The Hijab and the Reason Why it has Become So Popular - Research Paper Example

The ‘Hijab’ and the Reason Why it has Become So Popular in the Recent Past The ‘Hijab’ and the Reason Why it has Become So Popular in the Recent Past Introduction The Muslim headdress that is usually donned by women, known as the ‘hijab’ has caused a lot of conflict in different societies where there are considerably large populations of conservative Muslims. In the West, in particular, many Muslim women remain under pressure to dress as ordinary women. The first section of this study will tackle the subject of the religious standing on the ‘Hijab’, with particular emphasis on what the Quran says about the veil. The focus will then change to deal with more modern debates that have arisen about the effect of wearing the hijab in political and social aspects in contemporary settings. It is important to consider all these aspects because the hijab has grown to be a weighty and contested symbol that needs thoughtful decoding. Owing to its connections with various political as well as cultural representations in different circumstances, any analysis of the function of the hijab also has to take into account political as well as social elements that modern Muslim communities are faced with on a daily basis. The ‘Hijab’ Islam supports the notion that devout men as well as women ought to wear extremely conservative clothing in order to be able to focus on the aspect of daily communication with and worship of ‘Allah’. For women, this translates to wearing an outer garment that completely obscures the female form. This garment, the ‘Abaya’, is then rounded off by the ‘Hijab’, which is a veil that covers the neck and forehead (Bowen, 2010). This garment is primarily worn by women when they are in public places. However, there are even women who wear them in their homes. The more devout female devotees even add an additional net-like cloth, known as the ‘niqab’, over the eyes in order to completely cover all surfaces of the body. Such severity of dress is more common in nations with fundamentalist governments such as Saudi Arabia. However, in Western nations, women are more likely to don the simple veil, the ‘hijab’, to cover their hair and neck area. According to Freedman (2004) in Muslim societies, it is considered that any girl born into the world experiences two births. The first takes place when the girl is physically bornand the second takes place upon reaching the age of puberty, upon which she is encouraged to adopt the hijab. The wearing of the Hijab is believed by many Muslims to have religious origins. According to Bowen (2010) the hijab was actually a gift from Allah to women. In a verse in the Holy Quran, Allah stated, ‘O Prophet! Inform your spouses and your daughters and the female relatives of the believers to wear their cloaks (veils) over their bodies. Then it will be known that they are free and respectable women who should not be mocked. And Allah is constantly forgiving and most merciful’ ( Surah 33. Al-Ahzab- Hamdan, 2007). This essentially means that where women are concerned, the worship of Allah is something that calls for them to partake in fasting, prayingand recitation of the Quran while correctly decked in the acceptable clothing for a Muslim female adherent. In wearing the hijab, a Muslim woman is actually indicating that she has devoted her actions as well as intentions to Allahs s bidding. The Meaning of the Hijab for Dedicated Muslims For Muslims in general, the women who don hijabs are perceived as dedicated to the religion and are usually accorded the utmost respect even by other Muslims who are more liberal in their beliefs. According to Hodge and Nadir (2008) for conservative female Muslims, the hijab is actually perceived as being a place of psychological peace where they have more chances of connecting directly with Allah and being blessed by him. In addition, the commitment to wear the veil garners respect from other Muslims because it is indicative of the fact that the girl or woman in question has made up her mind to dedicate her life to serving Allah and has already made the decision to overlook various evils and temptations that exist around her. This is something that many girls are not often interested in. Different Views on the Significance of the ‘Hijab’ Today, the hijab cannot be said to merely be indicative of religious preferences of devoted Muslim women. It has become a symbol of different things in different societies. For the most part, the hijab has become politicized to be indicative of personal revolutions. In Western nations in particular, the hijab has been stigmatized, banned from schools, or even praised (Killian, 2007). The hijab remains to be one of the most stereotypes and misunderstood representations of Muslim identity in the world. The hijab has also been transformed into a social symbol. In the modern world, the hijab is implicated in numerous cultural debates regarding the rights and roles of women in nations around the world. In these debates, the hijab is used to symbolize women in all Muslim nations in the world. It is a fact that for Muslim women, the hijab is a critical part of their daily