A museum, the right place for a hijab
The former president of Germany’s “Union of Muslim Women” decided to remove her head cover or hijab and donate it to a museum. Amal Abdeen Aljan stated that she “is free to do whatever she wants to do with her head” and she wished the people to know her personally and not just as the daughter of Youssef Abdeen. Her father, a leader of a fundamentalist turkish organization, made Aljan wear the head cover ever since she reached puberty. Her head cover will be placed in a section dedicated to “integration and immigration”.
I got this story from Al Arabiya website. You can’t imagine what people said in their comments on this story. The majority treated this trivial thing as if the lady had burned the Quran right in downtown Berlin. I just feel so sorry for Allah. He created the entire universe with all its complexities and yet people still think he is stupid enough to get pissed off at a girl who walks down the street with her head uncovered. I mean, do these people really think Allah is that stupid.
It is worth mentioning that the first Egyptian woman to remove the hijab was called Huda Sharaawi in 1923. The hijab back then was not the head cover of today but a complete covering of the entire body, including the face. Sharaawi took the cover off her face as she stepped out of the ship that brought her from a women rights conference she attended in Italy. By the 30s and the 40s, all forms of covering for women virtually disappeared from Egypt especially within the upper and middle classes. The covering started to pop out its ugly face once again by the 70s, when the region was hit by a nasty wave of politicized Islam and religion fundamentalism.
Today the vast majority of Egyptian girls in all segments of the society cover their hair. They were told that Allah would have a bad day if someone, especially a male stranger, saw their hair. I believe we need to wait for 2 generations for us to return back to 1923.
It’s so funny. Here I am hoping that in the future we would go “backwards”.
Source: Al Arabiya (Arabic)
You are a good man, pharaoh. It is bad to have to go back to go forward.
Think about it… What kind of God would cover women up in Black Burkas in 120 degree heat? What kind of GOD would want any woman covered at all? Women are free.
Comment by newc — March 31, 2006 @ 2:42 am
BP, you better stop before you turn into a fish.:)
Comment by Mike in the U.S. — March 31, 2006 @ 3:30 am
“I just feel so sorry for Allah. He created the entire universe with all its complexities and yet people still think he is stupid enough to get pissed off at a girl who walks down the street with her head uncovered. I mean, do these people really think Allah is that stupid.”
From what I have learned from watching religious people, God is never any smarter than the person seeking his guidance. That is why I am an atheist. I take no guidance from someone who is only as smart as me.
Comment by Apesnake — March 31, 2006 @ 3:46 am
Let’s see if I have this right. God gave women hair, so obviously he thought it was a good idea. Then some muslim man comes along and says that god doesn’t know from nothing and that god screwed up; women’s hair is a big mistake and women have to cover it up. And other muslims agree and say, in effect, yes, god screwed up. And these people claim to revere god? Since god gave the hair, why aren’t those who criticize god stoned to death or given some other sweet muslim means of their “justice”? Let there be hair!
Comment by questioner — March 31, 2006 @ 4:24 am
What if God gave women hair to cover their nasty, sexy, suggestive, naked heads? Then covering the hair would be largely irrelevant – except of course out of solidarity with bald women. And – what if these mysterious women, of whom only the eyes are visible, what if they’re all bald and don’t want us to know.
Islam may not just be bad for your health, it may be bad for your hair as well !
Comment by Sean Shalor — March 31, 2006 @ 9:16 am
To think that in the 21st Century, a woman discarding her hijab is newsworthy makes me wonder where the hell are Muslims heading (!!) with all this crap ??
Comment by Red — March 31, 2006 @ 11:16 am
And what else would you have to offer a potential husband, other then the sight of your naked hair? Please….there are a few men I know who should be wearing a burkah.
If you want to cover your head, cover it.
If you want to leave it uncovered, leave it uncovered.
Do you really think God is involved in fashion statements?
God created everyone naked…….
Comment by t — March 31, 2006 @ 1:08 pm
Questioner’s comment reminds me of the best sig I’ve ever seen. It was on the Pakistani forum I spent so much time on. I wasn’t the only atheist on the forum — though there weren’t many of us — and one of the others used the following
“God made me an atheist. Who are you to question his judgment?”
Comment by Prup (aka Jim Benton) — March 31, 2006 @ 3:59 pm
How come women don’t have to cover their eyebrows and eyelashes?
Comment by Jen — March 31, 2006 @ 5:41 pm
BP,
Is it true that the modern hijab was an egyptian invention? I think I’ve read that somewhere but can’t remeber where. When I grew up, most muslim women in Oslo (mainly of pakistani desent) wore shalwar kamez, with a sari losely over their heads. Today, they wear western clothes and a hijab.
Comment by K from Oslo — March 31, 2006 @ 6:15 pm
Hey Big Pharaoh,
Remember, in religions that God is male, women are sort of second class. But I don’t think God is that bad, did you get it!!!
Comment by Hussein — March 31, 2006 @ 10:03 pm
BP,
Do you think the amount of flesh women choose to cover or expose is a good measure of a society’s progress?
Why isn’t it the same for men?I live in UAE & most local men wear long thobes that cover their whole body & their hair is rarely seen in public because they wear turbans or the local ghutra. Does this mean Emarati men are repressed & need to be freed? Should we go around & trying to free them from their clothes?
