The Hijab
Controversy
Abdul H. Manraj
About 10 years
ago, I wrote an article dealing with the head-covering / hijab, which generated much feedback – both
verbally and written – at that time and in the intervening
years. Some of the comments on the article were positive but there was also a
lot of virulent criticism. As one would expect from much of the intellectually
stagnant Muslim world, when revisiting or questioning rulings and traditions
that have been handed down to us with accretions over the centuries, the
approach is not to analyze the logic and evidence presented, but to attack the
author / messenger. Moreover, my qualifications were questioned, the
insinuation being that only “scholars” are eligible to indulge in such
analyses, and the rest of the Muslim world is obliged to follow their edicts / fatawa like a blindly adherent flock. Admittedly I’m
a layman and not an Islamic scholar by any stretch of the imagination, but I
submit that common sense and intellect are not exclusive to scholars alone. In
fact, I have experienced numerous situations where so called “Muslim scholars”
display neither trait, which of course has a profound effect on the Muslim
laity.
My position (and
the overlooked premise of the decade old article) has been – and still is –
that the hijab is an icon of Muslim identity and is not a requirement,
however, women who choose to wear the head-covering should be allowed to do so.
In its Qur'anic use, hijab actually refers to
a wall or curtain and applied specifically to the Prophet Muhammad’s wives, but
over the centuries, the interpretation became synonymous with head-covering.
Muslim organizations and the majority of Muslim men and women portray the hijab
as a religiously mandated item of clothing, which is also the position of
orthodox Jews and Catholic nuns. The term “religiously mandated” is somewhat of
an oxymoron, as the Qur’an clearly states that “there shall be no coercion
in religion” (Q2:256), so on the one hand, Muslims are fond of quoting this
verse to prove that Islam advocates freedom of choice, and in the same breath
these Muslims dichotomously claim that the hijab is mandated. In some cases, those who choose to wear the hijab
make some of their Muslim sisters feel religiously inferior for not abiding by
the same dress code, so in essence outward appearance determines one’s level of
piety. While certain things would certainly seem ordered, every single order
has circumstances that might temper it, and anything that is controversial
should ipso facto not be seen as
"religiously mandated," more so since the hijab certainly does
not fit the category of ordered / mandated.
When quoting the
Qur'an to make a case for the hijab, Muslims usually cite 24:31 and
33:59, which tells the believing women "to draw their head-coverings
over their bosoms and not reveal their charms..." (first
instance), and then "to draw over themselves some of their outer
garments when in public so that they are recognized as decent women and not
annoyed..." (second instance). It is
paradoxical to presume that prior to these revelations,
women were covering their hair to protect themselves from prying eyes because
the hair was an "enticing charm", but leaving their bosoms partially
exposed as an act of modesty. This style of dress was obviously in vogue at the
time or the instruction to cover the bosom would be pointless. It is preposterous
to argue that a woman's exposed head of hair is a more flirtatious act than a
partially exposed bosom (unless the medieval Arabs were more turned on by a
head of hair instead of cleavage), therefore the Qur'anic
instructions are clearly about modesty and not covering the hair per se.
Recently, there
was an example of how ludicrous arguments are sometimes presented in the name
of religion. A Muslim woman sued the Orange County Sheriff’s Department for not
being allowed to wear the hijab while in prison (for more information,
see “Muslim sues over right to wear head scarf” by H.G. Reza, September 5, 2007 edition
of the
The approach that
Muslims take to the Qur’an and ahadith (the
Prophet Muhammad’s reported sayings and actions) will determine their position
on various decrees and cultural norms. Some believe that the Qur’an and ahadith are immutable regardless of the time space factor.
Others (myself included) believe that all statutes and traditions have to be
understood in context, and regulations have to be revised as conditions change.
For example, I don’t believe that any rational person would posit that slavery
should still be institutionalized today, since the Qur’an acknowledges the
practice but did not specifically abolish it. Furthermore, the majority of
Muslims unquestioningly accept thousands of ahadith
as infallible, even though many of these narrations are at odds with the
Qur’an’s universal message. Also conveniently ignored is the fact that these
stories were passed down through several generations over hundreds of years. At
the time that these ahadith were collected,
hundreds of thousands were reportedly discarded, yet we are supposed to believe
that those generations of Muslims were somehow flawless, and that the ahadith that remain with us today are impeccable.
