[Reader-list] Brouhaha Over the Veil

[Yogi Sikand]

Brouhaha Over the Veil



Yoginder Sikand





The controversy surrounding recently-nominated President Pratibha
Patil's hotly contested statement on Muslims and the veil clearly
illustrates how Muslim women's dress has become a central trope in
contemporary discourses about Islam. Critics see the veil as
'obscurantist' and 'patriarchal', while its defenders regard it as
protecting women from the oppressive male gaze. In this brouhaha over
the veil, the fact that there is no single definition of it, that it
has different meanings for different people and that what is
considered to be normative Islamic women's attire varies across
different Muslim ethnic groups and social classes is completely lost
sight of. Further, the important distinctions between the veil, the
burqa, the naqab and the hijab, all different forms of Muslim women's
dress, are overlooked.



Interestingly, the Quran does not lay down any particular form of
clothing for men or indeed for women. It does not require Muslim women
to cover their faces completely and remain confined at home, this
being a custom that Muslims later took over from the Byzantine
Christians. Instead, it talks about the need for both men and women to
dress modestly. Modest appearance means that erogenous parts of the
body should be covered suitably. This modest dress, or hijab, meant
both for men and women, has been historically understood in diverse
ways in different Muslim communities.



In medieval India, it was the general practice of Muslim elites, like
their Hindu counterparts, to veil their women and keep them concealed
behind the four walls of their homes. But, then, as now, this was not
the custom among the poorer classes, whose womenfolk were forced, by
sheer economic compulsion, to work outside. They donned different
forms of 'modest' Islamic dress other than the veil and did not
observe strict purdah. In large parts of rural India, for instance,
Muslim women wear the shalwar kameez and dupatta, which serves the
same function of 'modest' dress as the veil, at the same time as it
allows them to work in the fields.



A few decades ago, shuttle-cock like veils were a common sight in
India, covering women from head to toe like billowing tents. This,
however, is rare now. Instead, new forms of the hijab have emerged,
often influenced by fashions elsewhere in the Muslim world. Far from
necessarily constraining Muslim women, they often facilitate them to
enter the public space and to go in for higher education and careers
that their mothers would never have considered. Many Muslim parents
feel comfortable letting their daughters go outside their homes to
study or work if they wear loose gowns that do not necessarily cover
their faces. Many Muslim women would feel more comfortable dressed
that way, regarding this sort of attire as protecting them from
unwanted male attention. This way of dressing is also a social
leveler, erasing class differences to a great extent, in terms of
external appearance. As many young Muslim women who voluntarily choose
to don this form of hijab see it, it saves them the trauma that many
other women have to suffer when they feel compelled to 'look good' in
public, thanks to the overbearing and relentless assault of the media
that projects Western women's clothing styles and the accompanying
add-ons—cosmetics, hair-styles, hair colours and so on—as defining the
parameters of feminine beauty.



Although some Muslim clerics consider the face-covering burkha as
normative for Muslim women and insist that they should stay cloistered
in their homes, many others differ. These new perceptions are
reflected in the writings not only of Muslim 'modernists' but also of
a significant section of the madrasa-trained ulema, a number of who
have even started schools for Muslim girls. And it is not that all the
ulema would insist that Muslim women should necessarily dress in plain
black gowns. Interesting innovations are now being made with this
simple dress in terms of colours, shapes and styles, catering to a
clientele that seeks an Islamic approach to modernity.



Personally, I find women dressed in the demure Muslim gown more
dignified than skimpily-dressed ones who blindly follow every Western
fashion and consider their own cultural traditions as 'primitive'. Far
from being regarded as shackling, many Muslim women who choose to
dress the Islamic way see their attire as liberating, allowing them to
preserve their modesty, as prescribed by Islam, as well as affording
them mobility outside their homes. However, in the heated debate about
Muslim women's dress it is often forgotten that the Quran also insists
on suitably modest dress for men. It is an indication of the
patriarchal nature of the debate that this crucial aspect is almost
forgotten, as Muslim women come to be seen as bearers of Muslim
cultural authenticity by critics as well as defenders of the veil.






The author works with the Centre for Jawaharlal Nehru Studies, Jamia
Millia Islamia, New Delhi.

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