lives and prayers. Indeed, according to Pauly (2004) the hijab can even be used by Muslim communities to determine the extent of piety that different women have. In Muslim communities, the women with hijabs will benefit from increased social prestige than their fellow women who do not wear these headscarfs. Moreover, for Muslim women living in Western nations, wearing the hijab merely makes devout women more susceptible to experiencing isolation and discrimination. This means that the wearing of the hijab or refusal to wear it can have a profound impact on the sense of group affiliation experienced by devout Muslim women. Cultural Inferences of wearing the ‘Hijab’ in the West According to Killian (2007) there have been considerable efforts staged by Muslim as well as Western feminists to show the hijab as being a sign indicating feminine strength which has the power to overcome Western ideals that portray women as mere commodities created for the pleasure of men. However, in many parts of the world, the hijab remains as the most recognizable symbol of the oppression of women. Consequently, the Muslim women who consciously choose to wear their hijabs, perceive their headscarfs as being symbolic of true religious liberation and empowerment. In the West, the negative perception of hijabs actually hindered more acceptable versions of this cultural artifact being accepted by Western society in the past (Phinney, Berry, Samand Vedder, 2006). According to Williams (2005), there are many cultural modes of dress that have been transformed and accepted in Western nations. The ‘Sari’, for example, has been accepted in the West even though it is considerably more modest than Western dress. Moreover, it is an established fact that in colonial times, the ‘sari’ was publicly seen by Western officials but the hijab was not because it was worn by women who remained strictly in ‘Purdah’ (Killian, 2007). This means that there was no opportunity for the hijab, like the sari, to be changed or adjusted in order to be more aligned with Western ideals. The Popularity of the ‘Hijab’ in recent Decades In the past decade, more numbers of women have embraced the religion of Islam and immediately accepted to wear the hijab even before understanding the real reason for doing so (Phinney, Berry, Samand Vedder, 2006). This trend has resulted from increased incidences of Islamic fundamentalism in nations across the Middle East as well as among migrant populations living in the West. This first happened after the September 11 attacks took place in New York because spontaneous attacks and micro-aggressions that were experienced by Arab Americans as well as other Muslim citizens living in Western nations prompted them to retreat into defensive positions and unite with more fundamentalist elements within in their midst. The rise of Islamic fundamentalism was further supported by the social as well as political revolutionary movements that were experienced in nations such as Egypt, Tunisiaand Libya. In these countries, the citizens that sought to bring about revolutions wished to establish national governments that were based on the unchanged precepts of the Quran. Even though these movements were meant to establish Sharia law in the interests of their citizens, they wanted their new governments to follow the strictest interpretations of Islamic law as determined by the Quran. There are other reasons why fundamentalism has gained popularity within Muslim societies. In many Middle Eastern nations, the national governments are mostly corrupt and rule over nations in which militant sectarian groups are allowed to thrive. In addition, semi-educated religious leaders are given power over the religious lives of citizens. This merely serves to encourage more fundamentalism. France’s ban on the ‘Hijab’ in 2004 (the good and bad sides) On March, 2004, the law banning the wearing of clothing apparel that identified a student’s religious inclinations was ratified by the French government. This law would affect the wearing of hijabs in public French schools and draw concern from religious people with assorted belief systems. According to the French government, this law was introduced because the government wished to support a system in which the public schools were treated by students and teachers as places where children would be free from ethnic, religious, or regional loyaltiesand thus free to embrace more mainstream aspects of French society (Phinney, Berry, Samand Vedder, 2006). According to Williams (2005) the French government stressed at the time of the introduction of the ban that the French nation deeply respects all other religious faiths, but that the state would remain neutral to them all. Essentially, the aim of the ban was to create settings in which, by banning religion, pupils would be given the opportunity to be able to generate conditions in which they got the opportunity to create their own personalities without feeling compelled to follow a specific model of thought. This would also require teachers to avoid speaking or expressing their personal religious inclinations to their pupils. According to Williams (2005) this law also makes it impossible for