It
is one of the great ironies of our world today that the very same
headscarf revered as a sign of 'holiness' when worn by Catholic
Nuns, is reviled as a sign of 'oppression' when worn for the purpose
of modesty and protection by Muslim women.
Head covering and the
freedom of religion
By: IslamiCity
A
number of European countries are instigating laws to ban or restrict the
wearing of the Muslim headscarf. Such legislation questions the
foundations of tolerance and equality in societies that champion
pluralism and freedom of religion.
France is currently considering an outright ban on the wearing of veils
in schools, while in Germany, two states have proposed legislation which
would also bar the scarf from educational institutions.
This article address the issue of Hijab, the modesty of covering the
head by Muslim Women, and also the Judaeo-Christian tradition of veil
and head covering.
The Hijab and Veil?
Some in the west consider the modesty of head covering practiced by
Muslim women as the greatest symbol of women's oppression and servitude.
Is it true that there is no similar custom in the Judaeo-Christian
tradition? Let us set the record straight. According to Rabbi Dr.
Menachem M. Brayer (Professor of Biblical Literature at Yeshiva
University) in his book, The Jewish woman in Rabbinic literature, it was
the custom of Jewish women to go out in public with a head covering
which, sometimes, even covered the whole face leaving one eye free.
76 He quotes some famous ancient Rabbis saying," It is not like
the daughters of Israel to walk out with heads uncovered" and "Cursed be
the man who lets the hair of his wife be seen...a woman who exposes her
hair for self-adornment brings poverty." Rabbinic law forbids the
recitation of blessings or prayers in the presence of a bareheaded
married woman since uncovering the woman's hair is considered "nudity".
77 Dr. Brayer also mentions that "During the Tannaitic period
the Jewish woman's failure to cover her head was considered an affront
to her modesty. When her head was uncovered she might be fined four
hundred zuzim for this offense." Dr. Brayer also explains that veil of
the Jewish woman was not always considered a sign of modesty. Sometimes,
the veil symbolized a state of distinction and luxury rather than
modesty. The veil personified the dignity and superiority of noble
women. It also represented a woman's inaccessibility as a sanctified
possession of her husband. 78
The veil signified a woman's self-respect and social status. Women of
lower classes would often wear the veil to give the impression of a
higher standing. The fact that the veil was the sign of nobility was the
reason why prostitutes were not permitted to cover their hair in the old
Jewish society. However, prostitutes often wore a special headscarf in
order to look respectable. 79 Jewish women in Europe
continued to wear veils until the nineteenth century when their lives
became more intermingled with the surrounding secular culture. The
external pressures of the European life in the nineteenth century forced
many of them to go out bare-headed. Some Jewish women found it more
convenient to replace their traditional veil with a wig as another form
of hair covering. Today, most pious Jewish women do not cover their hair
except in the synagogue. 80 Some of them, such as the Hasidic
sects, still use the wig. 81
What about the Christian tradition? It is well known that Catholic Nuns
have been covering their heads for hundreds of years, but that is not
all. St. Paul in the New Testament made some very interesting statements
about the veil:
"Now I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the
head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. Every man who
prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head. And every
woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head
- it is just as though her head were shaved. If a woman does not cover
her head, she should have her hair cut off; and if it is a disgrace for
a woman to have her hair cut off or shaved off, she should cover her
head. A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory
of God; but the woman is the glory of man. For man did not come from
woman, but woman from man; neither was man created for woman, but woman
for man. For this reason, and because of the angels, the woman ought to
have a sign of authority on her head" (I Corinthians 11:3-10).
St. Paul's rationale for veiling women is that the veil represents a
sign of the authority of the man, who is the image and glory of God,
over the woman who was created from and for man. St. Tertullian in his
famous treatise 'On The Veiling Of Virgins' wrote, "Young women, you
wear your veils out on the streets, so you should wear them in the
church, you wear them when you are among strangers, then wear them among
your brothers..." Among the Canon laws of the Catholic church today,
there is a law that requires women to cover their heads in church.
82 Some Christian denominations, such as the Amish and the
Mennonites for example, keep their women veiled to the present day. The
reason for the veil, as offered by their Church leaders, is that "The
head covering is a symbol of woman's subjection to the man and to God",
which is the same logic introduced by St. Paul in the New Testament.