Documenting capabilities were not anywhere close to the level we have today,
yet in a time when writing was done on leather skins, parchments, etc., and
travel took weeks, months, or years on foot, horseback, and camel, we are
supposed to believe that the hadith collectors either had a
"tractor trailer" of documents that they travelled with, or
superhuman memory. Bukhari supposedly collected
roughly 600,000 traditions before finally settling on about 7,000. If all of
these ahadith were memorized instead of
written, then this uncanny ability to store such massive amounts of data in
memory and recall thousands of ahadith without
error has not been seen before or since that period. When people lose the
ability to think, question, and continuously progress, then the result is the
kind of decadence that is currently manifest in much of the Muslim world.
The fact is that
women played a prominent role in Muslim society during the Prophet’s time and
in a couple of centuries following his demise. Women were jurists and even
educated men, but all this changed (to a large extent) following the
proliferation of the ahadith,
which relegated women to second class citizens and an almost slave-like status.
The ahadith
are perceived as pretty much reliable (especially Bukhari
and Muslim), so we are supposed to accept (without question) reports like the
ones below that are attributed to the Prophet, which claim that the majority of
women are mentally deficient, ungrateful, and destined for hell.
Narrated Abu Sa’id Al−Khudri:
Once Allah's Apostle went out to the Musalla (to
offer the prayer) of 'Id−al−Adha or Al−Fitr. Then he passed by the women and said, "O women!
Give alms, as I have seen that the majority of the dwellers of hellfire were
you (women)." They asked, "Why is it so, O Allah's Apostle?" He
replied, "You curse frequently and are ungrateful to your husbands. I have
not seen anyone more deficient in intelligence and religion than you. A
cautious sensible man could be led astray by some of you." The women
asked, "O Allah's Apostle! What is deficient in our intelligence and
religion?" He said, "Is not the evidence of two women equal to the
witness of one man?" They replied in the affirmative. He said, "This
is the deficiency in her intelligence. Isn't it true that a woman can neither
pray nor fast during her menses?" The women replied in the affirmative. He
said, "This is the deficiency in her religion." (Bukhari
1.301)
“...I also saw the hellfire and I had never seen such a horrible sight. I
saw that most of the inhabitants were women." The people asked, "O
Allah's Apostle! Why is it so?" The Prophet replied, "Because of their
ungratefulness." It was asked whether they are ungrateful to Allah. The
Prophet said, "They are ungrateful to their companions of life (husbands)
and ungrateful to good deeds. If you are benevolent to one of them throughout
the life and if she sees anything (undesirable) in you, she will say, 'I have
never had any good from you.” (Bukhari 2.161)
Sayings like the
above (there are many others in the various hadith
collections) are used to remind Muslims that women have a propensity towards
evil, and they should essentially not be heard or seen in public. With such
patriarchal attitudes dominating Islam for centuries, it is no surprise that
many Muslim women have come to believe that they are responsible for some of
society’s ills, analogous to an abused woman blaming herself for her
oppressor’s cruelty. There is a strong possibility that this notion of the
woman being the temptation towards evil infiltrated Muslim beliefs by way of
some of the early Jewish and Christian converts to Islam, as there is nothing
in the Qur’an that denigrates women to a fraction of the level that the ahadith do. The
practice of veiling initially started among the Syrian and Iranian elite, and
then became a norm among the Jews and Arabs. There is a lot of well-researched
material available on the Internet that reinforces my belief that the hijab
is not mandated by the Qur’an or authentic ahadith,
but is rather a result of Judeo-Christian influence (for example, see To Cover or Not to Cover: That is the Question - Jewish Hair Laws Through the Ages by Dr. Leila Leah Bronner, Head Covering by Ellen Kavanaugh, and Head covering - Women: will you cover your head?). Also below are a few Biblical
references.
For she had said unto the servant, What man is this that walketh in
the field to meet us? And the servant had said, It is
my master: therefore she took a vail, and covered
herself. (Genesis 24:65)
And she put her widow's garments off from
her, and covered her with a vail, and wrapped
herself, and sat in an open place, which is by the way to Timnath;
for she saw that Shelah was grown, and she was not
given unto him to wife. When
And the priest shall set the woman before
the Lord, and uncover the woman's head, and put the offering of memorial in her
hands, which is the jealousy offering: and the priest shall have in his hand
the bitter water that causeth the curse. (Numbers
5:18)
But every woman that prayeth
or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head: for that is even all one as if she
were shaven. For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn: but if it
be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered. For a man
indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of
God: but the woman is the glory of the man. (Corinthians 11:5-7)
The Qur’an
contains very little in the way of legislation and is actually quite vague
about men’s or women’s attire, instead primarily focusing on ethics and
spirituality. On the other hand, the ahadith are replete with minutiae. In fact, many of the ahadith present
such conflicting reports that they actually create confusion. There are several
ahadith
that advocate that women should veil themselves, and there are also reports
that Muslim slave-women are exempt from covering their hair, presumably because
it was somewhat restrictive for them in getting their work done. Muslims
certainly cannot argue that Muslim slave-women were less pious than free women
simply because of their status in society, or that slave-women were not as
sexually attractive as free women. While the focus is usually on the ahadith that
promulgate veiling, the following ahadith about hair extensions and wigs are seldom mentioned.