I think the ideal situation is when both men & women dress for comfort & to feel good about themselves – not to make others feel comfortable with how religious/liberated they are.
I think you should be more concerned about freedom of expression, human rights, economic conditions & political reform than with how many women are choosing to become Playboy centerfolds. But that’s just me.
Comment by LouLou — April 1, 2006 @ 7:16 am
LouLou: (First, now you see why I’ve been so remiss in replying to you on my own blog. I get caught up in discussions here and on other blogs like The Religious Policeman, and Egyptian SandMonkey and use up my blogging time.)
Y’know, I think a VERY GOOD case could be made that the amount of flesh a person chooses to expose IS connected with the level of progress of a society. (Yes, I’d go for including your Emirati men as well, and think they could stand liberation.)
Certainly a person should be free to choose what they wear, but too many people wear clothes as uniforms. (I grew up at a time in the US when ‘clothes conformity’ was so strong that, literally, when men started wearing pastel shirts to the office instead of white ones it was important enough to earn a story in a major general interest magazine of the day, I never can remember if it was LIFE or LOOK.)
It sounds silly, but I think in many cases a person’s first steps to internal freedom do involve seemingly minor things like clothes, or food, or music.
Comment by Prup (aka Jim Benton) — April 1, 2006 @ 3:12 pm
A further word about hijabs. Now lots of people in various cultures wear scarves for various reasons, warmth, fashion, to keep their hair from blowing around, as suitable attire in certain situations. Only Muslims see wearing a scarf as, supposedly, a matter of ‘modesty.’ Other people, religious and even secular, like to be modest in dress. Why have none of these considered a scarf as an aid to this? Nuns wear them, yes, or used to, but even they, now, customarily dress in ordinary clothes and not a ‘habit.’
Can you seriously defend the hijab — worn at all times in public — as anything other than a religious action. Can you say that you actually ‘feel more comfortable in one?” And if so, why, and why do ONLY Muslims see this?
Comment by Prup (aka Jim Benton) — April 2, 2006 @ 7:36 am
Jim,
“(Yes, I’d go for including your Emirati men as well, and think they could stand liberation.)”
Yes but with all due respect is what you think or what they think that counts here? After all we’re discussing their clothing not yours. Clothing is only repressive if the person wearing it feels repressed by it or forced to wear it. If I feel comfortable in something long & loose then being forced to wear a miniskirt is not liberating. It’s restricting.
I think it’s shallow & superficial to equate social/economic/political progress with lack of clothing. By that standard those African tribal societies where people still walk around naked are more progressive than UAE which is ridiculous. Those people have no access to nutritious food, clean water, electricity, health care or education. Some of them have never read a newspaper, listened to the radio or watched TV. I don’t think you can convince many people in UAE they would be better off living like that just because they’ll get to walk around naked in public.
I would be much more interested in statistics about women’s education & participation in the work force etc….in Egypt in the 50′s compared to now, than the length of their skirts. I think the first step towards empowering women politically is to empower them economically through education & employment. Once they are a substantial, taxpaying workforce they will be in a much better position to make political demands. And cultural norms & the structure of the family also change when women are educated & working & can contribute to the family as much as men.
Comment by LouLou — April 2, 2006 @ 7:37 am
“Now lots of people in various cultures wear scarves for various reasons…”
So why can’t a person wear it as an expression of their own personal beliefs?People feel comfortable in clothes for a variety of reasons as you said. It can be physical comfort, an expression of your personal taste, an expression of pride in your ethnic heritage or yes an expression of your religious beliefs. What’s wrong with that?
The only problem I personally would see is if you went around forcing your choice on others who don’t share it. And I am unequivocally against legislation or the state interfering this sort of thing in any shape, form or manner.
Which sounds to me like what you’re trying to do. Essentially you’re telling others they can’t wear something because of what it means to you & that it doesn’t matter what it means to them because only what you think counts.
“Can you seriously defend the hijab?”
I don’t feel compelled to defend the hijab. I don’t choose to wear it. I know people who wear it & as long as it’s their own free choice it’s none of my business. Because I don’t appreciate others interfering in something as personal as what I choose to wear I don’t presume to interfere in theirs. Do as you would be done by.
I just think this is a matter of personal choice & to turn it into a political issue with attackers & defenders just seeems silly to me because I think there are a lot more important things to be debating than fashion.
And I find the premise – so often expressed on this blog – that when I wear my Morrocan traditional clothes am less liberated than when am wearing a short skirt laughable frankly. Am still the same person.
Comment by LouLou — May 22, 2013 @ 9:51 pm
interesting post.
it’s one thing to wear what you like – i think individuals should be able to do that -without fearing society’s disapproval. everything we wear though has social norms around it – if you wear a swimsuit to an office it isn’t considered ‘appropriate’ according to say -western social norms – though it would be at the beach. people expect you to wear socks that match – if you don’t they make a fuss.
the issue about hijab – fine if individuals wear what they like. what i object is the religious requirement that women wear a hijab – so i would ‘take that out’ – not on women who might wear the hijab – but the people who say if we don’t wear it, we’re going to hell. that’s what i object to. if someone is worried they’re going to hell and they think maybe if they cover their head as ‘insurance’ hey you won’t find me criticising them. Also people want to fit in – i won’t criticize them for wanting to fit in. but i’d have criticism for the societal attitude in general.
Comment by sonia — April 12, 2007 @ 10:37 am