that it was the right thing to do.

The night before I first wore it to school, I stayed up most of the night. None of my friends knew what I was going to do. I expected it would surprise a lot of people. I was a girl who loved styling my hair and wearing nice things; my friends (many of whom were already wearing the hijab) would know how much I had to give up to wear it.

On the street, I felt a rush of mixed feelings: happiness and shyness, as well as fear that I would regret my decision in the future. But I never thought that taking it off would be an option. Once women wear the hijab, they are not likely to take it off.

These days, the hijab is a controversial subject. Some Muslims argue that it is a must for women, though others think it is not. My friend Dahlia Lamy, for instance, an Iraqi woman I knew in Baghdad who is now studying at Boston University, argues that no verse in the Koran clearly makes the hijab an obligation for women. Lamy is a practicing Muslim, but she believes that most women who wear the hijab have been forced to do so by their fathers and brothers. "I've never worn the hijab, nor do I intend to," she told me. In Turkey -- and even in France -- culture wars have raged over the wearing of the hijab in schools and other places.

The hijab takes different forms. In Iraq, it can be a chest-length veil that is placed around the head and sometimes can connect to a niqab, a cloth that covers the mouth and nose. The wearing of the niqab is not common in Iraq. In Iran and other Persian Gulf countries, women wear an abaya. An abaya is a long black gown that covers the entire body.

My hijab helped me during the rough days after the war began in 2003. It was like a shield, an invisible suit that I always had on when I went out, the suit that kept away the evil eye. It enabled me to keep that all-important low profile.

But even as the hijab kept me safe, it became a burden for many others. After the fall of Saddam Hussein, there was a dramatic increase in the number of women wearing the hijab. Since then, as religious groups have gained more power, it has become dangerous to be spotted without one -- so much so that even Christian women now wear the hijab when they go out. To me, that signified that something was wrong with my country.

The reason I came to the United States was to spend a semester at UC Davis before starting a master's degree program in journalism. I arrived on the flight from Denver in September 2006. It was late at night, and I went immediately to sleep. The next day was my first to go out without the hijab. That morning, I stood in front of the mirror and instead of straightening my hijab, I straightened my hair. It worried me, but I also felt happy.

At first, I looked behind me a lot as I walked down the street, wondering who was looking at me and what they were thinking. But over time, I got used to it. My conscience stopped bothering me, and I became accustomed to being without the hijab in the middle of the day. I remember early on when a woman sipping coffee on her porch said "Good morning" and smiled at me, as if I looked completely normal. That was a peaceful feeling.

For a while, I lived in Davis with another Iraqi woman, who had been wearing the hijab since 2002. When I told her that I had taken off my hijab when I came to the U.S., she was surprised and gave me the look. The look telling me that I had done something wrong. We discussed the issue many times; I felt guilty again and had second thoughts.

After some months, though, she moved to Massachusetts. One day, she called me, and we talked again about her hijab. This time she talked about the discomfort and sometimes even hostility that people seemed to feel when they met her and saw how she was dressed. "They try to hide it, but it's obvious," she said. She said that although real estate agents were positive over the phone, no one would rent her an apartment once they saw her in person. She explained that a woman from the student housing office had had the audacity to explain to her the way toilets are flushed, "As if my hijab was an anti-intelligence sign," she said. "I spent two days crying."

She called me again at the end of December and told me that she too had taken off the hijab. After the conversation ended, I felt a bit relieved; I had apparently made a wise decision and spared myself pain from the start.

At the same time, I was disappointed. We shouldn't have to hide the fact that we're Muslims in order to be treated like everyone else. In some ways, it's as bad to feel pressure to take off the hijab in the United States as it is to be pressured to keep it on in Baghdad. It's sad that people here do not always accept you for who you are.

For myself, I'm comfortable with my decision. But even today, I sometimes take my hijab out of the closet and place it over my head. It feels strange, not unlike the feeling I had when I was preparing to stop wearing it.

At the same time, when I put it on, I feel at home, as if I wasn't far away. It makes me miss the days when I used to match the color of my hijab with my clothes. The hijab was a part of my identity, a part of who I was, and those memories can't be erased.

Zainab Mineeia worked as a translator and reporter for The Times in Iraq in 2005 and 2006. She is now a graduate student at the Missouri School of Journalism.

[kmaherali]

Interview with a Muslim Woman Olympic Athlete

August 15, 2008

By Amal Amireh

What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you see a woman Olympic athlete?

Here are some of the things that come to my mind:

She's strong. She's disciplined. She's persistent. She's driven. She's beautiful. She's talented. She has good genes. She trains hard. She doesn't blog.

But when it comes to Muslim women who veil, the media seems to be interested only in one thing: the piece of fabric on the woman's head. They want to know if its weight slow down runners; if it blocks the view of archers; if it interferes with the concentration of weight lifters. And let's not forget the color. It must matter!

And they are surprised when they find out that what they're obsessing with is irrelevant. Still, they write the article about the veil, not the woman competing.

I'm always waiting for the Muslim woman athlete who will refuse to talk about her veil and will insist that she be interviewed about her athletic accomplishments. Here's my fantasy interview:

Bob: We are really impressed by your presence here. Do you mind if we ask you a few questions?

ToughMuslimCookie: Sure. I'd be happy to answer.

Bob: How long have you been veiling?

TMC: I've been training for 10 years, but the last five years I've been doing it full-time.

Bob: How many hours a day do you wear the veil?

TMC: I train for about six hours every day. I slowed down earlier in the year because of an injury.

Bob: Who helps you put on your veil?

TMC: I have a great coach and she has been instrumental in getting me to Beijing.

Bob: Who decides the color of your veil?

TMC: My parents have been very supportive. In fact, my mother sold her jewelry to get me here.

Bob: Can you talk us through the different ways your government forces you to wear the veil?

TMC: Official support has not been as it should be, but I'm proud to be representing my country.

Bob: Don't you find that the weight of your veil slows you down?

TMC: I have improved a great deal this year and I have high hopes for a good performance.

Bob: Isn't the fabric itchy?

TMC: I'm really itching to compete. I've been waiting a long time for this dream of competing in the Olympics.

Bob: We've noticed that you tie your veil differently from the women on the Iranian team. Is this because you are Sunni?

TMC: I tied with the Iranian competitor once in the Asian games. But since my time has improved.

Bob: This maybe a sensitive question: Don't you worry that your veil might slip down? What will happen then? Can you talk about honor killing? (at this point an advisory: "remove children from room" appears at bottom of the TV screen.)

TMC: I will not slip. I worked on my concentration a lot last year and I'm determined.

Bob: There are concerns by some on the Olympic committee that your veil is soaked in steroids, which then seep into your hair and scalp and give you veil advantage. How do you defend yourself?

TMC: I just follow a healthy diet of home cooking (thanks Mom!) and I don't smoke or drink.

Bob: Some competitors have expressed concern that your veil may interfere with their performance. Can you address their legitimate worries?

TMC: Huh?

Bob: Well, that it may unravel and trip the person on your right, or that it may fly in the Beijing breeze and block the view of the person on your left, or that it will distract as it did when you appeared among the spectators at the USA vs. Belgium beach volleyball game. Kerri and Misty almost lost. What do you explain your distracting presence?

TMC: I don't think the attention distracts me. As I said, I'm focused and determined to do my best. I worked very hard to get here and won't let anything stop me.

Bob: Final question: what thoughts are going through your veil now?

TMC: You don't want to know, Bob

To leave Amal a comment about her article, visit http://www.arabisto.com/p_blogEntry.cfm ... tryID=1191

Amal Amireh was born and raised in El Bireh in Palestine. She received her BA in English Literature from Birzeit University and a PhD in English and American literature from Boston University. Ms. Amireh taught at An Najah National University in Nablus before returning to the US to teach postcolonial literature, cultural studies, and women's studies at George Mason University. She is author of "The Factory Girl and the Seamstress: Imagining Gender and Class in Nineteenth-Century American Fiction" and co-editor of "Going Global: The Transnational Reception of Third World Women Writers" and "Etel Adnan: Critical Essays on the Arab-American Writer and Artist". Her essay, "Between Complicity and Subversion: Body Politics in the Palestinian National Narrative", won the 2004 Florence Howe Award (given for best article from a feminist perspective). Ms. Amireh's essays and reviews have appeared in several publications; some being translated into Arabic and Hebrew. She is also the author of "Improvisations: Arab Woman Progressive Voice", a blog about Arab women, Palestine, and cultural politics.

