Is veil in regards to covering of face, Islamic? There is no mention of 'covering of face' in the Quran, it is not a religious requirement rather more of a cultural evolution.
"Say to the believing men that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty: that will make for greater purity for them: And Allah is well acquainted with all that they do. And say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty; that they should not display their beauty and ornaments except what (must ordinarily) appear thereof; that they should draw their veils over their bosoms and not display their beauty except to.." (Quran: Surah An Nur 24:30-31)
Head covering however is not only Islamic but also a part of Christianity and Judaism.
"And every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head - it is just as though her head were shaved. 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 off 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." (New Testament: St Paul; I Corinthians 11:3-10)In the Jewish culture, veil is also considered part of the woman’s modesty. It has been written many times that it was a custom of Jewish women to cover their head in public, sometimes, even covered the whole face leaving one eye free.
"It is not like the daughters of Israel to walk out with heads uncovered" and "Cursed be the man who lets the hair of his wife be seen....a woman who exposes her hair for self-adornment brings poverty." (The Jewish woman in Rabbinic literature: Rabbi Dr. Menachem Brayer)
"Rabbinic law forbids the recitation of blessings or prayers in the presence of a bareheaded married woman since uncovering the woman's hair is considered nudity". (Swidler, cit.121-123)
And nowadays in the Jewish culture, the traditional veil is replaced with a wig as another form of hair covering.
Up until the 1960ies head covering veil was considered normal in the west as well. To date the catholic nuns cover their heads and not look any different from a Muslim woman wearing a hijab. Veil is supposed to give modesty and hence protection, which few of us continue to endorse despite the external pressures of the current society.
However the issue is not whether veil is Islamic as being currently debated in the media, rather whether the ban on veil is just? It is a ban on human rights and violation of equality in the name of secularism. Quoting President Sarkozy 'secular nation's values', what are these values may I ask? How is wearing a burqa/veil not dignified? Is baring a woman the new definition of dignity? And how is forcing someone not to wear veil any different than forcing someone to wear it? Is that equality or justice or secularism as the French so claims?! Or simply suppression!
In this day and age, one would think that it is the innate right of a human being in a civilized nation to practice religion or culture in the way they desire without fear of being persecuted. To cover your face or not is a personal preference and it should not make a country insecure. The French ban is a perfect example of pure fundamentalist extreme. What happened to free will? The French ban proves there is no freedom in France. What happened to standing against tyranny? Are we to sit still and continue to watch the prelude to the twenty first century holocaust? After all history does repeat itself!
In this day and age, one would think that it is the innate right of a human being in a civilized nation to practice religion or culture in the way they desire without fear of being persecuted. To cover your face or not is a personal preference and it should not make a country insecure. The French ban is a perfect example of pure fundamentalist extreme. What happened to free will? The French ban proves there is no freedom in France. What happened to standing against tyranny? Are we to sit still and continue to watch the prelude to the twenty first century holocaust? After all history does repeat itself!
Photo courtesy of 'Real Freedom means being able to wear a veil' by Daniel Finkelstein
8 comments:
v well written. especially impressed to see the relvence to other scriptures, which i didn't know about. thank you for writing this, and sharing this.
Brilliantly written. The unfortunate reality is that EU is becoming more conservative. There are many right wing (conservative) parties in countries like Austria (The Freedom Party), Denmark (DPP), Holland (Christian Democrats). Islam has become the easiest target and all of it is done in the light of freedom. I totally agree with the curbing freedom statement.
The banning of minarets in Switzerland is another perfect example of suppression but one of the most so-called liberal nations.
Great job...Please keep writing :)
Salaam
Problem with this article is that you go on about veil when France hasn't banned the veil. France has banned face covering in public by niqab/ ballaklava etc. Face covering is not Islamic , it's cultural . However veil is Islamic tradition. But agree with the emotions behind this article
Please let me clarify that the meaning of the word veil are "a piece of opaque or transparent material worn over the face for concealment, for protection from the elements,." or "a piece of material worn so as to fall over the head and shoulders on each side of the face, forming a part of the headdress of a nun."
There is no true distinction when you use the word veil. It depends on ones understanding of this word. Thats why in the second line of my article I wrote veil/burqa and hoped that the reader understands that we are talking about face covering ban, as there are multiple words for this. I am also aware of the fact that veil i.e face covering is not an Islamic requirement rather a cultural or traditional endorsement, also stated in the above article paragraph one.
Thanks for reading the article and the comments.
It looks hopefull that people in western world also think of these issues and express their views on open forum regrdless of fear of negative impression on their immigration petitions.
Here is another latest indication of xenophobia sweeping through Europe. The freedom is only focusing on freedom of speech to gain popular votes during election campaigns.
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2011/apr/08/eu-netherlands-ritual-slaughter-ban/
I am absolutely outraged by what is happening in France. Thank you for sharing this.
Very well written and well thought-out piece. This is a very important issue that needs to be highlighted and discussed openly. I look forward to your next entry. Keep writing!!
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