83
From all the above evidence, it is obvious that Islam did not invent the
head cover. However, Islam did endorse it. The Quran urges the believing
men and women to lower their gaze and guard their modesty and then urges
the believing women to extend their head covers to cover the neck and
the bosom:
"Say to the believing men that they should lower their gaze and guard
their modesty...And say to the believing women that they should lower
their gaze and guard their modesty; that they should not display their
beauty and ornaments except what ordinarily appear thereof; that they
should draw their veils over their bosoms..." (Quran 24:30,31).
The Quran is quite clear that the veil is essential for modesty, but why
is modesty important? The Quran is still clear:
"O Prophet, tell your wives and daughters and the believing women that
they should cast their outer garments over their bodies (when abroad) so
that they should be known and not molested" (Quran 33:59).
This is the whole point, modesty is prescribed to protect women from
molestation or simply, modesty is protection. Thus, the only purpose of
the hijab in Islam is protection.
The hijab, unlike the veil of the Christian tradition, is not a sign of
man's authority over woman nor is it a sign of woman's subjection to
man. The hijab, unlike the veil in the Jewish tradition, is not a sign
of luxury and distinction of some noble married women. In Islam the
hijab is a sign of modesty which safeguards the personal integrity of
women. The Quran strongly emphasizes the protection of women's
reputation and condemns men to be severely punished if they falsely
accuse a woman of unchastity:
"And those who launch a charge against chaste women, and produce not
four witnesses (to support their allegations)- Flog them with eighty
stripes; and reject their evidence ever after: for such men are wicked
transgressors" (Quran 24:4)
Some people, especially in the West, would tend to ridicule the whole
argument of modesty for protection. Their argument is that the best
protection is the spread of education, civilized behavior, and self
restraint. We would say: fine but not enough. If 'civilization' is
enough protection, then why is it that women in North America dare not
walk alone in a dark street - or even across an empty parking lot ? If
education is the solution, then why is it that our universities have a
'walk home service' mainly for female students on campus? If self
restraint is the answer, then why are cases of sexual harassment in the
workplace reported on the news media every day? A sample of those
accused of sexual harassment, in the last few years, includes: Navy
officers, Managers, University professors, Senators, Supreme Court
Justices, and the President of the United States!
Following are some statistics, published in a pamphlet issued by the
Dean of Women's office at Queen's University Canada:
In Canada, a woman is sexually assaulted every 6 minutes, 1 in 3 women
in Canada will be sexually assaulted at some time in their lives, 1 in 4
women are at the risk of rape or attempted rape in her lifetime, 1 in 8
women will be sexually assaulted while attending college or university,
and A study found 60% of Canadian university-aged males said they would
commit sexual assault if they were certain they wouldn't get caught.
To combat the violation of women a radical change in the society's life
style and culture is absolutely necessary. A culture of modesty is
desperately needed, modesty in dress, in speech, and in manners of both
men and women, otherwise, the grim statistics are likely to increase and
unfortunately, women alone will be paying the price. Actually, we all
suffer but as K. Gibran has said, "...for the person who receives the
blows is not like the one who counts them." 84
A society like France which expels young women from schools because of
their modest dress is, in the end, simply harming itself.
It is one of the great ironies of our world today that the very same
headscarf revered as a sign of 'holiness' when worn by Catholic Nuns, is
reviled as a sign of 'oppression' when worn for the purpose of modesty
and protection by Muslim women.
The above article is adapted from "Women in Islam Versus Women in the
Judaeo-Christian Tradition - The Myth and The Reality" by Dr. Sherif
Abdel Azim of Queens University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
Notes:
76. Menachem M. Brayer, The Jewish Woman in Rabbinic Literature: A
Psychosocial Perspective (Hoboken, N.J: Ktav Publishing House, 1986) p.
239.
77. Ibid., pp. 316-317. Also see Swidler, op. cit., pp. 121-123.
78. Ibid., p. 139.
79. Susan W. Schneider, Jewish and Female (New York: Simon & Schuster,
1984) p. 237.
80. Ibid., pp. 238-239.
81. Alexandra Wright, "Judaism", in Holm and Bowker, ed., op. cit., pp.
128-129
82. Clara M. Henning, "Cannon Law and the Battle of the Sexes" in
Rosemary R. Ruether, ed., Religion and Sexism: Images of Woman in the
Jewish and Christian Traditions (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1974) p.
272
83. Donald B. Kraybill, The riddle of the Amish Culture (Baltimore:
Johns Hopkins University Press, 1989) p. 56.
84. Khalil Gibran, Thoughts and Meditations (New York: Bantam Books,
1960) p. 28.