The myth, beliefs and reality behind the Hijab, the muslim veil.

The black kohl is smeared and tears cling to her eyelashes. She stares out with eyes full of anguish from behind her shroud as if asking the world to comprehend her tormenting existence and wordlessly pleads for help. Though she is only gazing out from the cover of the famed book 'Princess', (Jean Sasson) she is as real as any woman. Her pain can be felt and her distress shared as her muffled scream echoes from the silent picture.

You will see these 'abaaya' clad women featured on covers of books like 'Not Without My Daughter,' 'Rage Against The Veil' and 'Daughters Of Arabia'. What you will feel might be more then heartrending compassion but what you might not realize is they have started to symbolize the entire Muslim women and what leaps out of the book covers are not the beseeching eyes but the black hijab.

September 1994, 13-year-old Emilie Ouimet was sent home from Montreal's Louis Riel High School (Quebec, Canada) because her hijab did not conform to the school's uniform.
In two Caribbean islands (Trinidad and Tobago) that are largely populated with Muslims; the Catholic, Anglican, Baptist and Hindu boards of education issued a joint statement prohibiting Muslim girls from wearing hijab to school.
The French national minister of education issued a law that banned headscarves from the classrooms. The Moroccan government forbade its citizens in France to join protests against hijab strictures there.
In Britain (1990) two Muslim girls were sent home from college for wearing hijabs. Turkey, Algeria and Tunisia, has had a prohibition on wearing it as well. More recently, Europeans and Americans have made moves against the hijab and sardonically all these nations eloquently stress against any bigotry.

These loosely linked chains of events found their places somewhere away from front-pages of national newspapers mitigating various reasons like: the hijab is a threat to secularism and the separation of religion and state. Or it is responsible for dividing Muslim and non-Muslim students by introducing religious influences in schools and creating pointless strain on other students to kowtow to Islamic dress or moral code. That the hijab constitutes to violation of female's human rights as a form of discrimination is the most popular. Interestingly so, these reporters who seem to know everything backward and forward left out some very basis queries that fill me with curiosity. Questions like, when will the times come for equal rights of Muslim minorities? When there will be no dilemmas left to solve? Are their avowed human rights only worth the material value of the paper they are written on? And if the hajibs are being prohibited socially, will similar measures follow against the Jewish yarmulkes (skullcap), the Christian nun's habits, the turbans the Sikh wear and then will Christian students be forbidden from wearing crosses to schools too?

I am not being vindictive, what I am trying to point out is that what is a very personal act of worship for a Muslim has startlingly become one of the most controversial and debated subject concerning Muslim women in the contemporary society, and that too for the wrong reasons and priorities! What I pen down is not in defense of the religion. Islam needs no such defense, period. But in corroboration of the Muslim veil after seeing how wrongly it is being perceived and interpreted. What is actually incredulous is that all-inclusive, there seems to be a rising consensus that a few yards of cloth on a woman's head is a threat to her education, rights, freedom, public security etc and actually associated with Islam rather then the accountable cultures.

Before we get to the bottom of this, let me just give you the bottom-line; a Muslim woman has the right and liberty by her religion to choose how she construe s her hijab! It is not a societal concern according to the Qur'an and no chastisement for failing to observe it have been specified as for adultery, murder, slander etc. This basic acknowledgement of her innate gift towards choosing the path of Allah is much more significant than any type of particulars about what composes her hijab.

You see, the Qur'an does not mandate the practice of hijab among Muslim women; rather it is based on the religious doctrine that comes from the Hadith of Sahih Bukhari. (The Hadith being the traditions of Prophet Mohammed, peace be upon him, revealing his teachings to his followers.)

"O Prophet, tell your wives and daughters and the believing women to draw their outer garments around them (when they go out or are among men). That is better in order that they may be known (to be Muslims) and not annoyed..." (Qur'an 33:59)

Then what went wrong and how did things become to full of twists and turns for some believers of the Muslim faith? The answer is rooted with the fact that for many centuries the veiling of women has been deal with exclusive male interpretation of laws carried the weight of divine sanction while actually suppressing their ignorant women. A most recent modern day example is that of the radical Taliban rule and it is sad that women are being used as victims in men's control and opinionated struggles and that it is being done in the name of Islam.