[aeliya]

NO MATTER WHAT EVER B THE REASON
THE SHIA RELIGION BELIEVES THAT HIJAB IS IMPORTANT AT ALL OR ANY SITUATION
THOUGH IT WOULD LEAD TO UNSUCCESS...ONE SHOULD ACCEPT THE SAME...SPECIALLY THE WORKING WOMEN
IT IS A WRONG BELIEVE THAT ONE SHOULD FALL BEFORE THE SITUATIONS
ISLAM IS NOT WHT WE OR THE SOCIETY LIKES
IT IS WHT GOD LIKES
N WOMEN ARE LIKE DIAMONDS THEY R TO B PROTECTED AT ALL COST
OR ELSE THERE IS A POSSIBILITY OF THEFT
THE BEST EXAMPLE IS THE TIMES OF KARBALA...AFTER 10 DAY
THERE WAS THE FIRST WAR BETWEEN YAZID (GOD THROW HIM INTO HELL)AND BIBI ZAINAB.WAS THAT OF HIJAB ONLY..THOUGH COLD BUT IMPORTANT


IF UR HUSBAND ORDERS U TO REMOVE HIJAB THEN WE R SUPPOSE TO DRESS IN SUCH A MANNER THAT WE DONT LEAD PPL TOWARDS ATTRACTION
OR ELSE IF THIS IS ALSO NOT AGREEABLE TO UR HUSBAND
THEN THE ONLY THING ORDERED IS TO LEAVE UR HUSBAND BUT NOT HIJAB
THE COUNTRY WHICH DOES NOT ALLOW HIJAB ...IT IS PROHIBITED TO VISIT SUCH PLACE AS ACCORDING TO ISLAM
SO PLZ ENLIGHTEN ME WITH UR VIEWS UPON MY COMMENT
AS I AM NOT SO MUCH AWARE ON THIS TOPIC THIS IS WHT I KNOW N BELIEVE
ANY COMMENT WILL B HEARTLY APPRICIATED


RULE IS A RULE...EQUALY BESTOWED UPON...THEY CANT B CHANGED..WHTEVER IT MAY B

[Admin]

NO MATTER WHAT EVER B THE REASON
THE SHIA RELIGION BELIEVES THAT HIJAB IS IMPORTANT AT ALL OR ANY SITUATION

Since there is a wide diversity of beliefs and practices within Islam, you will have to define first which Shias believe in the importance of Hijab and which Islam has the same belief as yours.

We promote and respect each person's belief from whatever creed he is but we do not encourage people who preach against the recognition of diversity in Islam.

Admin

[shamsu]

http://www.latimes.com/news/printeditio ... 5525.story

From the Los Angeles Times
Me without my hijab
Removing my head covering changed how I saw myself and the world.

By Zainab Mineeia

June 8, 2008

When I came to this country, I took off my hijab. It wasn't an easy decision. I worried at night that God would punish me for it. That's what I had been taught would happen, and it filled me with fear.

I was 27, coming from my home country of Iraq to study in California. I hoped that by taking off the hijab I had been wearing for eight years, I would be able to maintain a low profile. In Baghdad, you keep a low profile to stay alive. But in the United States, I merely wanted not to be judged.

Still, I was filled with anxiety. As I flew toward the United States, I wondered how I would feel when the moment came to appear with my head uncovered.

I knew, of course, that most women in the United States didn't cover their heads. Despite that, I worried that my appearance would draw attention. I was going to stand bare in front of everyone. My neck, my hair, the top of my chest would all be exposed. This might (or might not) go unnoticed by others, but I would be keenly aware of it. I didn't know if I was ready to handle this feeling.

When I arrived at the airport in Frankfurt, Germany, at the end of the first leg of my journey, my head was still covered. I let my hair out briefly, but then I covered it again, unsure of myself. I packed the hijab away for good when I arrived at Denver International Airport.

I had talked with my parents about the fact that I might take off the hijab upon my arrival in the States; fortunately they were supportive of the idea. In fact, just a few days before leaving Iraq, I was sitting in the living room with my father.

"My daughter, when you arrive at the Jordanian airport, take your hijab off and fold it in your bag. There is no need to wear it anymore," he said while smoking his cigarette.

I did not comment, nor did I look him in the eye. I was embarrassed and did not want to talk about the subject with him or my mother. I was not used to talking to them about such sensitive, personal subjects. But his words meant a lot to me. Having his blessing was important.

Coming from Iraq, a conservative society in which Islam is the main religion, the hijab was something I had always known. Muslim women begin wearing the hijab at different ages -- some start as young as 8; others start later. Some never wear it at all. We wear it because we are told that it would be a sin not to cover ourselves -- and because we need to be without sin in order to get close to God. Women, we're told, are a source of enticement to men, and we need to be covered so that men won't desire us.

I made the decision to cover my head willingly and without any pressure from my family. My mother and sisters wore it, which made my choice easier. I was 19, and I was becoming more religious in those days and had begun to pray more frequently. I was convinced that it was the right thing to do.

The night before I first wore it to school, I stayed up most of the night. None of my friends knew what I was going to do. I expected it would surprise a lot of people. I was a girl who loved styling my hair and wearing nice things; my friends (many of whom were already wearing the hijab) would know how much I had to give up to wear it.

On the street, I felt a rush of mixed feelings: happiness and shyness, as well as fear that I would regret my decision in the future. But I never thought that taking it off would be an option. Once women wear the hijab, they are not likely to take it off.

These days, the hijab is a controversial subject. Some Muslims argue that it is a must for women, though others think it is not. My friend Dahlia Lamy, for instance, an Iraqi woman I knew in Baghdad who is now studying at Boston University, argues that no verse in the Koran clearly makes the hijab an obligation for women. Lamy is a practicing Muslim, but she believes that most women who wear the hijab have been forced to do so by their fathers and brothers. "I've never worn the hijab, nor do I intend to," she told me. In Turkey -- and even in France -- culture wars have raged over the wearing of the hijab in schools and other places.

The hijab takes different forms. In Iraq, it can be a chest-length veil that is placed around the head and sometimes can connect to a niqab, a cloth that covers the mouth and nose. The wearing of the niqab is not common in Iraq. In Iran and other Persian Gulf countries, women wear an abaya. An abaya is a long black gown that covers the entire body.

My hijab helped me during the rough days after the war began in 2003. It was like a shield, an invisible suit that I always had on when I went out, the suit that kept away the evil eye. It enabled me to keep that all-important low profile.

But even as the hijab kept me safe, it became a burden for many others. After the fall of Saddam Hussein, there was a dramatic increase in the number of women wearing the hijab. Since then, as religious groups have gained more power, it has become dangerous to be spotted without one -- so much so that even Christian women now wear the hijab when they go out. To me, that signified that something was wrong with my country.

The reason I came to the United States was to spend a semester at UC Davis before starting a master's degree program in journalism. I arrived on the flight from Denver in September 2006. It was late at night, and I went immediately to sleep. The next day was my first to go out without the hijab. That morning, I stood in front of the mirror and instead of straightening my hijab, I straightened my hair. It worried me, but I also felt happy.

At first, I looked behind me a lot as I walked down the street, wondering who was looking at me and what they were thinking. But over time, I got used to it. My conscience stopped bothering me, and I became accustomed to being without the hijab in the middle of the day. I remember early on when a woman sipping coffee on her porch said "Good morning" and smiled at me, as if I looked completely normal. That was a peaceful feeling.

For a while, I lived in Davis with another Iraqi woman, who had been wearing the hijab since 2002. When I told her that I had taken off my hijab when I came to the U.S., she was surprised and gave me the look. The look telling me that I had done something wrong. We discussed the issue many times; I felt guilty again and had second thoughts.

After some months, though, she moved to Massachusetts. One day, she called me, and we talked again about her hijab. This time she talked about the discomfort and sometimes even hostility that people seemed to feel when they met her and saw how she was dressed. "They try to hide it, but it's obvious," she said. She said that although real estate agents were positive over the phone, no one would rent her an apartment once they saw her in person. She explained that a woman from the student housing office had had the audacity to explain to her the way toilets are flushed, "As if my hijab was an anti-intelligence sign," she said. "I spent two days crying."

She called me again at the end of December and told me that she too had taken off the hijab. After the conversation ended, I felt a bit relieved; I had apparently made a wise decision and spared myself pain from the start.

At the same time, I was disappointed. We shouldn't have to hide the fact that we're Muslims in order to be treated like everyone else. In some ways, it's as bad to feel pressure to take off the hijab in the United States as it is to be pressured to keep it on in Baghdad. It's sad that people here do not always accept you for who you are.

For myself, I'm comfortable with my decision. But even today, I sometimes take my hijab out of the closet and place it over my head. It feels strange, not unlike the feeling I had when I was preparing to stop wearing it.

At the same time, when I put it on, I feel at home, as if I wasn't far away. It makes me miss the days when I used to match the color of my hijab with my clothes. The hijab was a part of my identity, a part of who I was, and those memories can't be erased.

Zainab Mineeia worked as a translator and reporter for The Times in Iraq in 2005 and 2006. She is now a graduate student at the Missouri School of Journalism.

To the best of my knowledge Mowla Aly said you are not punished for your sin
You are punished by your sin.

[shamsu]

[quote="Jawad"]Allah says: 'O Prophet! Tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to draw their cloaks (veils) over their bodies (when outdoors). That is most convenient that they should be known and not molested.' (Quran 33:59).

Out of curiosity
Whose translation was this mentioned in?
What is the english transliteration of (Quran 33:59)

[kmaherali]

Pickthall
O Prophet! Tell thy wives and thy daughters and the women of the believers to draw their cloaks close round them (when they go abroad). That will be better, so that they may be recognised and not annoyed. Allah is ever Forgiving, Merciful.

