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Over the decades, the hijab has become quite a common practice in many parts of the Muslim world. Since the Iranian Revolution in 1979 and after the failure of secularism in many parts of the Arab world; many Islamic institutions and organizations have become quite vocal and assertive in promoting the hijab on women. It is considered a social taboo to question it and to raise any criticisms or concerns regarding it.
The concept of hijab has acquired such a powerful status that it is almost equated as an obligation and considered sinful to remove it or to question it. It has become heavily politicized that those women who don’t wear it, are put on the spot and even socially pressured into wearing it. It is promoted and enforced as a core element of the Muslim identity.
There are far many pressing issues that deserve concern and need to be seriously addressed especially in the Muslim world and in the Muslim communities in Non Muslim countries. Human rights abuses - such as honor killings, domestic violence, FGM (Female Genital Mutilation), child marriages, forced arranged marriages, rape victims being denied justice, misogyny, patriarchy, women being trapped in marriages because they cannot get a khul (divorce), women being domesticated and being denied opportunities for advancement, not being allowed to travel solo, not being given the autonomy to choose their marriage partners, not being able to decide how they want to dress, not being given the choice on the number of children they want, being tricked into visiting their parents’ countries (if they are immigrants in the West) under the guise of a holiday but being forcibly married, poverty, illiteracy, being denied the chance to go to school or to advance in their careers, not being welcome in many Mosques around the world – many Mosques simply don’t welcome nor allow women in and even if they do, the women are given very small spaces (the misogyny is very apparent in this context)…. The list is not exhaustive. Unfortunately, the Muslim world has done an extremely poor job in addressing, confronting and attempting to combat such issues. To add insult to the injury, they have made women into scapegoats and blamed the whole failures of the Muslim world onto the womenfolk. Many patriarchal and misogynistic men feel entitled to own, police and control their women under the guise of honour. It is also the women who internalize this misogyny and force their younger sisters or daughters to conform to such oppressive standards.
What the politicization of the hijab does is completely whitewash and ignore such pressing issues, and keep women submissive. They are conditioned to believe that by wearing the hijab, they will earn God’s pleasure and that all the injustices that they are facing will fade away. Absolutely nothing or hardly anything is done to confront any of the injustices that have been listed above. Whist there is nothing wrong with wearing the headscarf itself as it is a very modest and beautiful clothing – women in many cultures such as Russia, Eastern Europe, India – Hindu and Sikh, Jewish, Christian used to and even still wear the headscarf – the whole politicization brings in a very totalitarian and suffocating experience. Women in post revolutionary Iran after 1979 did not have a choice to wear or not to wear the hijab. They were arrested, beaten and even tortured for not being covered properly or for showing any hair. The Muttawwas (religious police) in Saudi Arabia were known to hit women with a stick if they weren’t covered properly. There was an incident in 2002 in a girls’ school in Mecca that caught fire. The girls and women attempted to escape the school but were forced back, pushed and beaten with sticks by none other than the Muttawwa (religious police) because they didn’t have their hijabs on. Tragically, many of the girls died due to asphyxiation by the smoke. This incident was silenced and not one of the religious police faced justice. In Afghanistan under the Taliban, the women are forced to endure a hellish life by being forced to veil in public and not even being allowed out of the house without a male chaperone. The Taliban are known to beat women with a stick if the latter aren’t dressed properly. So when Muslim women in the West or even in Muslim countries claim that “hijab is my choice” or “hijab dignifies women” – this is a very one sided and a subjective claim. It ignores the realities of women in despotic regimes or who even come from oppressive families who have no choice but to wear the hijab. Some young women have even been honour killed because they were dressed “inappropriately” or even physically assaulted and brutally insulted. Many misogynistic and insecure men have known to take the law into their own hands to make themselves feel high and mighty. Rape victims have been shamed for being too “provocatively” dressed (“provocative” being subjected to the whims and arbitrary interpretations of the predator).
