[Reader-list] Brouhaha Over the Veil

[MRSG]

 The write up shows how islamic fundamentist ideology of subjugating women 
forcing women wearing hijab can be supported under the veil of intellectual 
discourse.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Yogi Sikand" <ysikand at gmail.com>
To: <reader-list at sarai.net>
Sent: Monday, July 23, 2007 12:58 AM
Subject: [Reader-list] Brouhaha Over the Veil


> Brouhaha Over the Veil
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> Yoginder Sikand
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> 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.
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> 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.
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> 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.
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> 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.
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> 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.
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> 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.
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> The author works with the Centre for Jawaharlal Nehru Studies, Jamia
> Millia Islamia, New Delhi.
>
> --
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