Yusuf Ali
O Prophet! Tell thy wives and daughters, and the believing women, that they should cast their outer garments over their persons (when abroad): that is most convenient, that they should be known (as such) and not molested. And God is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.

Sher Ali
O Prophet! tell thy wives and thy daughters, and the women of the believers, that they should pull down upon them of their outer cloaks from their heads over their faces. That is more likely that they may thus be recognized and not molested. And ALLAH is Most Forgiving, Merciful.

Khalifa
O prophet, tell your wives, your daughters, and the wives of the believers that they shall lengthen their garments. Thus, they will be recognized (as righteous women) and avoid being insulted. GOD is Forgiver, Most Merciful.

Arberry
O Prophet, say to thy wives and daughters and the believing women, that they draw their veils close to them; so it is likelier they will be known, and not hurt. God is All-forgiving, All-compassionate.

Palmer
O thou prophet! tell thy wives and thy daughters, and the women of the believers, to let down over them their outer wrappers; that is nearer for them to be known and that they should not be annoyed; but God is forgiving, merciful.

[Jawad]

Allah says: 'O Prophet! Tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to draw their cloaks (veils) over their bodies (when outdoors). That is most convenient that they should be known and not molested.' (Quran 33:59).

Out of curiosity
Whose translation was this mentioned in?
What is the english transliteration of (Quran 33:59)

Kmaherali has given us so many translations all speaking the same.

The Arabic word used in above verse of Quran for cloaks/outer garments is "jalabeebihinna" which is a cloak one wears over the head cover (similar to abayah).

[kmaherali]

Kmaherali has given us so many translations all speaking the same.

The Arabic word used in above verse of Quran for cloaks/outer garments is "jalabeebihinna" which is a cloak one wears over the head cover (similar to abayah).

I think we have also to keep in mind that there are some verses that are context specific and there are those that are universal. Modesty seems to be the underlying intent behind the verses and this can be expressed in different ways depending upon the cultural context.

For Ismailis, the Farman of the Imam is the ultimate source of guidance. The Imam interprets the Quran for us.

[ShamsB]

NO MATTER WHAT EVER B THE REASON
THE SHIA RELIGION BELIEVES THAT HIJAB IS IMPORTANT AT ALL OR ANY SITUATION
THOUGH IT WOULD LEAD TO UNSUCCESS...ONE SHOULD ACCEPT THE SAME...SPECIALLY THE WORKING WOMEN
IT IS A WRONG BELIEVE THAT ONE SHOULD FALL BEFORE THE SITUATIONS
ISLAM IS NOT WHT WE OR THE SOCIETY LIKES
IT IS WHT GOD LIKES
N WOMEN ARE LIKE DIAMONDS THEY R TO B PROTECTED AT ALL COST
OR ELSE THERE IS A POSSIBILITY OF THEFT
THE BEST EXAMPLE IS THE TIMES OF KARBALA...AFTER 10 DAY
THERE WAS THE FIRST WAR BETWEEN YAZID (GOD THROW HIM INTO HELL)AND BIBI ZAINAB.WAS THAT OF HIJAB ONLY..THOUGH COLD BUT IMPORTANT


IF UR HUSBAND ORDERS U TO REMOVE HIJAB THEN WE R SUPPOSE TO DRESS IN SUCH A MANNER THAT WE DONT LEAD PPL TOWARDS ATTRACTION
OR ELSE IF THIS IS ALSO NOT AGREEABLE TO UR HUSBAND
THEN THE ONLY THING ORDERED IS TO LEAVE UR HUSBAND BUT NOT HIJAB
THE COUNTRY WHICH DOES NOT ALLOW HIJAB ...IT IS PROHIBITED TO VISIT SUCH PLACE AS ACCORDING TO ISLAM
SO PLZ ENLIGHTEN ME WITH UR VIEWS UPON MY COMMENT
AS I AM NOT SO MUCH AWARE ON THIS TOPIC THIS IS WHT I KNOW N BELIEVE
ANY COMMENT WILL B HEARTLY APPRICIATED


RULE IS A RULE...EQUALY BESTOWED UPON...THEY CANT B CHANGED..WHTEVER IT MAY B

There is no compulsion in Islam - if any rules/requirements are forced upon someone - that is tyranny not religion.

In Ismailism - as Kmaherali has pointed out..we willingly give a 100% of ourselves to the Imam-e-Zamaan and He guides us and interprets the Qu'ran for us.

You mentioned you wanted to learn on this site - don't judge us, don't come with preconceived notions of "true" islam.

We value diversity and plurality and for the most part are very tolerant..however as History will tell you - don't try to shove things down our gullets - it is one thing to share a thought...

In this vein - what do you think of the Saudis and the way they treat their women? is that Islamic? if yes - then why are Iranians and Iraqis different? and if not - what's not islamic about it - i am sure they'll have a few verses of the quran to show you as well?

Shams

Shams

[From_Alamut]

Ya Ali Madad and as salam alaykum

Its apart of East culture of one wants to wear Hijab. East side has their own culture and West side has their own. It is very difficult for a Eastern to wear Hijab in West and a Western in Eastern. Of course, all Easterners when they used to live in East countries were always wearing Hajibs due to their culture. The Western culture always changed due to their moods and styles. When I was in high school, there was two Itnashri women in my English class in Canada. They both used to be so close friends and also with one Sunni girl. The Sunni girl and one of the Itnashri girl were covering up and was wearing Hajibs, but the other Itnashri girl was not. She was wearing normal clothes like everybody does in town of Canada and in school. The both girls who covered up started hating her and discontinued their friendship with her for not wearing Hajib. Then one day, they were having arguments in class, The Itnashri girl without Hajib said to the two covered, "This clothes I wear is like every bodies who wear in town, school and work, there is nothing wrong but it is just the Western culture. I wear this clothes in the name of Allah from pure heart, not to do harm. It is better to cover your Heart and have faith in Allah then you cover your face. She stopped and took a breath, she spoke the last words and never talk to them again. "You know, I know a lot of girls who cover but they do a lot of dirty things, so do not mention me to wear Hajibs any more."

[Jawad]

For Ismailis, the Farman of the Imam is the ultimate source of guidance. The Imam interprets the Quran for us.

True for you... and For Muslims Quran the Word of Allah is the ultimate source of guidance.

[kmaherali]

True for you... and For Muslims Quran the Word of Allah is the ultimate source of guidance.

That is true, but the Quran is also open to a variety of interpretations and no one interpretation can be considered as the only correct one....

"This programme is also an opportunity for achieving insights into how the discourse of the Qur’an-e-Sharif, rich in parable and allegory, metaphor and symbol, has been an inexhaustible well-spring of inspiration, lending itself to a wide spectrum of interpretations. This freedom of interpretation is a generosity which the Qur'an confers upon all believers, uniting them in the conviction that All-Merciful Allah will forgive them if they err in their sincere attempts to understand His word. Happily, as a result, the Holy Book continues to guide and illuminate the thought and conduct of Muslims belonging to different communities of interpretation and spiritual affiliation, from century to century, in diverse cultural environments. The Noble Qur’an extends its principle of pluralism also to adherents of other faiths. It affirms that each has a direction and path to which they turn so that all should strive for good works, in the belief that, wheresoever they may be, Allah will bring them together."
(Excerpt from MHI's speech at 'Word of God, Art of Man: The Qur’an and its Creative Expressions’, An International Colloquium organised by
The Institute of Ismaili Studies, The Ismaili Centre, London, October 19, 2003)

[kmaherali]

http://www.beliefnet.com/story/235/story_23511.html

Your Hijab Questions Answered
What do you want to know about the way Muslim women dress, the headscarf, and the hijab? Beliefnet answers your questions here.

By Dilshad D. Ali
Islam Editor

The hijab, or headscarf, is one of the most noticeable and misunderstood badges of Muslim women. But there’s much more to the Islamic dress code for women than the hijab. It’s a total package that deals with clothing, behavior, and demeanor. For some hijab means pairing a headscarf with Western-style clothes. For others it means wearing loose robes as well. Still others add a niqab, or face veil, to their ensembles.

What do Islam and the Qur’an exactly say about modest clothing for women? What does Islamic dress exactly entail? Why do some Muslim women cover up while others don’t? Are there any dress requirements for Muslim men? Check out our Muslim clothing FAQs for the answers to your burning questions.

What is hijab?

The word "hijab" comes from the Arabic "hajaba," which means to conceal or hide from view. In general terms, it refers to Islamic modest dressing for women. But it has come to signify the headscarf, which is the covering many Muslim women use to hide their hair, neck, and often bosom.

What does Islamic dress for women exactly entail?

Islam has no fixed uniform of dress for Muslim women. But there are two requirements, which come from the Qur’an and hadith (verified sayings of the Prophet Muhammad): First, a woman’s body should be covered such that only her face, hands, and feet are revealed. Secondly, the clothing must be loose enough so that the shape of a woman’s body is not visible.

