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Dec. 29th, 2004
[insert preposition here] the Veil
Dec. 29th, 2004 10:36 amMuslim dress seems to be an undying area of interest to Westerners, as shown by the incredible number of books on the market entitled "Behind the Veil," "Beyond the Veil," "Under the Veil," and so on. You would really think that The Veil is the most important aspect of women's lives here.
All the Qur'an says on the subject that Muslimas should wear cloaks to avoid being annoyed by men (33:59) and that they should not display their beauty and ornaments to men outside their families, except "that which is apparent" (24:31). So what is apparent? Obviously interpretations differ, and there is an exceedingly wide range of clothing which meets the Qur'anic requirements.
Arab dress is thus a cultural phenomenon more than a religious one. There is nothing religious about women wearing black and men wearing white; that's just how people around here have tended to dress. Many people don't give it much more thought than I've ever given my blue jeans. My mom wore blue jeans, she dressed me in blue jeans as a kid, and now I like to wear blue jeans. It's just what we wear, that's all.
It also seems interesting to me that, under the guise of modern anti-sexism, we're rather sexist in our concerns. There are no books called "Behind the Ghutra." Nobody frets over whether the sheikh sends young men a bad message by continuing to wear the thobe, as they fret over the sheikha's abaya or lack thereof. It's true that the minimum acceptable outfit for women covers slightly more body than the minimum acceptable outfit for men -- but that's true in the United States, too!
***
Many women who wear the traditional abaya also have the traditional objections to photography, so it's difficult to show exactly what is involved in the traditional Qatari dress. So I had![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
foobart take pictures of me putting on an abaya, shayla and niqab. I'm going to post them in a minute or two, but I'm posting them friends-only since I'm very identifiable in the pictures. I've realized in the last few days that I have some family & friends reading this who aren't on my friends list. If you'd like to be added, please let me know! (You need to open a Livejournal account, but it's free.)
EDIT: the aforementioned journal entry full of pictures is no longer friends-only. You can view it here.
All the Qur'an says on the subject that Muslimas should wear cloaks to avoid being annoyed by men (33:59) and that they should not display their beauty and ornaments to men outside their families, except "that which is apparent" (24:31). So what is apparent? Obviously interpretations differ, and there is an exceedingly wide range of clothing which meets the Qur'anic requirements.
Arab dress is thus a cultural phenomenon more than a religious one. There is nothing religious about women wearing black and men wearing white; that's just how people around here have tended to dress. Many people don't give it much more thought than I've ever given my blue jeans. My mom wore blue jeans, she dressed me in blue jeans as a kid, and now I like to wear blue jeans. It's just what we wear, that's all.
It also seems interesting to me that, under the guise of modern anti-sexism, we're rather sexist in our concerns. There are no books called "Behind the Ghutra." Nobody frets over whether the sheikh sends young men a bad message by continuing to wear the thobe, as they fret over the sheikha's abaya or lack thereof. It's true that the minimum acceptable outfit for women covers slightly more body than the minimum acceptable outfit for men -- but that's true in the United States, too!
Many women who wear the traditional abaya also have the traditional objections to photography, so it's difficult to show exactly what is involved in the traditional Qatari dress. So I had
foobart take pictures of me putting on an abaya, shayla and niqab. I'm going to post them in a minute or two, but I'm posting them friends-only since I'm very identifiable in the pictures. I've realized in the last few days that I have some family & friends reading this who aren't on my friends list. If you'd like to be added, please let me know! (You need to open a Livejournal account, but it's free.)EDIT: the aforementioned journal entry full of pictures is no longer friends-only. You can view it here.
