Middle East Features
Veil off - one woman's 'life-changing' decision
By Pakinam Amer Jan 29, 2007, 11:18 GMT
Cairo - Naira El-Sheikh -an Egyptian ex-fashion model - wore Hijab (Islamic headscarf) for more than five years. Her friends considered her 'an icon' for choosing 'piety' - Hijab being the symbol - over anything else.
Two weeks ago, Naira decided to take it off - the scarf that has been covering her hair from peering eyes and which completed the traditional conservative dress that Muslims generally wear in the Islamic world.
'When I made this decision there were extreme reactions from the people I know,' said Naira. 'Some people called it an overdue correction of a mistake. 'Welcome back!' they said. And others would not want to talk to me. I haven't welcomed any of these reactions.'
According to 25-year-old Naira, women from her age have been put under great pressure because of how the Egyptian society perceives Hijab and in turn veiled woman.
A veiled woman is not allowed the same 'liberties' that an unveiled woman is, and is usually held to different standards.
'I do believe Hijab is not just a dress code, it's a statement, a behavior and an attitude that you embrace,' said Naira. Nevertheless, she said that the society 'has come to expect so much from a veiled women.'
Upon donning the veil, the woman has to adopt certain conformist behavior that include maintaining a low-profile in public and abstaining from 'casual relationships' with the opposite sex.
Although this strict understanding of the veil is not outlined by the Koran, Naira explained that she tried to strictly abide by this socially-backed 'behavioral code' when she first took the veil on.
'I drastically changed my lifestyle but still it did not fit the expectations of some hardliners from both extremes - the so-called liberals and the so-called conservatives,' she observed.
Naira wore the headscarf, but juggled baggie pants, long skirts and long-sleeved shirts to preserve her individual style. Islamic scholars still disagree about the extent of how a Muslim woman should 'cover up.'
The Muslim's holiest book clearly states that a woman should cover her cleavage and dress modestly - but any other restrictions on dress remain debatable.
So the form of Hijab as many know it - one that includes headscarves and long robes - has been only common in Egypt and other neighboring countries for the past few decades, when a wave of 'piety' started to engulf some countries in the Middle East.
In the early 1990s particularly, Egypt transformed into a more conservative state where an estimated 70 per cent of Muslim women took on the Hijab.
Some women even started covering their hair with scarves while preserving their dress style that included wearing tight pants and body-hugging tops.
TV preacher Amr Khaled was one cleric who is considered to have introduced this neo-Islamic conservative trend.
Khaled, who abandoned the traditional scholarly robe for a suit and a tie, seemed to use a different tone of preaching that quickly captivated many of Egypt's younger people, many who usually left the mosque with teary eyes and a strong resolve to get closer to God.
Prayer, fasting and reading Koran became more common and Hijab for the girls was no exception.
Although scholars are divided about whether the scarf and the traditional Islamic gown is 'an obligation,' Khaled and several preachers who gradually rose to popularity, vehemently advocate it.
But as stricter forms of Hijab started to be widely adopted, another view emerged - that the veil has been used by radical scholars to 'control' and constrain women.
The rise of 'conservatism' seemed to go out of proportion, as certain apparel like the opaque face-veils and head-to-toe cloaks began to spread. This was also coupled by the 'inactivity' of some women who chose to confine themselves at home after donning the veil.
Many liberals feared that this trend may introduce to Egypt elements of 'backwardness' that are imported from Arab countries which promote a more rigid form of Islamic practice.
In a newspaper column, Islamic intellectual Mohammad Emara wrote against what he called 'Islamic transgressors' who use Hijab as a 'tool' to oppress Muslim women
Emara said these people, who are engaged in a power struggle with women, force upon them a stringent lifestyle that is not necessarily compatible with what Islam preaches, and which is 'more political' than it is religious.
Emara advocated the headscarf but said that some scholars 'are attempting to push women back to the age of harem' with the Hijab.
Caught in the row between the contemptuous liberals and the uncompromising hardliners, some young women like Naira continue to struggle for 'a balance' between Islamic practice and living their life to the fullest 'without sin.'
Even with a veil on, Naira - a single mother - remained committed to a full-time day job as a business development manager, among other activities.
And after taking the veil off, Naira insists on 'practicing' Islam. And, she may return to covering her hair - 'when I am ready.'
But for her, the decision to take it on or to abandon it is both personal and religious - one that cannot be decided by preachers and their loyalists in the mosques.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-AgenturCOMMENT
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Older Talkback
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There are several flaws in your article:
1) 'maintaining a low-profile in public and abstaining from 'casual relationships' with the opposite sex'
-Since when do any Egyptian women, veiled or not, maintain a low public profile? Veiled women work on tv channels, walk the streets by the Nile with their boyfriends, and are just as loud and boisterous as the next, non-veiled Egyptian girl.