Other parameters (as stated in hadiths) are that women shouldn’t dress so as to look like men, women shouldn’t dress in a way similar to those who don’t believe in God, and the clothing should be modest, neither ragged nor overly fancy.

It is important to remember that Islam teaches Muslims that the concept of modest dress doesn’t just mean covering the body, but it also has to do with behaviors, manners, speech, and public appearance. Modesty is a total package, with dress being one part of it.

Why is covering the head important?

Strictly speaking, covering the hair is just one part of a Muslim woman’s dress. Covering all other parts of the body (except for the face, hands, and feet) is also important. But as women around the world adapt Islamic dressing to the fashions of their country, more and more it is the hijab, or headscarf, that is constant and marks a woman as a Muslim.

Is covering up mandated by the Qur’an?

Hijab and modest dressing is mandated in the Qur’an, though some Muslims argue that it is not a strict requirement but merely a strong suggestion (that is open to individual interpretation. A few passages in the Qur’an refer to an Islamic dress code:

"Say to the believing man 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 to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty; and 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 husbands' 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 ..." (Qur'an 24:30-31)

This verse highlights three points: That a woman shouldn’t show her beauty except when faced with uncontrolled factors, like the wind blowing her clothes; that the headscarf should cover the hair, neck, and the bosom; and that women need not cover up in front of certain men (husbands, fathers, sons, etc.).

Further hadiths give other details. One of the most quoted is the following:

“Ayesha reported that Asmaa, the daughter of Abu Bakr came to the Messenger of Allah (SWT) while wearing thin clothing. He approached her and said, ‘O Asmaa! When a girl reaches the menstrual age, it is not proper that anything should remain exposed except this and this.’ He pointed to the face and hands.” (Abu Dawood)

Why do women choose to cover themselves or wear the hijab?

This is an intensely personal decision. Of course not all Muslim women follow these rules of modest dressing. Some adapt these rules to modern times (like wearing a headscarf over Western-style clothing that still covers the body). Some women argue that modesty is a state of mind and has nothing to do with clothing. Still others say that what is written in the Qur’an and in hadiths cannot be denied--that Muslim women must cover up.

Those who choose to follow Islamic dress codes do so for myriad reasons: They feel compelled to honor what the Qur’an asks of them. Or they feel covering up will identify them to the world as a Muslim woman. Or they feel that covering up will give them safety and the liberty to move about freely. Still others say that covering up and downplaying their physical beauty allows them to be appreciated for their mind, not their body. And for some women, it’s not a choice. Some Muslim countries (like Saudi Arabia) require Muslim women to cover up. And many families around the world insist that their women follow the code of Islamic dress.

Why do some Muslim women cover completely and others just cover their hair?

Muslim women make choices when it comes to Islamic dress. Some girls, perhaps in copying their mothers, cover from a very young age (though a girl is required to cover up when they hit puberty). Other women begin covering later in life. Some don’t ever cover their hair. Many Muslim women in North America adapt Western fashions to Islamic dress by wearing a headscarf over long-sleeve tops and pants or jeans. Other women, keeping in mind the requirement that Islamic dress should be loose, choose to wear robes over their clothes that hide the shape of their body. At the end of the day, it all comes down to personal choice.

Why do some Muslim women not cover at all?

Again, the decision to cover or not is a personal one. Some who don’t cover their hair or expose other parts of their body (or wear tight clothing) argue that modesty is an inner quality that has nothing to do with clothes. Other women argue that the requirements of Islamic dress as stated in the Qur’an and hadith must be adapted for modern times. They say that now, especially in Western countries where so many women don’t cover, practicing Islamic dress draws attention to a woman instead of deflecting attention away.

What is the penalty for not adhering to Muslim dress?

There is no Qur’anic penalty for not adhering to Muslim dress. But some hadiths describe the Prophet Muhammad as saying that if a woman doesn’t follow the rules of Islamic dress, her place in paradise, along with her husband’s, father’s' and sons’ places in paradise, will be jeopardized. And when it comes to the Qur’an, strict Muslims believe that if it’s written in the holy book, it must be followed.

Does it get hot, covering everything up?

Speaking as someone who wears the hijab (though I don’t wear robes over my clothes), it does get hot sometimes, especially on a very hot, humid day. I usually feel the heat the most on my neck under my scarf. But a person can get used to anything. And I’m so used to wearing long sleeves, long pants, or skirts and a headscarf that I don’t feel the heat as much as when I first starting wearing hijab three years ago. In fact my headscarf and full-coverage clothing often protect me from the sun and make me feel cooler than when I’m at home, wearing whatever I want, and exposed to the heat of summer. And I must say, wearing the headscarf has saved me from many a bad hair day (though that’s not why I wear it!)

Are there Islamic modesty requirements for men?

In Islam, men and women are required to control their desires. They must avoid being alone with members of the opposite sex outside of marriage (or close family). Men are allowed to expose more of their body but are encouraged by Muslim scripture to cover up and avoid tight clothing. During prayer, they must be covered from the naval to their knees.

Once they put it on, do women ever take off the hijab?

Yes, some women do take off the hijab for a variety of reasons. Just because a woman decide to adhere to the Islamic dress code for modesty doesn’t mean a she maintains that clothing for the rest her life. This decision to de-jab ( slang for taking off the hijab) often coincides with a a major life change, like moving to a new city. Read this essay from one woman who took off her hijab to learn more.

Dilshad D. Ali is an editor at Beliefnet.com.

[kmaherali]

Egypt minister says no to face veil

20 Nov 2008, 1839 hrs IST, AFP

CAIRO: The Egyptian ministry for religious endowments has weighed into the debate on whether a Muslim woman should wear a face veil with a book arguing that it is not Islamic, a newspaper reported on Thursday.

The independent daily Al-Masry al-Yom published extracts of the book, entitled "The veil is a custom, not worship" by Religious Endowments Minister Mahmud Hamdi Zaqzuq, which the ministry will distribute to mosques.

"I will absolutely not allow the spread of the niqab (the face veil) culture in Egypt," the newspaper quoted the minister as saying.

The face veil has always been a topic of debate between Sunni schools of jurisprudence — and even within individual schools — with the majority saying the practice is unnecessary.

However, all schools agree that a woman must cover everything but her face and hands.

Zaqzuq's book cites rulings by the mufti of Egypt, the head of the Islamic Al-Azhar University and others in which they said the face veil has no basis in the Koran or hadith — the traditions and sayings of Prophet Mohammed.

In modern day Egypt, the veil is often associated with followers of the Salafi school of thought, the dominant interpretation of Islam in Saudi Arabia.

The ministry had earlier announced it would publish books countering Salafism and distribute them to mosques.

[kmaherali]

Lifting the veil on the veil

By Tarek Fatah, For The Calgary HeraldFebruary 5, 2009 3:06 AM

Barely a week goes by when my religion Islam does not face a fresh round of scrutiny. If it is not a suicide bomber blowing himself up in an Iraqi mosque screaming "Allahu akbar," it is news that an Imam in Malaysia has declared the practice of Yoga sinful.

If it is not a Toronto imam defending suicide bombing on TVO, a Muslim woman writes a column in a Canadian daily, advocating the introduction of sharia in Canada.

But the one topic that rears its head in almost predictable cycles is the subject of a Muslim woman's supposed Islamic attire.

Whether it is swimming pools or polling booths there is no escape from the repeated controversies surrounding the face mask, better known as the niqab or burka.

The latest incarnation of the niqab controversy surfaced this week when a Toronto judge ordered a Muslim woman to take off her niqab when she testified in a case of sexual assault.

The woman invoked Islam as the reason why she wanted to give testimony while wearing a face mask. She told the judge, "It's a respect issue, one of modesty," adding Islam considers her niqab as her "honour."

Her explanations were rejected by the judge who determined that the woman's "religious belief" was not that strong and that in his opinion the woman was asking to wear the niqab as "a matter of comfort."

But all of these arguments are premised on the acceptance of the myth that a face mask for women is Islamic religious attire.

Humbug.

There is no requirement in Islam for Muslim women to cover their face.

The niqab is the epitome of male control over women.

It is a product of Saudi Arabia and its distortion of Islam to suit its Wahabbi agenda, which is creeping into Canada.

If there is any doubt that the niqab is not required by Islam, take at look at the holiest place for Muslims -- the grand mosque in Mecca, the Ka'aba. For over 1,400 years Muslim men and women have prayed in what we believe is the House of God and for all these centuries woman have been explicitly forbidden from covering their faces.

For the better part of the 20th century, Muslim reformists, from Egypt to India, campaigned against this terrible tribal custom imposed by Wahabbi Islam.

My mother's generation threw off their burkas when Muslim countries gained their independence after the Second World War.

Millions of women encouraged by their husbands, fathers and sons, shed this oppressive attire as the first step in embracing gender equality.

But while the rest of the world moves toward the goal of gender equality, right here, under our very noses, Islamists are pushing back the clock, convincing educated Muslim women they are sexual objects and a source of sin.

