There exists a way to lift the hijab over divisive politics

Saudi Arabia, the world’s most radical Islamic country, made a clear statement before the reforms carried out there: “Shariah law stipulates that women wear decent, respectable clothing like men. This is specifically the Black Abaya or Black Head.” The cover does not specify. The decision is left entirely to them.” Symbolically, it was seen as a harbinger of progress in a society that had lost it in the 12th century CE. More freedom for women is on Riyadh’s policy agenda.

Until the late 11th century, Islamic societies have been bastions of progress, home to some of the world’s most valuable intellectual explorations and scientific discoveries. More than two-thirds of the stars in the sky have Arabic names. Algebra, algorithm, azimuth, nadir, alchemy, wine, elixir and other words in common use trace their origins to that period. This all changed when an influential Muslim theologian, Hamid al-Ghazali, declared all science to be evil, ending a rationalistic era of progress, and halting progress in the Islamic world.

Islam came around 620 AD, during the lifetime of the Prophet Muhammad (570–632 CE), with the arrival of Malik Dinar, one of the first known Muslims to spread the faith in South Asia. The Chera dynasty allowed them to build India’s first mosque in 629 CE at Kodungallur, Kerala. Interactions with the Arabs because of the spice trade in the high seas prompted many people in the kingdom to embrace Islam.

As a tradition across India, women have long covered their heads when entering temples and gurudwaras as a mark of respect for divinity. In North India, the head is often kept covered in front of the elders. In Hindu and Christian wedding rituals, brides have to cover their heads. So how would covering the head of a Muslim woman become a crime rather than a sign of respect? Is it because of its Arabic name, Hijab? Or is there politics going on here?

Until the late 1970s, Muslim women in India rarely wore an abaya (burqa or veil as it was alternatively called), except for a few elderly women who went on the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, perhaps Saudis were considering traditional dress as Islamic. But in recent years, the trend of the burqa has increased dramatically, with so many Muslims working in the Gulf countries and adopting the traditional dress of those countries. This is no different from the influence of western fashion on the choices of Indian women. We mostly agree that what women wear should be left to their choice of dress; But not if it’s Islamic-sounding, right?

Some argue that the hijab is different because it has a religious dimension, a garment that is ordained by faith. But is there any evidence that Muslim women have increased piety, or have begun to behave holy-to-you? Undoubtedly, Islamic clerics have taken this dispute as an opportunity to publicize how the abaya and hijab are Islamic practices, and some see the dress as a way of displaying their faith. Nevertheless, Islam has no compulsion on veils or prada, as long as the dress ‘appropriately’ covers a woman and not provocatively.

The Quran nowhere specifies what women should or should not wear. It only says that women should take off their shawls (33:59). The Arabic word used here is the plural of “Jilbab”, which means a long shawl that covers a woman. Essentially, this means that a woman will cover herself so that her body is not displayed to strangers.

Now, before feminists say that such advice is discriminatory, the Quran recommends a “hijab” for men before advising women: believing men should lower their gaze and be submissive in front of those women. who are strangers.

Ideas of modesty and appropriateness are relative and vary from culture to culture. For example, in a nudist colony, decency might be a bikini, and in a highly conservative society, it would be the other extreme.

Our research shows that one of the major causes of Islamophobia is a lack of understanding on Islam. This is partly the work of the Muslims themselves. Yet, in short, all religions have the same value system. The pandemic has shown that one has no problem wearing a face-mask. So why does the veil hurt so much? Of course, politicians have their reasons for making issues out of things they see as getting attention and votes.

While one’s dress is a personal choice that should be respected, Muslim women can really help to cover up Islam and the moral police by abandoning the Arab culture of the hijab and embracing local costumes like the salwar-kameez-dupatta. This would reduce a gap between them and others and would also prevent political exploitation of issues placed in the private domain.

One of the most commonly used words in the Qur’an is “thinking” and it can be practiced only when people have a better education in science, mathematics, literature and the like. Many Muslims misunderstood a verse in the Qur’an that tells them to differentiate themselves from others. Those who think the Qur’an calls for discrimination in the form of good deeds, not symbolic such as one’s appearance or manner of dressing. By gestures.

Perhaps there will never be a call to ban the scarf, which serves the same delicacy as the hijab. If the controversy lasts, Shakespeare will be turned in his grave.

M. Munir is the co-founder and chief campaigner of the non-profit think tank Medici Institute. Follow him on Twitter @MuneerMuh