2) 'Although this strict understanding of the veil is not outlined by the Koran, Naira explained that she tried to strictly abide by this socially-backed 'behavioral code' when she first took the veil on. '
Strict understanding of the veil? It is a notion supported by all Muslim scholars. 'Socially backed'? Wrong term-every Egyptian woman has the freedom to wear, or not wear the veil-in fact, those who do not wear the veil are often percieved as 'higher-class' and are never turned down for jobs due to their appearance-as opposed to many qualified veiled woman who are constantly turned down for jobs. Furthermore, the term socially backed implies it as a social phenomenon rather than a religious one. The veil is obligatory-whether you are Muslim or are Mother Teresa, it's not limited to Islam. In the Middle Ages it was very common in Europe for women to cover their hair-that was a socially backed phenomenon.
3) 'The Muslim's holiest book clearly states that a woman should cover her cleavage and dress modestly - but any other restrictions on dress remain debatable. '
'Although scholars are divided about whether the scarf and the traditional Islamic gown is 'an obligation,''
Debatable by who? Present valid arguments rather than gross statements.
4)
'Some women even started covering their hair with scarves while preserving their dress style that included wearing tight pants and body-hugging tops.
TV preacher Amr Khaled was one cleric who is considered to have introduced this neo-Islamic conservative trend. '
Placing that paragraph right after the former was uncalled for, and seriously insults the TV preacher-it appears almost as if he condones tight-clothes veiled women.
Sorry to say, but a sloppy piece of journalism. Rather dissapointed, as I've read many other articles written by you.
The previous posters pretty much summed up my sentiments towards this article. What exactly was the purpose of this piece? To feel sympathetic towards this woman who found it hard to wear the scarf? I'm afraid I'm not feeling it...had this article been polished to exclude all the fallacious arguments and implications therein, it might have provided some kind of input - but as it stands its merely a waste of otherwise good online space...
The personal story told here is just that--personal, and thus valid and interesting on its own terms. However, the 'background' provided on the 'return' of the veil and the 'struggle' between liberals and conservatives is grossly simplified and does not do justice to the complexity of religious, social and political trends within Egyptian society or to dynamics of gender discrimination and exclusion, which may sometimes coincide with particular religious discourses but can in no way be equated with or attributed to religious trends alone.
The veil has been a marker of Islamic societies throughout the ages and all four orthodox schools of Islamic law agree that hijab (in its broadest sense) is obligatory for both men and women--based on evidence derived from the primary sources of Islam. Modest dress (including the veil) is thus in no way a modern phenomenon--in fact, less than a century ago ALL Egyptian women were fully veiled, which was both the religious and cultural norm of the time.
The veil has certainly been objectified and appropriated for ideological purposes by 'some' Islamic movements past and present but women have been just as much a part of these movements as men, championing the veil as a marker of their religious commitment and independence. In fact, as gender historians such Leila Ahmed have noted, ESPECIALLY in Egypt the veil has helped women to become MORE visible in the public sphere. A mere look into Egyptian public and professional life shows that the veil has in no way held women back.
Naira's story is an interesting illustration of the ebb and flow of personal Islamic practice and interpretation and her choices should be respected. However, placing her story in the context of wider social and religious developments requires more critical engagement with the views of popular pundits such as Mohamed Emara. There is far more to Egyptian Islam than the sectarian views of extremists on either side, and a failure to highlight this will only contribute further to distorted views of Islam and the Muslim world.
Who didn't anyone ask this poor girl why she's a single mother at this age, was that a reason why she wanted to revolutionilize, or was is there something else she's hiding. She was hiding behind the veil and when the reason, nothing related to her love for god, vanished she came back and said when she's ready! You don't have the choice of being ready to practice gods say! There are rules and you either abide to them or not, and playing with rules is exactly why the arab world and the ME will never get anywhere. At the end of the day, all I could say is god bless Islam and the true muslims who are ready when they read gods say!!!! God bless Islam God bless Islam!
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A.J. BaxtorMay 6th, 2007 - 22:16:14
I'm sorry but this is a really silly article. Poor little pretty girl who wanted more attention than was granted to her by the scarf decides she wants to take it off because of all the conservatism..booo hoooo! There are so much more important things going on in the ME girls, please wake up and smell the humus! When did this fascination with what women wear begin?? As a man, I feel like you are simply promulgating a negative stereotype about women nowadays. As a teacher, I am insulted at your lack of scholarly accuracy - sweetheart, you imply that 'scholars' all of whom are supposedly of equal rank are still in dispute as to the obligatory nature of the scarf?? let me set you straight on that one: this issue has been finalized long before you were born and no 'scholar' worth his/her weight would disagree, in fact please cite one of these wonderful scholars for me...Finally, as a Muslim I am saddened that someone who actually may have a God-given talent for writing is wasting it on topics like these...I do not care if this lady puts the scarf back on in fact I dont care that she took it off in the first place, but please lets call things what they are and stop hiding behind facades of pseudo-intellectualism...
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