Winnipeg Free Press - September 25, 2007

Author: Shahina Siddiqui

My first memory of burqa (South Asian style hijab) is of trying to find my mom’s burqa within the heap of black burqas, after a spiritual gathering of women at a cousin’s house. I always managed to find it since I could smell the perfume my mom used. The security my cousins and I felt as we played grownups and giggled through the niqabs (face veils) are priceless memories that still comfort me. In the mid sixties, on my father’s insistence and my grandmother’s reluctant approval, my mother stopped wearing the burqa. While still maintaining her modesty she ventured out in the world of social and official obligations my father had thus far attended alone.

I remember my mother’s nervous demeanor and her teary-eyed conversations with her sisters on how guilty and how exposed she felt. My mother eventually adjusted to her new look. In fact she started to appreciate that she could now fully participate in my father’s life. This was something that was very alien to her having migrated from India where Muslim households had separate quarters for women and the men of the family only visited at set times for meals and sleep.

I grew up swearing that I would never observe purdah (segregation of women) as practised by some in my country of birth. Even as a child I could not fathom that a Merciful Creator would require women to be barred from full participation in society. Like most Muslim women of my generation we had falsely assumed that all the practices and customs in our respective cultures were sanctioned by Islam. It was only when I came to Canada in the mid-70s and had the privilege to study my religion and specially the status of women in Shariah that I came to appreciate the concept of modesty as prescribed in the Quran and explained by the Prophet Muhammad.

In my decades of speaking on Islam the question that keeps coming up is women’s dress code. Some want to prove that Muslim women are forced to wear it (and some may very well be), while others argue that Islam does not stipulate guidelines for how Muslim women should cover when in public. Still there are others who consider hijab a sign of fundamentalism and the Talibanization of Western Muslim women. Some have gone so far as to draw links between veils and radicalization or terrorism.

The majority of scholars agree that the verses of the Quran that talk about the dress aspect of modesty offer guidelines and do not point to a specific style or cultural uniform that all Muslim women should wear. Islam is a universal faith for all people and all times. It would therefore make little sense if it had insisted on a particular style of dress.

Modesty is enjoined upon both Muslim men and Muslim women: "Say to the believing men that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty: that will make for greater purity for them: and God is well acquainted with all that they do. And say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty: and they should not display beauty and ornaments except what (must ordinarily) appear thereof…..” (Qur’an Surah 24: An-Nur: 30 and 31)

The following conclusions can be drawn on the basis of the above-cited verses. This Qur’anic injunction enjoining Muslims to lower their gaze and behave modestly applies to both Muslim men and women, and not Muslim women alone. Muslim women are enjoined to dress modestly so as not to display their beauty in public.

When I was struggling to wear the hijab (the modest garb including the headscarf) I knew that I would have to make major life changes not only in my appearance but in my interaction with others and my whole outlook on the social aspect of my life. What I was not prepared for was that my choice to follow my faith will meet such resistance from both within and without the Muslim community.

My inner struggle reminded me of the story an elder in the community had told me of when she immigrated to Canada in the early sixties and how to her absolute horror on boarding the plane her husband had asked her to remove her hijab as it was not allowed in Canada. To his defence she reasoned that he was afraid that it may interfere in her integrations in Canadian society. She obeyed her husband but kept it a secret from her family for a long time and never did feel happy until in the late 80s she went back in hijab after her Canadian-born daughter adorned the hijab.

Over the years I have heard all kinds of explanations being offered to explain why Muslim women dress modestly. Some offer that women have to cover so that they can help men from being tempted since men are weak, while others offer that hijab protects women from lewd looks and some have gone so far as calling for the complete segregation of women from society because even the female voice they consider “tempting”.

I too may have tried to explain in my own words why the stipulation on modesty is observed by Muslim women around the world. However these are all crude attempts at appeasing and rationalizing what is really very simple.

Muslim women cover themselves in modest clothing in public because the Creator recommends it. God has revealed in the Quran (Chapter 59) "O Prophet! Tell your wives and daughters, and the believing women, that they should cast their outer garments over their persons (when in public): So that they are known (as such) and are not accosted."

When asked by one of his female companions what Allah meant by ‘cover their persons’, the Prophet explained it meant to cover the body in loose non-transparent clothing except the hands and face.

There is a minority view among scholars requiring covering of the face. Regardless, the fact remains that there is a stated requirement of modesty in dress for Muslim women and men in the Quran and in the traditions of the Prophet Muhammad.

The only explanation that satisfies my soul and sits true with my spirit is that I dress according to Islamic stipulations because Allah has asked me to and for no other reason. This is my submission to my Creator and all the other benefits are a result of this submission and not the reason. For truly if Allah did not require me to wear the hijab headscarf, would I?.

Therefore the choice to adorn the hijab for most North American Muslim women is well informed and rooted in knowledge. We may differ in the extent of “cover” but we all observe it as a religious right.

So for those who value freedom of choice and respect diversity, please stand up for our rights and know that there are many Canadian Muslim women who would like to wear the hijab but do not because they are afraid that they will be ridiculed and for some, their own husbands or fathers object out of fear of being labeled “Islamic radicals”.