Narrated ‘Abdullah (bin Mus'ud): Allah's Apostle
has cursed the lady who uses false hair. (Bukhari
6.409)
Narrated Abu Huraira: The Prophet said,
"Allah has cursed the lady who artificially lengthens (her or someone
else's) hair and the one who gets her hair lengthened and the one who tattoos
(herself or someone else) and the one who gets herself tattooed." (Bukhari 7.816)
Narrated ‘Aisha: An Ansari woman gave her daughter in marriage and the hair
of the latter started falling out. The Ansari women came to the Prophet and
mentioned that to him and said, "Her (my daughter's) husband suggested
that I should let her wear false hair." The Prophet said, "No, (don't
do that) for Allah sends His curses upon such ladies who lengthen their hair
artificially." (Bukhari 7.133)
Narrated Asma: (the daughter of Abu' Bakr) A woman came to Allah's Apostle and said, "I
married my daughter to someone, but she became sick and all her hair fell out,
and (because of that) her husband does not like her. May I let her use false
hair?" On that the Prophet cursed such a lady as artificially lengthening
(her or someone else's) hair or got her hair lengthened artificially. (Bukhari 7.818)
We have to assume
that whether or not Muslim women wore hair extensions in early Muslim society
could not be determined when they were in public, since they would (presumably)
be wearing the head-covering. It would appear then that the Prophet took a keen
interest in how women appeared in the privacy of their homes with their
husbands and immediate family members. In fact, the Prophet who was sent as a
“mercy to mankind” allegedly preferred to see a Muslim woman get divorced
rather than wear a wig to save her marriage, as the above hadith claims. One
would also expect that there would have been some rulings for handsome or
muscular looking men given women’s proclivity towards sinfulness, but there are
none, or if there are, they are never cited. The burden is solely on women to
prevent societal promiscuity.
The arguments for
the hijab have now been spun to
illogically claim that the head-covering actually empowers women. The hijab
controversy has reached a level of comic proportions. Now there are
advertisements about fashionable hijabs so that women can appear more
"beautiful" with their covered heads, defeating its "alleged"
purpose of modesty and not attracting attention to oneself.
I have seen young Muslim women in shorts and with their stomachs exposed but
with their heads covered. If the focus on the hijab is hiding the
woman's hair from lustful eyes and keeping men's predatory urges in check, some
women today obviously do not feel the same way about exposed flesh. Or is the
idea that "exposed flesh" is not as tempting as exposed hair? This
traditional style of dress also has health implications, (see Middle Eastern women may have vitamin D
deficiency by David Douglas, and Vitamin D “Inadequacy” Endangers Lives of
Middle East Women). Regardless of
any evidence or rationale presented, Muslim traditionalists would have us
believe that God (in His infinite wisdom) made the woman's hair part of her
overall beauty (aura) to be viewed only by her husband and immediate
family. We can infer from this then that a woman's face (regardless of its
beauty or lack thereof) will not attract any unwanted attention, and only the
exposed hair will provide a "turn on".
Besides the
factors already mentioned above, people's interpretation of religious
obligations is also heavily influenced by their environment, level of education
/ intellect, and cultural upbringing, much more so than the actual wording of
any doctrine. Whether or not Muslims choose to acknowledge it, there are many
creedal beliefs and practices that were passed down to us as a result of
Judeo-Christian influence, sectarian and political affiliations, various
cultural norms, and outright fabrications, yet Muslims have adopted and refined
these beliefs and practices without question throughout the millennia. Besides
the hijab, other tenets include (but are not limited to) stoning to
death, the second coming of Jesus, punishment in the grave, etc., so I
encourage Muslims to do more research on their own. Established beliefs and
practices are difficult to discard, so my objective is not to discredit Muslims
who choose to wear the hijab as an icon of religion, identification,
modesty, liberation, or whatever. Rather, this article is meant to provide
Muslims with some additional food for thought and show the folly of the
“religiously mandated” argument. Faith is a personal relationship between an
individual and God. Claiming that something is a religious requirement is
actually speaking for God, so one has to be careful that the evidence is
incontrovertible when issuing such decrees. Furthermore, advocating that anything is compulsory in Islam (or any religion for that matter) perpetuates the notion of theocratic authoritarianism, rigidity, and intolerance, which stifles debate and denies people freedom of choice and personal accountability to God. And Allah knows best.
Posted September
16, 2007