While the hijab could protect women from being harassed, molested and even allow them to be recognized as decent women – the context of the Quranic verse in question needs to be critically analysed. The illa (cause) needs to be examined. If the illa (cause) is no longer present, then the commandment needs to be reinterpreted. The apologetic rhetoric claims that women who wear the hijab are less likely to be targeted or sexually assaulted. This claim is very disingenuous to put it bluntly. The hijab clearly did not protect Muslim women in the aftermath of 9-11. In fact, many Muslim women wearing the scarf were assaulted or targeted. In countries where Islamophobia is on the rise, women with hijabs are singled out and discriminated against and even in Muslim countries that are secular, women with hijabs have been known to be harassed or attacked.
The hijab cannot simply protect women from being assaulted or groped if the predator has clearly made up his mind to target his victim. Predators don’t simply look for women who are dressed “provocatively”, they look for easy targets – easy targets being those victims who are less likely to resist or fight back. The same way muggers, armed robbers or even rapists look for easy targets. A target who looks confident, or has a strong body language, or one who looks like he/she can fight or wont be an easy target; are less likely to be targeted. There are many cities in the Muslim world that have a very notorious record of street sexual assaults or harassments. Even women who are fully veiled have not been spared the agony.
The hijab does add restrictions and close many doors in the realm of sports. So for example in sports such as Olympics, marathons, tennis, squash, football, basketball, swimming, boxing, Muay Thai, wrestling, ballet dancing, women face restrictions and hardships and are unable to participate in such sports without difficulties or hardships. The hijab in such contexts does not make life easy and puts an additional burden. If women do not participate in sports and are unable to undertake in activities, that will deprive them of areas where they can develop and utilize their talents.
The conservative patriarchal cultures claim that they treat their women like queens or princesses. Furthermore, they claim that women from advanced countries are very promiscuous and are living in misery because they are sexualized by society and are encouraged to show off their bodies as much possible. The flip side of this reality is that in such patriarchal and misogynistic cultures women are expected to cook, clean, do the housework, take care of the children, feed them, clean them, and become domesticated. This is not a queen nor a princess, but a maid or a nanny. In many low income or poor families, women cannot afford to live like queens – as they need to work to make ends meet. That is why this claim of treating women in patriarchal and conservative cultures like queens is very disingenuous. Furthermore, women in advanced countries, apart from the West, such as Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, China are given equal opportunities to fully participate in society. They are independent and educated and make their choices in life as they would like to live. The founding father of Pakistan, who was known as Muhammad Ali Jinnah was reported to have quoted that “No nation can ever achieve the heights of glory if your women aren’t side by side with you. It is a great crime against humanity to keep them shut up within the four walls of the house. We are products of evil customs and nowhere is there any sanction for this deplorable practice”.
There is no nation nor civilization that has progressed nor advanced with half of its population being subjugated. Israel which is an advanced and developed country, has learned how to utilize the power that women can provide. Women serve alongside men in the IDF (Israeli Defence Forces) and it has had a very powerful Prime Minister known as Golda Meir. She was known as an Iron Lady and had a very strong personality, who would not be easily subjugated. It was she who made sure that her husband would only have the chance to marry her if he agreed to immigrate with her to Palestine from the US. They both had to struggle when in Palestine financially, but she would never give up on her goal of settling in Palestine. My point is that Israel, due to utilizing the power of half of its population (this being among the factors) is a very powerful and advanced country.
It is the men and male scholars who are deciding the awrah (parts of the body that may be shown) of women. There are hardly any female scholars and jurists and women hardly are given a voice to raise their concerns on the awrah. In fact many of them have internalized the patriarchal mindsets and further propagate them. It is time to critically analyse and investigate these paradigms.
The concept of the Shariah is to remove obstacles, hardship and suffering and encourage and promote ease, felicity and comfort.
With these factors in mind, we can work towards changes in mindsets and paradigms.