pupils or their parents to be able to use their religious beliefs to challenge this aspect of the national syllabus. This notion is based on the concept of the freedom of expression which is enshrined in the Republic’s code on secular public schools. Advantages of the French Ban of the Hijab in Public Schools One advantage of this law is that it strengthens the French constitution which states that all people have no right to force their religious beliefs on others by subtle or overt means. In wearing hijabs in public schools, school children as well as teachers would call attention to themselves and subtly influence the choices of impressionable children. Another advantage has to do with women’s rights. According to Phinney, Berry, Samand Vedder (2006), in many predominantly Muslim nations, the women are compelled to start wearing the hijab at young ages and then educated, when they grow older, to presume that they were the ones who made the decision to start wearing the hijab and not their parents. For devoted Muslim women who choose to wear the hijab after lengthy personal and uninfluenced reflection, the hijab actually becomes a symbol of empowerment. However, the fact is that there are few instances where this actually happens. In banning the hijab in public schools, the French government is allowing pupils and students to have more time to be able to reflect on their own beliefs and make choices about what they really believe. According to Beller (2004) many individuals all over the world actually believe that the hijab hides the identity of the individual who wears it and thus renders the wearer as being ‘invisible’ or ‘not important’ in their own eyes. The hijab also brings to light safety concerns along with personal self-confidence concerns. According to Beller (2004) there are aspects of wearing the hijab that can only be experienced by the wearer. For example, in immigration offices, there is the fear that women in large overalls are able to hide dangerous implements to a greater extent than women in ordinary clothes. In addition, such women can cause themselves harm. The hijab, when tied in such a way that it completely obscures the sides of the face, can actually cause the wearer to harm herself by stumbling over steps, tripping over escalators, or even walking into busy streets because the hearing is not perfect since there is a cloth over the ears. In addition, with the obscuring of the sides of the face, the woman in question mightnot be able to exercise peripheral vision- thus greatly increasing the chances of suffering from serious accidents when driving or crossing roads. Children are naturally more active and rambunctious than adults. This means that forcing or allowing female students to wear hijabs can result in worse accidents than would be the case with adult wearers. Disadvantage of the French ban of the Hijab in Public Schools The law dictates the religious lives of students in French public schools; thus infringing on one aspect of French citizens’ civil rights. My Opinion I do not believe that the French law banning hijabs in public schools should have been passed. There are critics in many Western nations that have who have called for the ban of the hijab because it is a clothing apparel that stands for oppression to them. However, I believe that in many places in the West, Muslim communities are increasingly allowing their female adherents to be able to make their own choices on what they will wear and when they will wear it. This is evidenced by the fact that of the 5 million Muslims who live in France, less than 8% choose to wear the hijab in public places. Forcing a ban on the Muslim community could be counterproductive, and actually serve to encourage the development of more fundamentalist elements. References Beller, E. (2004). The Headscarf Affair: The Conseil d’ Etat on the Role of Religion and Culture in French Society. Texas International Law Journal, 39, 581-622. Bowen, J. (2010). Can Islam be French? Pluralism and Pragmatism in a Secularist State. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Freedman, J. (2004). Secularism as a Barrier to Integration? The French Dilemma. International Migration, 42(3), 5-27. Hamdan, A. (2007). The Issue of the Hijab in France: Reflection and Analysis. Journal of Human Rights, 4(2),1-27. Hodge, D. R., & Nadir, A. (2008). Moving toward culturally competent practice with Muslims: Modifying cognitive therapy with Islamic tenets. Social Work, 53 (1), 31-41. Killian, C. (2007). From a Community of Believers to an Islam of the Heart: Conspicuous Symbols, Muslim, Muslim Practicesand the Privatization of Religion in France. Sociology of Religion, 68(3), 305-320. Pauly, R. J. (2004). Islam in Europe: Integration and Marginalization. Ashgate: Burlington. Phinney, J. S., Berry, J. W., Sam, D. L., & Vedder, P. (2006). Immigrant youth in cultural transition: Acculturation, identity and adaptation across national contexts. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Williams, V. (2005). Working with Muslims in counseling: Identifying sensitive issues and conflicting philosophy. International Journal for the Advancement of Counseling, 27, 125-130. Read More