It will be difficult to pinpoint what went wrong, but most of Canada's growth in niqabi women can be traced to one development in 2004 when a radical Pakistani female scholar by the name of Farhat Hashmi came to Canada on a visitor's visa, to establish the Al-Huda Islamic Institute for women.

After arrival, she was twice denied work permit.

MacLean's magazine reported in July 2006 that notwithstanding the rejection of her work permits applications, "she established a school where she lectures to mostly young, middle-class women from mainstream Muslim families, not only from across the country but also from the U. S. and as far away as Australia."

In October 2005 the Globe and Mail ran a story on Hashmi quoting a 20-year-old Muslim woman as saying, "I agree with Dr. Hashmi that women should stay at home and look after their families."

This student was so impressed with Dr. Hashmi's sermons that she convinced 10 of her friends to enrol in the course that involved wearing the niqab, leaving the workforce and embracing polygamy.

In the Globe piece, 18-year-old Sadaf Mahmood defended polygamy and the burka saying, "There are more women than men in this world.

Who will take care of these women? It is better for a man to do things legally by taking a second wife, rather than having an affair."

While the rest of Canada sleeps, the Islamist agenda funded by the Saudis and inspired by the Iranians, continues to make its presence felt.

The vast majority of Muslims look on in shock, unable to understand why this country would tolerate the oppression of women in the name of religion and multiculturalism.

The woman who was denied her burka in court is a victim. She is merely a puppet in the hands of those who wish to keep women in their place.

First she allegedly suffered the trauma of sexual assault (which has not been proven in the court) which was then compounded by the controversy about her niqab.

She could have asked the judge to not let her face her alleged attackers, and that would have been a fair request.

But when she invoked Islam and said hiding her face would be an act of religiosity, she became a voice not for justice, but for those who wish to sneak sharia into our judicial system.

This should be stopped.

Tarek Fatah Is Founder Of The Muslim Canadian Congress And Author Of Chasing A Mirage: The Tragic Illusion Of An Islamic State (Wiley 2008).

© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

[kmaherali]

Hijab debate lifts veil on limits of Norway's tolerance

A Muslim woman's request to wear a hijab with her police uniform has sparked national controversy.

By Valeria Criscione | Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor
from the March 20, 2009 edition

OSLO - Norway's biggest headache right now is not the financial crisis. Rather, the predominantly Christian nation is plagued by a religious dilemma over the right of a Muslim woman to wear a hijab as part of her police uniform.

As the controversy has escalated, the country has seen the physical collapse of the justice minister, the public burning of a hijab, and a substantial rise in the popularity of Norway's anti-immigrant opposition party just six months before general elections.

This is odd for a country known for religious tolerance, generous international development aid, and peace efforts worldwide. But the controversy highlights the latent fears of a nonpluralistic society, where 91 percent belong to the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Norway.

The dilemma began last fall when a Norwegian Muslim woman petitioned for permission to wear her hijab, the traditional head covering for Muslim women, as part of her police uniform. Norway's justice ministry originally decided in February to allow it, but revoked the permission a few weeks later after loud criticism from the police union, which argued it breached the neutrality of the uniform.

"A change of uniform regulations, with an allowance for covering hair, has never been a goal in itself. It has always been thought of as a possible means to increase the recruitment of police from minority groups in society," said Justice Minister Knut Storberget, in defense of his decision to revoke the initial permission.

Amid the heightened media attention and political backlash from his flip-flopping, the minister collapsed and subsequently announced a two-week sick leave, which was then extended.

The hijab debacle comes on the back of the minister's other religious-related political defeat over a now-defunct blasphemy law. Mr. Storberget initially tried to replace the law with a new paragraph that would have protected individuals from defamatory religious statements. But after much political opposition, the law was repealed and no paragraph introduced.

This has provided political fodder for the opposition Progress Party, which has stoked fears among Norwegians over "sneak Islamization." Progress Party leader Siv Jensen spoke out strongly at the party's national meeting last month against granting special permission for special groups. She pointed specifically to the case of a largely Muslim neighborhood in Malmö, which she claimed had been partly overrun by Islamic law.

A March poll by Norstat for Norway's national broadcasting station NRK showed that Progress Party soared 8.5 percentage points to 30.1 percent in the polls from a month earlier. Three government coalition partners, Labor, Socialist Left, and Center Party, all lost ground.

The center-left coalition holds 87 out of 169 parliamentary seats, while the Progress party holds 38 seats, the second largest after Labor. A continuing shift to the right could pose a threat to reelection chances in September for Jens Stoltenberg, Norway's Labor prime minister.

"If they continue to spin these irrational fears, I'm afraid it could lead to a lot of commotion," said Thorbjørn Jagland, Norway's parliamentary leader and former Labor prime minister, during a highly-attended religious debate in Oslo this week.

Some 500 people lined up around the block to hear Mr. Jagland, religious professor Torkel Brekke, the bishop of the Church of Norway, and leader of Norway's Muslim Student Society discuss why religion is suddenly a hot topic.

The panelists discussed the recent media focus surrounding the hijab debate and blasphemy paragraph, the provocation caused by the burning of a hijab on International Women's Day on March 8 by a Norwegian Muslim woman in protest of the garment, and fears among "religious nationalists" and "secular intellectuals" toward Norway's Muslim minority.

"We could very well live with the mosques because they stayed in them. But when this began to affect our cultural values, then it became a conflict, and then it became politicized," Jagland told the crowd. "But Islam is not a threat to Norway."

"I don't see Norway as a tolerant society at all, partly based on these debates and how they react to people coming to Norway," said Professor Brekke, from the University of Oslo. "It's tolerant in that you can practice any religion, but you have large sections of Norwegian society that react strongly to alien cultures."

Immigrants make up 9.7 percent of Norway's 4.8 million inhabitants. Norway has granted permission to about one-fourth of the 328,000 immigrants who arrived from non-Nordic countries between 1990 and 2007 to stay as refugees. The largest immigrant population is Polish, who are traditionally Catholic, followed by Pakistani. Islam accounts for 20 percent of the 9 percent of the population belonging to religious communities outside the Church of Norway.

Sweden has a more liberal policy in accepting refugees than Norway and allows hijabs in its police uniform, as does Britain. France has banned the use of hijabs and other ostensible religious items in its state schools since 2004.

The religious debate has overshadowed the economic one in Norway, which has been relatively shielded from the financial crisis thanks to its vast petroleum resources as the world's third largest gas exporter.

Norway has a large budget surplus to help fund its financial stimulus packages and relatively mild unemployment – 3 percent, compared to 8.1 percent in the US. Moreover, it has invested its oil revenues in a $329 billion Government Pension Fund.


Find this article at:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0320/p07s03-wogn.html

[From_Alamut]

A teenager muslim girl by the name of Aqsa Parvez killed for not wearing hijab by his father.

Please see [Youtube] on CBC NEWS........
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpV_cJ5E ... re=channel

[kmaherali]

Sarkozy says burqas are 'not welcome' in France
57 mins ago

PARIS – President Nicolas Sarkozy lashed out Monday at the practice of wearing the Muslim burqa, insisting the full-body religious gown is a sign of the "debasement" of women and that it won't be welcome in France.

The French leader expressed support for a recent call by dozens of legislators to create a parliamentary commission to study a small but growing trend of wearing the full-body garment in France.

In the first presidential address in 136 years to a joint session of France's two houses of parliament, Sarkozy laid out his support for a ban even before the panel has been approved — braving critics who fear the issue is a marginal one and could stigmatize Muslims in France.

"In our country, we cannot accept that women be prisoners behind a screen, cut off from all social life, deprived of all identity," Sarkozy said to extended applause in a speech at the Chateau of Versailles southwest of Paris.

"The burqa is not a religious sign, it's a sign of subservience, a sign of debasement — I want to say it solemnly," he said. "It will not be welcome on the territory of the French Republic."

In France, the terms "burqa" and "niqab" often are used interchangeably. The former refers to a full-body covering worn largely in Afghanistan with only a mesh screen over the eyes, whereas the latter is a full-body veil, often in black, with slits for the eyes.

Later Monday, Sarkozy was expected to host a state dinner with Sheik Hamad Bin Jassem Al Thani of Qatar. Many women in the Persian Gulf state wear Islamic head coverings in public — whether while shopping or driving cars.

France enacted a law in 2004 banning the Islamic headscarf and other conspicuous religious symbols from public schools, sparking fierce debate at home and abroad. France has Western Europe's largest Muslim population, an estimated 5 million people.

A government spokesman said Friday that it would seek to set up a parliamentary commission that could propose legislation aimed at barring Muslim women from wearing the head-to-toe gowns outside the home.

The issue is highly divisive even within the government. France's junior minister for human rights, Rama Yade, said she was open to a ban if it is aimed at protecting women forced to wear the burqa.

But Immigration Minister Eric Besson said a ban would only "create tensions."