The motive behind wearing the hijab is modesty but because the word 'hijab' is translated as 'veil', people assume that Islam wants it's women to stay put behind a drape isolated from the society, imprisoned within the four walls of their houses leaving only when direly required. In reality, nothing in the hijab restrict a woman's freedom of movement, outlook and opinion or stops her from educating herself, having a profession, choosing a husband or remaining single. Common sense points out that women would not have been told to observe the hijab if they were supposed to stay confined at home; the hijab is meant for the public life because women does not observe hijab at home while with family! It is indeed a pity that scores of cultures embedded in Muslim nations have still not properly comprehended the ideal status Islam gives women and more so have mislead non-Muslims too.

But since the Non-Muslim world is forever keen on accenting the comparatively exploited minorities, the hijab alone has come to symbolize forced silence, debauched militancy and sheer terror on behalf of the wearer. This assertion might baffle some readers but try seeing it from this angle; a falcon with its wings spread signifies Harley-Davidson, a swoosh sign on a jogger will immediately bring to mind Nike. Why? The reason being that logos, signs and even minimal words have explicit impact. So in a culture where people use clothes to label individuality, send a message and indicate what groups they belong to, the hajib has become more of a statement.
For the oblivious onlookers, a woman wearing the Muslim hijab is just "the veiled woman", a mystifying exotic figure that intrigues their inquisitiveness. Some see her as making a sweeping declaration about her fanatic political and religious notions. Others view her as a symbol of utter helplessness, in dire need of being salvaged from her male persecutor and Islam, both that are seen as poisoning the western free and democratic culture with weak and submissive ways for women.

It is of essence to add here that since the hijab is associated with oppression and inferior status for women, many people believe that deliverance and freedom shall come with unveiling. But what remains to be answered is that has a woman who is free of the hijab really ever found freedom? Has the unveiling given her an equal status with men? The whole thing is that a woman cannot find equality and dignity in a society that does not respect her for who she is, with or without the hijab. She cannot be honored if her appearance is more significant than her potential and character. Is it not ironic that the so-called unprejudiced west sees the hijab as sheer discrimination against women by Islam yet women who do don the hijab willingly in the west have been discrimination by their peers, society in general, employers and the western authorities?

The fact that the hijab can actually pose as a nagging problem for western people is food for thought. Is it actually posing as a threat? Maybe so! Hijab is not merely a covering cloth but more importantly, it is behavior, manners, speech and appearance in public for the dress is only one facade of the whole person. A female professional may be appreciated in the work environment for her skill but never the less she is valued as a woman and that interferes with business relations with men since evaluation should be for intelligence and skills instead of looks and sexuality. Here the hijab put the other person on guard, indicated limitations and hence the person is dealt as more of a professional then a woman.

Then many believe that the veil is a way to secure personal liberty by allowing freedom of movement and control of bodies. Understood in such terms, hijab protects women from the male gaze and allows them to become autonomous subjects. The woman is covering her head out of her love for God and is not just stating something about what she accepts but she is also about what she rejects. In the west where women dress not to cover, but to advantageously expose their bodies, these Muslim women are sending out a very strong message that they choose not to chip in, in the gender game of show-and-seek. Other women see it as a personal attack that the wearer automatically and candidly disapproved of everything they do. What adds fuel to this fire is that when these women who are believed to be forced, demoralized and desperate are seen contented, educated, cultured and liberated, important stereotypes are crushed without a word being spoken.
The liberation of women cannot escalate by defending women from the hajib but by defending their decision to keep their bodies to themselves as and how they please. True equality will not be when women are told to discard this cover but only when women don't need to display themselves to get attention. Hijab does not denigrate woman but it raises and honors her. It is a barrier and a shield, not because women are weak, but because the society is.

So shed tears for the woman you see gawking from book covers, suffer for the wretched women born in warped cultures, remonstration for women chained away from freedom by their men and customs; but don't waste your crystal-clear tears for the virtuous women who wear the hijab. Don't waste your time deeming that the hajib is a symbol of terrorism, distinguish it, as the identity of a Muslim, who follows the religion of peace by will.