The Nikab Unveiled

by Shakeel Shafi 1/29/06

 

Digression

The nikab - an article of clothing

Lets examine the nikab for a bit. It is an article of clothing that one puts on over their face. It has evolved over time due to interpretations of the Koran and Hadith. It is combined with a gown that covers the body, and a hijab that covers the hair so that the end result is that no part of the woman is exposed except the hands (some women wear gloves to cover even this, as per the translation from the Koran from Saudi Arabia). The nikab is worn if a man outside of the woman’s meharam is present. In the summer, due to the heat, it is a little more difficult to wear at times and in the winter it can provide warmth (depends on thickness). Because it covers the face, eating while wearing it becomes more difficult but talking to people with bad breath or spitters becomes easier (a joke!). Also, it serves as a filter for dust and other air pollution. To a non-aware person the nikab and related attire all look the same, but looking deeper into it, one will realize that there is a fashion industry around the latest nikabs.

The hijab, nikab, and burkas can be considered a symbol of Islam (discussed below), but muslims aren’t the only ones to wear such articles of clothing. Nuns of the catholic religion, Mennonites, Amish among other groups wear hijabs. A hair covering is a part of the traditional outfit that hindus wear. What do these groups have in common as the reason for wearing the coverings….the answer is modesty. The answer is that by wearing it, one may avoid unwanted sexual attention. To better explain this lets take the example of a woman wearing a miniskirt and a small tight top, this woman will get a lot of sexual attention. So one who does the opposite (meaning covers themselves) will get less sexual attention.

Clothing and fashion are constantly changing. They reflect culture, region, and religion. People associate clothing and fashion with religion but without further researching that statement I will make the statement that, “it doesn’t go the other way”. I don’t think there is any religion that associates itself with clothing and fashion. Religions make statements as to whether one should be covered or not covered but nothing more. They don’t pick fabric type, color, style and such. Some Muslims, on the other hand, tend to believe that religion and clothing are very much intertwined.

The example is that some people of the Muslim world will not wear anything western as they associate western clothing with western religion and therefore anti-Islamic. At the time of the creation of Islam, pants and shirts did not exist and so no one wore them. If they had existed, and were suited for the region, the people of the region would have worn them (as long as they were fashionable). If so, the Prophet would have worn them also. I have not seen any reference that says that the Prophet wore clothing that made him stand out as different from the people of his region. So with this argument, I will say that for a Muslim, refusing to wear western clothing only shows a sign of their ignorance to Islam. The association of clothing and religion, in this manner, is absolutely ridiculous, yet it exists.

Another spin of this mentality is that some say that pants and shirts are “modern” and not the way of the Prophet Muhammad. Once again, pants and shirts did not exist at that time. If they did, the Prophet would probably have worn them. The prophet wasn’t backwards and this can be shown in his method of war. He didn’t say that they should use spears, swords, and arrows like those used during prehistoric time. He would use the latest weapons, tools, and methodologies to accomplish the tasks that needed to be accomplished. Being modern and being Muslim are two separate entities yet some how many have linked them together.

Stereotypical Thinking

There are many stereotypes of what the head coverings are and what their relevance is to Islam. Before writing this article, to me, a woman wearing the coverings portrayed modesty. This I think is the general assumption for most who see a woman in some form of head coverings, as stated earlier. After 9/11, to me, the hijab showed a sign of strength. Let me explain. In the western world, people associate the hijab with “Islamic terrorists” because the media displays certain images of Muslims and connects them to images of terrorists, including women in hijab. Many muslims who wear hijab were scared about their safety so to wear the hijab in public took courage. This is why I say it showed a sign of strength. Also, by wearing the head coverings, women are not allowing men to see them and be attracted to them, therefore the woman has power by covering herself, in not being seen. Many others associate it as a sign of submission and go a step further and associate it with male domination and male/female inequality in the Muslim world. This can be seen in regulations by government’s such as the Taliban or Saudi Arabia and is associated with not allowing women to do anything, drive, work, etc., as described above. When I see a woman wear a head covering, especially a nikab, I do question whether she is doing it for herself or is she being forced to do it because though there is male/female equality in Islam, many male Muslims and governments tend to conveniently forget that rule.