A leading French Muslim group warned against studying the burqa.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/eu_france_sarkozy_burqa

[Biryani]

I think hijab, veil, burqa, pardah…and stuff like that has nothing to do with Islam Rather it is a social custom in Muslim and other Asiatic people and was originally foreign to Muslims. Of course, in Quran Sharif and Hadiths, there are guidelines for both men and women to wear decent clothing and such but not as what the above mentioned things represent directly or indirectly in a fraction of Muslim populations today. such traditions was originally Persian from the time of Sassanid empire…and spread in parts of Arab world during the Abbasid Caliphate…and gradually a bit on the other sides of Persia…

I think we should not accept or give credits to any notions of these things associated with the faith of Islam. It is really astonishing to me that western media are, sometimes, referring this thing as Islamic while never mentioning such practices by Christian churches. I suspect that political and social motivations and hypocrisies are also involved in this type of journalism.

Sir Sultan Muhammad Shah Aga Khan III has said in 1902 at Delhi, India.

“…A second cause of our present apathy is the terrible position of Moslem women . . . There is absolutely nothing in Islam, or the Koran, or the example of the first two centuries, to justify this terrible and cancerous growth that has for nearly a thousand, years eaten into the very vitals of Islamic society. The heathen Arabs in the days of ignorance, especially the wealthy young aristocrats of Mecca, led an extremely dissolute life, and before the conquest of Mecca the fashionable young Koraishites spent most of their leisure in the company of unfortunate women, and often married these same women and, altogether, the scandals of Mecca before the conquest were vile and degrading. The Prophet not only by the strictness of his laws put an end to this open and shameless glorification of vice, but by a few wise restrictions, such as must be practised by any society that hopes to exist, made the former constant and unceremonious com-panionship of men and strange women impossible.
From these necessary and wholesome rules the jealousy of the Abbassides, borrowing from the practice of the later Persian Sassanian kings, developed the present system . . . which means the permanent imprisonment and enslavement of half the nation. How can we expect progress from the children of mothers who have never shared, or even seen, the free social intercourse of modern mankind? This terrible cancer that has grown since the 3rd and 4th century [sic] of the Hijra must either be cut out, or the body of Moslem society will be poisoned to death by the permanent waste of all the women of the nation. But Pardah, as now known, itself did not exist till long after the Prophet's death and is no part of Islam. The part played by Moslem women at Kardesiah and Yarmuk the two most momentous battles of Islam next to Badr and Honein, and their splendid nursing of the wounded after those battles, is of itself a proof to any reasonable person that Pardah, as now understood, has never been con-ceived by the companions of the Prophet. That we Moslems should saddle ourselves with this excretion of Persian custom, borrowed by the Abbassides, is due to that ignorance of early Islam which is one of the most extraordinary of modern con-ditions…”

[shiraz.virani]

yes pardah has nothing to do with islam but that doesnt mean that we should come to jamat khana wearing clothes that expose our private parts or are toooooooo tight

[Biryani]

and that is a whole different matter.

[TheMaw]

and that is a whole different matter.

Indeed, I wonder if in countries where topless women is the norm (for example, in areas of the bush in South America and parts of Africa), would there be any matter if the women prayed there topless? I doubt it would matter unless an outsider came. As Aqa Khan III said, "it is neither an issue of hiding oneself nor of dressing oneself [to attract attention".

[Biryani]

And I wonder if those junglies even pray, and if they do, since being topless is a norm there…I guess, it would be normal during their prayers too…and should be so for outsiders as well...actually outsiders should get topless too...just to be spared from being attacked as strangers by the locals and for the respect of thier culture...

[kmaherali]

To veil or not to veil should be up to women, not state

By Paula Arab, Calgary HeraldJune 25, 2009 3:03 AM

Sexism is when a man tells a woman what to wear. I had the pleasure of that patronizing experience while visiting family in Lebanon in the early '90s. I was taken aback by the ease with which the men in my extended family freely gave their unsolicited opinion about my appearance, right down to my hairstyle.

When I pushed back, they were quick to cloak it as a simple concern that I should dress more appropriately for the culture.

Fair enough, but their concern was unnecessary. Any misstep of inappropriate dress in a foreign land is judiciously corrected by the subsequent glare of unwanted and brazen stares.

That was my experience in the Arab world, and I'm not a Muslim. But then, the issue of wearing a burka in public is more about choice than it is religion. The question is are these women who hide themselves behind these oppressive, tent-like garments truly making their own choices? Or are they reacting to a deeply ingrained message that tells them only by doing so, can they be good Muslims?

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has stirred the debate in an address this week to France's parliament. He rightly lambasted the burka as a sign of subservience, not religion. Even so, the French commission studying the issue would still be wise to recommend against a state ban.

"It will not be welcome on French soil," he said of the head-to-toe garment, with a mesh screen for the eyes. "We cannot accept, in our country, women imprisoned behind a mesh, cut off from society, deprived of all identity. That is not the French republic's idea of women's dignity."

Western society should roundly condemn the burka--and other grim sacks like it --with equal force. But democratic governments, including in France, must refrain from legislating an outright ban. To do so would be to further politicize the burka, and transform its meaning from a negative symbol to one that stands for freedom of choice. If you tell me what not to wear, I'm going to rebel, exert my rights, and wear it.

The nature of fashion is fluid. Historians understand the importance of dress to reveal the context of a particular period and place. The Mona Lisa is thought to have been pregnant because she is wearing a veil. The gauze fabric is believed to have been typically worn by Italian women in the early 16th century while pregnant or after having just given birth.

The veil has had numerous meanings over the years. In a culture where showing less is more, the mysterious woman behind the shroud eventually becomes more desirable than the woman who reveals all and leaves nothing to the imagination. Thus the veil, initially meant to de-objectify the woman, is transformed into a sexual symbol.

Our choice of clothing, more than expressing our individuality, reflects the mores of the day. The danger of banning the burka risks giving the offensive garment far more weight than it merits, and enhance its relevance in history.

The state simply should not get into the business of telling women what to wear. Once they start outlawing one item of clothing, the closet swings open to anything, including ski masks worn in the deep freeze or sunglasses on a hot day.

Not possible? Guess again. Colleges across India's largest state, Kanpur, have just banned their female students from wearing jeans and tight blouses, calling the dress "vulgar western" clothes. Sleeveless blouses, miniskirts, heels, jeans and tight tops all fall under that "vulgar" category. Instead, the colleges want the students to wear traditional saris or baggy kurta pyjamas to ward off sexual harassment.

The colleges should be going after the men doing the sexual harassing and leave the women alone. Yet, this situation is occurring in one of the more progressive parts of India, at college campuses, no less.

All of this is not to say there should be no limits on the wearing of burkas. There should. These garments are more than simply a shock to western sensibilities or a throwback to ancient times. They present a potential security risk, covering the facial expressions of someone about to cause trouble and potentially concealing a weapon.

Any garment that conceals one's identity and face should not be allowed in certain places, period. They include courtrooms, airports, public schools (hallways and classrooms) and on all identifying state documents like passports and driver's licences.

Outside of that, to veil or not to veil should be an individual choice. Dress codes are for children, not adults. Government-legislated dress codes are for the Taliban religious police, not western democracies.

Give it one generation of girls at schools with dress codes and true freedom of choice will prevail. If the young women still want to wear a burka after graduating, that's their business.

Sexism is a man telling a woman what she can and can't wear. Dressing it up as the state doing the dictating is no better.

[email protected]

© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

http://www.calgaryherald.com/story_prin ... 9&sponsor=

[kmaherali]

No sane, free person would choose to wear a burka


By Licia Corbella, Calgary HeraldJune 27, 2009 3:03 AM

A while back I was asked to give a talk at my kids' school about my December 2003 trip to Afghanistan.

As I waited to be introduced, I hid in an auditorium storage room wearing a burka I bought in that war-ravaged country, thinking I'd be out in a minute, maybe two. But the introduction took a lot longer than I had anticipated and by the time I came out to greet all those shining faces, I was very nearly hyperventilating from the oppression of it. I didn't time my self-imposed confinement to the burka, but I probably wore the suffocating tent-like garment with mesh over my eyes for no more than 10 minutes. I told the kids I felt like I was buried alive.

I also told them that while in Afghanistan, I asked all of the many women I met there whether they liked wearing a burka. Not one said yes. In fact, they all said they hated it almost as much as they hated the Taliban.

It's no wonder. The burka's toll on these women was harsh. Many had lost most of their teeth and hair as a result of not having enough vitamin D, which comes from the sun. During the time of Taliban rule--from September 1996 to November 2001 --no portion of their skin, save their hands, was ever allowed to be exposed to sunlight. Think about the horror of that. The Taliban insisted that homes with women in them had to blacken their windows, lest a man pollute his delicate sensibilities by gazing upon the uncovered face of a woman behind the glass.

On Monday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy stated during the first presidential address to a joint session of France's two legislative houses of Parliament in 136 years, that the burka was "not welcome" in France.

"We cannot accept to have in our country women who are prisoners behind netting, cut off from all social life, deprived of identity," said Sarkozy.

He's right. Women in burkas don't seem human. After just a short while in Afghanistan, women in their blue burkas seem like ghostly apparitions devoid of a face, individuality or humanity.

