Religious head covering: hijabs, sais, scarves and sexual insecurities

   

In Beit Shemesh, a strict orthodox enclave in Israel,  ever more Jewish women have taken to covering up - not just hair and neck but in some cases the whole head.  They call it a sai rather than a (Muslim) hijab, but one worryingly says "The truth is that the women of Israel are lessening in God's eyes because the Arabs are more modest in dress. If the Jews want to conquer the Arabs in this land they must enhance their modesty,”
The Jewish Chronicle columnist speaks strongly against the practice:  "They are making themselves invisible, effectively non-persons. Modesty, for them, is not participation in the world, while de-emphasising their physicality — as it is in halachah — but complete self-effacement, to the point of self-obliteration. They have no faces". Women retaliate.  Some claim tradition.   Other sites again say it is parallel to an eating disorder,  denying the body to make it disappear. 
     Covering up women, however, has a history as old as religion.  In the European medieval period women wore their hair loose when unmarried but once married covered it in a linen wrap.  Among the stricter Plymouth Brethren to this day, the 'sistern' must cover their heads.  Joanna Bourke writes interestingly in the Times.  And most modern women would ask  why it is that they must hide from men: have men no self-control?  Whereon we discover that the male hijab is gathering favour among some Muslims, followers of strict advice on websites like Muttaqun.  A thoughtful piece in the Guardian refers to this.      While the prevailing sluttiness and exhibitionism of much Western dress is not universally admired,  the sense of mutual hiding and shame in these sites is profoundly depressing...

      

Comments

[Scott Leach]

Plymouth Brethren (and many other Christian) women cover the heads as taught in 1 Corinthians 11. It has nothing to do with what men think or say, but rather obedience to God's Word.

[Umm Yasmin]

Hi,

As a veiled Muslim woman interested in feminism, and also a westerner I wanted to point out that Islamic dresscodes carry many meanings. For me, apart from simple obedience to the relevant Qur'anic statements and hadiths, I also strongly believe that the hijab can be a feminist statement *against* the objectification of women's bodies that occurs so regularly in the West.

Whilst it has become more of a political statement than it was ever originally intended, the hijab is also a marker of my Muslim identity, of which I am so very proud. I and many of my sisters in the West and in the Muslim world, believe that modesty should be practiced by men and women - so that the public sphere is de-sexualised, and sexuality is celebrated in the private sphere. That women cover more is merely a biological function and says nothing about worth.

[Alistair]

It's not only about religion "covering up" women, though, is it? What about religion that has some of its men going absolutely butt-naked?

What about the Digambara Jains, who go "sky-clad"? This travelogue includes a picture and a description:

http://www.davestravelcorner.com/journals/publish/article_187.shtml

"Around noon time, we arrived back where we started: at the main temple in the valley. There, we saw the Naked Jain Monks sitting down inside a large open air room around their guru. The Jain Mothers surrounded the Naked Monks. They formed a beautiful circle of naked brown skin men, and women in white saris.'

A picture of a 'sky-clad' monk can also be found on the BBC web site' religion and ethics section.

[Alistair]

Scott Leach

1 Corinthians 11 also says:

"If a woman does not cover her head, she should have her hair cut off; and if it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut or shaved off, she should cover her head. A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man. For man did not come from woman, but woman from man; neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. For this reason, and because of the angels, the woman ought to have a sign of authority on her head."

I suspect a feminist here or there would have some comment to make about these sentiments, and "obedience to God's word", don't you?

[Brother Enrique]

Covering the head is sacred for women..even in Mexico..

[Robert Brown]

Uuuuuum! Let me see ... "Some comments of a Feminist here or there" ... or the Word of God ... I wonder which I should be concerned about obeying? Sounds strangely like the same old issue that was at the heart of the issue between Satan and Eve in the Garden of Eden doesn't it! The Evil One's tactics and his focus haven't changed much over all these years have they?