So for different people, the nikab has different meaning. On a recent visit to Pakistan I found out that certain ethnic groups (primarily Afghanis) find it is shameful for the husband if the woman goes out in public without a nikab or Burka. So there are issues of respect for the family if the woman wears it also. Once again this mentality was created by men in a male dominated society.

What do the proponents say?

The biggest argument for the proponents of wearing nikab is that men are attracted to skin and therefore a woman should cover herself up to protect herself. They say that men just can’t help themselves when skin is exposed. They use the verses from the Koran above to justify that the Koran says that women must be covered for their own protection. If you visit Pakistan, you will see that if any woman walks by, covered or not, many men will look at her as a sexual object, make advances, and say inappropriate things. In most places within Pakistan, a goat has more value than a woman because of this so called “protection” that the family gives to a woman. This protection does not allow her to go out, especially alone, they don’t let her interact with society and so the girl eventually ends up useless to herself and to others. Numerous stories and rumors of bad things happening to women that go out of the house alone leaves a lot of girls unwilling to leave the house.

The worst part about this mentality is that it gives no ownership or responsibility to the male. Men are responsible for each act they commit. If they do something against the teachings of the Koran then they should be justly punished. By make the woman wear a nikab in order to protect her from a man, one is essentially punishing the victim for the crime.

An Interesting Interview with a Dominant Male

A few years ago I interviewed a male in rural Pakistan about his views on women’s roles in society and the women’s liberation movement. The individual was young and educated up to the university level. He spoke English fairly well and was in touch with the world of today through newspapers and television (BBC world news, CNN world news, which interestingly enough are the news sources for most of the world). The interview started out great, he was well informed as to the male domination in society, the oppression of women in society and he talked about how women should be allowed to work and get education and function in society as equals. I was absolutely amazing at this guy’s intelligence and enlightenment especially for a guy in the rural area. I decided that his answers were too good and started to get more personal rather than be generic. This is when the truth started to come out. When I started asking him about whether he would want his wife to work he said, “no” because if his wife goes out to work then people in his community will start to talk negatively about him by saying things such as, “look at him, he makes his wife go out and work, he can’t support his own family”. So then I asked that if the community was eliminated would he let her work. He started to get defensive but again his answer was that “no” he wouldn’t let her work. Then I started to ask questions about why his wife shouldn’t be allowed to go out and the answer that eventually came out was interesting. The answer was that he was afraid that she would not respect him, she will stop cooking and cleaning, she will cheat on him and the whole gamut of insecurities that come along with that. He was conveying the thoughts of many Pakistani men. The interesting thing is that this is how men treat women in Pakistan (and many other parts of the world, Islamic and non-islamic). So he was essentially afraid that women would start treating their men the same as the men treat them!! So it is funny that this was an educated, well versed individual that was open to ideas and quite knowledgeable but when it came to his own life, insecurities overcame him and he started to talk like the dominant male that he was. As I have talked to so many males of the Muslim world and I see this attitude in most of the males in that region. They know what is right and they know what is wrong ideologically, but when it comes to practice, due to their insecurities, they always choose what is wrong. They aren’t evil in nature or ignorant by any means, they are insecure, weak, and arrogant, which is a very bad combination. They look for the smallest chance to get power and they abuse it (as in the case of making women wear head coverings and dominating over those same women). A year later, this same male’s family forced his sister to marry someone she didn’t want to. She was in love with someone else. Because she wouldn’t go with the family wishes and continued her relationship outside of her forced marriage, this young male that I interviewed was involved in her murder. He killed his own sister to protect the family name. Stories like this do not phase most people in Pakistan. I stated earlier that women are not worth much to begin with in Pakistan (due to their oppression).

Imams, Mullahs, and Muftis