At first, when my translators would tap me on the shoulder and suggest I "take a picture of that burka over there," I would gently correct them by saying, "you mean, that WOMAN in the burka?" In a couple of days, however, I too was referring to them as simply burkas.

In France--where it's already illegal to wear any conspicuous religious symbol in state schools including a head scarf--a parliamentary committee is studying the issue of whether or not to allow women to cover their faces for supposedly religious reasons. As Sarkozy said, the burka is "not a sign of religion, it is a sign of subservience." The Muslim Canadian Congress agrees and urged Canada's government to ban the burka.

"The decision to wear the burka is by no means a reflection of the genuine choices of Muslim women," said MCC president, Sohail Raza in a news release. "The argument that Muslim women opt to wear the burka does not withstand scrutiny when considering the repressive nature of orthodox Muslim society in general."

Reached at his Calgary home, Mahfooz Kanwar, Mount Royal College professor emeritus of sociology and criminology, says many well-meaning Canadians believe it is "tolerant" to allow Muslim women the "choice" of wearing the burka.

"There is no choice involved in this, and allowing it will lead to intolerance," said Kanwar.

"Some people say banning the burka would be a slippery slope and would lead to the banning of wearing a scarf over your mouth in the winter while outside," said Kanwar. "But the real slippery slope can be seen in some Islamist ghettos in Paris or in Denmark, where non-Muslim women are harassed for not covering their hair to the point where they have been forced to start doing so to prevent verbal and physical attacks by semi-literate Muslim men. That's the real slippery slope."

Kanwar, a Muslim who has written eight books, including one on the sociology of Islam, echoes Sarkozy's comments. "The burka is not mandated by Islam or the Qur'an and is therefore not religious and protected under the Charter. In Canada, gender equality is one of our core values and faces are important identifying tools and should not be covered. Period," added Kanwar, who is also a director with the MCC.

Many French politicians are on the side of a burka ban including some prominent Muslim politicians like Fadela Amara, France's cities minister. Amara has called the burka "a coffin that kills individual liberties," and a sign of the "political exploitation of Islam."

Funny, but "coffin" was a word several women I met in Afghanistan used to describe their burka. Consider the words of Massooda, a 36-year-old widow, who looked more like 60 as a result of her harsh life. "I will never wear a burka again," she said defiantly. "They will have to put me in a coffin before I walk around in one again."

That's choice. No sane, free person would ever "choose" the burka.

lcorbella@theherald. canwest.com

© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

http://www.calgaryherald.com/story_prin ... 7&sponsor=

*****

Feds should ban the burka


Calgary HeraldJune 28, 2009

F rom youth through maturity, a person's choice of clothing signals how the wearer wishes to be received by the rest of the world, and where they place themselves in society. What, then, is the message when a Muslim woman living in a liberal democracy, such as France or Canada, wears a burka?

The issue is a live one in France, where the practice is observably growing among the country's large Muslim minority. President Nicolas Sarkozy recently declared the garment -- described by another French parliamentarian as "a moving prison" for women -- to be "not welcome." He added that it was "not a sign of religion,"but of"subservience. We cannot accept to have in our country women who are prisoners behind netting, cut off from all social life, deprived of identity. . . . That is not the idea that the French republic has of women's dignity."

Burkas are less frequently discussed or seen in Canada, though on Friday the minority Conservative federal government quietly dropped its plan to force veiled women to show their faces if they want to vote in Canadian elections, saying all three opposition parties have said they would vote against such legislation.

Sarkozy is right to be concerned about what may be behind their wider use in France and Canadians should be likewise concerned if the practice takes hold here--and must offer similar discouragement.

When Sarkozy says it is not a religious custom, he is correct in the sense that the obligation upon a woman to conceal herself so completely is not to be derived from the Qur'an.

However, whether the woman claims she is willingly wearing a burka or is doing so with reluctance at the insistence of a dominant male, the burka is identified with, and is an instrument of, a form of cultural self-isolation based on religious ideology that is at odds with liberal-democratic ideals and laws. Specifically, the burka's home turf is in countries where a peculiarly rigid and militant variant of Islam is ascendant and the law of sharia arms male-only magistrates with a horrifying array of cruel and unusual punishments. Invariably, the governments of these countries are hostile to western values of liberty, in which they see only decadence --while quite failing to grasp that the same liberty some use to indulge base appetites bears many others to heights of personal attainment beyond the reach of people oppressed by myopic theologies.

That people would visibly identify with an ideology that spurns the very liberty in which they flourish is perverse.

The issue, then, is not the burka, but what it signifies.

When it ceases to be an occasional eccentricity and instead becomes a widespread observance, the phenomenon can only be seen as a marker for a growing and widespread rejection of a society's core liberal values--and a preference for a culture that in its own way denies true freedom to men, as surely as it renders their women invisible.

Such beliefs are dangerous to a liberal democracy, and must by all means be resisted.

© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

http://www.calgaryherald.com/story_prin ... 1&sponsor=

[kmaherali]

Don't rush to ban the burka

Clothing is expression too

By Janet Keeping, For The Calgary HeraldJuly 4, 2009

The President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy's recent comments that the burka-- the full-body covering worn by some Muslim women --is not welcome in France have provoked a new round in the debate on whether to legislate against wearing it in Canada.

We shouldn't however be too eager to use the law to prohibit this kind of dress because it is important to recognize that our choices in clothing are a form of expression.

Clothing, and other body adornments such as hair style, jewelry or tattoos, say things about how we see the world, as well as about with whom and with what we associate ourselves. Some of those adornments --think tattoos or message-bearing T-shirts-- speak in a very obvious way, but the others also constitute expression, just more symbolic or subtle. This is true for both men and women.

Like freedom of speech, freedom of clothing expression is not absolute. Even in countries committed to protecting civil liberties, the courts will uphold some rules restricting dress or undress, for example, against nudity. For an example closer to the burka, Canadian courts are likely to continue to insist, as did an Ontario judge recently, that women remove face coverings, such as the niqab, when they give testimony, to ensure procedural justice for the accused.

And just as with speech in schools, restrictions on clothing in the interests of maintaining an atmosphere conducive to learning are going to be more readily justified than in society at large.

But notwithstanding these and a few other exceptions, we need generous legal protection for expression, including clothing. As with speech, it is dangerous to give some the power to decide what is acceptable for others. With clothing, the issues won't often be as deeply serious as with speech. But many of the dangers of clothing censorship are the same.

This is certainly true of religious expression, which brings us back to the burka. I reject what the burka stands for -- I can only see it as misogyny, the hatred of women--just as I reject homophobia and other forms of hate speech. But using the law to suppress hateful expression usually doesn't solve anything and only drives the hate further underground, with eventually even worse consequences. If women can't go out in the streets in a burka, they may be prevented from leaving home altogether. This is true in Afghanistan, some other Muslim societies, some parts of Europe and probably small pockets of Toronto and perhaps other Canadian cities.

Some people say that, since there are women in western countries who "choose" to wear the burka, our laws should respect that choice. But public policy has to be founded on more careful analysis than any mantra such as "more diversity is always better" or "women always know better what is good for themselves." No one would --all other things being equal--opt for very cumbersome clothing that obstructs vision and eliminates any identity as a distinct person. We are right to loathe the garb, but feel only compassion for those forced to wear it.

So why protect the right to wear the burka? Because we must protect the right to be wrong. If freedom of expression protects only what is widely believed true or appropriate, it means very little indeed.

But if freedom of expression is not absolute, when might it be right to ban the burka? The parallels with restrictions on speech may help here again. Speech should be suppressed only when, if left uncontrolled, it would lead to imminent, serious and irreparable harm. Although we can't rule the possibility out, it is difficult to imagine how such harm could flow from wearing a burka. But any determination that it did would have to be evidence-based, not founded on assumption or conjecture.

The sight of women in burkas is disturbing. In fact, it terrifies me because the oppression of women is made so painfully visible. But ultimately it is not the burkas, but the social forces which force women into that clothing, that we should be concerned with. As with offensive speech --where shooting the messenger is hardly ever productive--banning the burka will usually do no good whatsoever. As Salima Ebrahim of the Canadian Council of Muslim Women says, given Muslim women's low rate of participation in economic and civic affairs-- "For example, Muslim women are the least likely of all faith-based groups in Canada to vote" -- "there are much more important things to work on."

Janet Keeping is president of the Sheldon Chumir foundation for ethics in leadership

© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

http://www.calgaryherald.com/story_prin ... 2&sponsor=

[kmaherali]

Paris pool bars Muslim woman in 'burqini' suit
Herald News Services
August 13, 2009

A Paris swimming pool refused entry to a young Muslim woman wearing a "burqini," a swimsuit covering most of the body, officials said Wednesday, adding to tensions over Muslim dress in France.

The incident came as French lawmakers conduct hearings on whether to ban the burka after President Nicolas Sarkozy said the head-to-toe body covering and veil was "not welcome" in France, home to Europe's biggest Muslim minority.

Officials in the Paris suburb of Emerainville said they let the woman swim in the pool in July wearing the "burqini," designed for Muslim women who want to swim without revealing their bodies.

But when she returned in August, they decided to apply hygiene rules and told her she could not swim if she insisted on wearing the garment, which resembles a wetsuit with built-in hood.

Pool staff "reminded her of the rules that apply in all (public) swimming pools which forbid swimming while clothed," said Daniel Guillaume, an official with the pool management.

Le Parisien newspaper said the woman, identified by her first name Carole, was a French convert to Islam and that she was determined to go to the courts to challenge the decision.

France has set up a special panel of 32 lawmakers to consider whether a law should be enacted to bar Muslim women from wearing the burka.

© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

http://www.calgaryherald.com/story_prin ... 5&sponsor=

[kmaherali]

The Islamic veil

Out from under
Sep 3rd 2009
From The Economist print edition

Questioning the Veil: Open Letters to Muslim Women. By Marnia Lazreg. Princeton University Press; 184 pages; $22.95 and £15.95. Buy from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk

LONG or short, sternly pinned or silkily draped, the Islamic veil is the most contentious religious symbol today, in the West as much as in the Muslim world. President Barack Obama argues that Western countries should not dictate what Muslim women should wear. France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy, by contrast, recently declared that the burqa, the all-over Islamic covering, is “not welcome on French soil”. France’s parliament is now considering a ban on wearing the burqa in public.

Marnia Lazreg, an Algerian-born professor of sociology at the City University of New York, feels passionately that Muslim women should not wear the veil, as both her mother and grandmother obediently did. She is particularly bothered by the trend of “reveiling” in the West and Islamic countries, whereby the daughters of women who went unveiled decide to cover up. But she also thinks that democratic governments should not impose dress codes by law. So she has written this collection of letters to Muslim women to try to coax them out from under the veil.

Although uneven and with a rather weak grasp of French secularism, the book has great merit. It takes seriously the arguments advanced by defenders of the veil, female as well as male. Such views are various: that it is a form of modesty imposed by the Koran and an expression of piety; that it offers protection from sexual objectification and harassment in a loose, consumerist society; that it is a political statement and reassertion of Islam; that it is a badge of pride in an Islamophobic world. One by one, the author picks apart and punctures each argument, exposing hypocrisy and contradiction, and drawing on case studies of veiled women she has interviewed.

On the question of modesty, for instance, Ms Lazreg points out that the Koran can be read in different ways. Women are variously told to “draw their veils over their bosoms and not to reveal their adornment save to their own husbands”, or to “cover their bosoms with their veils and not show their finery” or to “draw their shawls over the cleavages in their clothes”. Do adornment or finery really mean the hair and face? Why is a head-covering, especially when worn with elaborate make-up, more “modest” than decorous modern dress?

The author is impatient with academic feminists on Western campuses who argue that the veil is a form of empowerment for Muslim women, and who dismiss charges of sexual oppression as elitist, Western concepts. Such an apology, writes Ms Lazreg, “makes good conversation”, but it is simplistic and dangerous.

Muslim intellectuals, particularly men, exploit such arguments to justify “reveiling” educated young girls who are confused about their identity. Attempts to present the veil as a tool of empowerment, she writes, “rest on a dubious post-modernist conception of power according to which whatever a woman undertakes to do is liberating as long as she thinks that she is engaged in some form of ‘resistance’ or self-assertion, no matter how misguided.” With her letters Ms Lazreg offers a useful and timely counterpoint.

http://www.economist.com/books/displays ... d=14361774

[kmaherali]

September 10, 2009
Fitness
Exercise Tailored to a Hijab
By ABBY ELLIN

THE first time Julia Shearson rode her bike after converting to Islam seven years ago, her headscarf became stuck in the wheel.

She lost her balance, and by the time she got going again she was met with stares as she whizzed along, arms and legs draped in loose clothing, her scarf billowing in the breeze.

“You have to overcome the looks,” said Ms. Shearson, 43, the executive director of the Cleveland chapter of the Council on American-Islam Relations. “It’s already hard enough to exercise, and if you look different ... it’s even harder.”

As a Muslim woman in the United States, Ms. Shearson has found it difficult to stay fit while adhering to her religious principles about modesty. Islam does not restrict women from exercising — in fact all Muslims are urged to take care of their bodies through healthy eating and exercise — but women face a special set of challenges in a culture of co-ed gyms and skimpy workout wear.

Many pious Muslim women in the United States, like Ms. Shearson, wear hijab in public, loose garments that cover their hair and body, which can hinder movement and add to discomfort during exercise. Women may show their hair, arms and legs up to the knees in front of other women.

Muslim women are often limited in their choice of activity, as well. Some believe that certain yoga chants, for example, are forbidden, as well as certain poses like sun salutations (Muslims are supposed to worship only Allah). For the sake of modesty, working out around men is discouraged.

That modesty can be a benefit and a liability. On the one hand, Muslim women are spared some of the body-image issues that other women face; on the other, that freedom can be a detriment to their physical well-being.

“We don’t have the external motivation that non-Muslim women have,” said Mubarakha Ibrahim, 33, a certified personal trainer and owner of Balance fitness in New Haven, a personal training studio catering to women. “There is no little black dress to fit into, no bathing suit. When you pass through a mirror or glass you’re not looking to see ‘Is my tummy tucked in? Do I look good in these jeans?’ You’re looking to see if you’re covered.”

After gaining 50 pounds while pregnant with her first child, Ms. Ibrahim studied exercise and nutrition, and became certified through the Aerobics and Fitness Association of America. In 2006 she opened her studio, which offers a safe environment for women to exercise (she says she has more orthodox Jewish clients, who also adhere to rules of modesty).

Ms. Ibrahim said she would like to see exercise become as natural a part of a Muslim woman’s life as praying.

In July, about 120 women from around the country attended Ms. Ibrahim’s third annual Fit Muslimah Health and Fitness Summit in New Haven. She offered yoga, kickboxing, water aerobics and core conditioning classes alongside workshops on weight loss, nutrition, cancer prevention and diabetes at the two-day, women-only event. She plans to hold another one in Atlanta in February.

“An important part of your spirituality is your health,” said Tayyibah Taylor, publisher of Azizah, a magazine for Muslim women, and co-sponsor of the summit meeting. “You can’t really consider yourself in good health if all parts of your being are not healthy — your body, your mind and your soul. It’s a complete package.”

This is especially true now, during Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting from dawn until sunset. “The Muslim prayer is the most physical prayer — the sitting, bowing, bending,” said Daisy Khan, executive director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement. “The physicality of our prayer forces us to create flexibility in our body.”

But how to mix one’s physical and spiritual needs with practicality? Some Muslim-Americans go to women-only gyms like Curves, which has thousands of branches across the country. And some gyms and Y.M.C.A.’s offer gender-segregated areas, hours or days.

Other women, like Umm Sahir Ameer, a 27-year-old student in Shaker Heights, Ohio, take matters into their own hands. Last year, Ms. Ameer started the Muslimah Strive Running-Walking Group so she and 12 of her friends could exercise together.

“I wanted to establish this group as a way to further unite Muslim women in my community while gaining physical endurance,” she said.

Those who do work out in co-ed gyms have learned to make accommodations in their clothing. Loretta Riggs, 40, an educational coach in Pittsburgh, started exercising two years ago after divorcing her husband. She wears a scarf made of spandex, long-sleeved Under Armour shirts and Adidas or Puma pants.

“Some women don’t think you should be working out in a co-ed gym,” she said, “but I’m around men all the time in my workplace, when I take my kids to the park, when I walk outside.”

She added: “Why would I deprive myself of being healthy because I am a Muslim and I choose to cover? It’s very important to take care of myself.”

Mariam Abdelgawad, 21, a math teacher in San Jose, Calif., said that in high school she played hockey, soccer and ran track and field, all while wearing hijab.

But today she works out at home, since there are no female-only gyms in her neighborhood. Her parents, with whom she lives, have a treadmill, elliptical machine and Pilates equipment, as well as weights. She exercises about three times a week, but said she missed the camaraderie of the gym.

Though working out at home is convenient, she said, it is also very easy to procrastinate and not do it. “I don’t have all the options that a gym would have,” she said.

Swimming also poses problems. Although some Muslim women have been known to hop in the water in their street clothes, this can be cumbersome for a workout. The burqini — a one-piece outfit that resembles a scuba wet suit — has received a lot of attention in recent months (most notably in France, where a young woman was banned from wearing one at a pool), but it tends to be too form-fitting for some women.

“I tried it once, and it sticks to your body,” said Marwa Abdelhaleem, a 26-year-old teacher in Toronto who started a female-only swimming group to avoid the burqini question. “It’s really fitted. I wouldn’t wear it in public.”

Ms. Ibrahim, however, is more focused on the private.

“One of the ideas I promote is that when you are married and you take off your clothing, your husband should not be like, ‘You should put this back on,’ ” Ms. Ibrahim said. “Even if you wear a burqa, you should be bikini-ready. You should feel comfortable and sexy in your own skin.”

There are related articles and photos linked at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/10/healt ... &th&emc=th