Author: Mumin Salih
Publication: Islam-Watch
Date: February 17, 2009
URL: http://www.islam-watch.org/MuminSalih/Politics-Behind-Hijab.htm
Hijab as an Islamic icons
There is little doubt that hijab has become as much a symbol of Islam as the
Crescent. The irony is that both of these two so-called Islamic icons, widely
believed to be Islamic, are, in reality, not parts of Islam. I do not want
to spend much time discussing the origin of the Crescent as an Islamic symbol,
but it certainly was not introduced or suggested by Mohammed or any of his
successors; neither is there is no evidence that the later the Umayyad and
Abbasid dynasties have ever used it. What matters now is that the Crescent
does symbolize Islam and that Muslims like it. It sits on top of every mosque
and minaret and at the centre of flags of many Islamic states.
The Crescent may symbolize Islam but it doesn't
say much about it; this explains its remarkable absence from the Saudi flag.
As we know, Saudi Arabia follows the teachings of Mohammed Ibn Abdul Wahhab
(1703-92), the founder of movement that carries his name, who put Islam back
on track. The core of the teachings of Abdul Wahhab was to filter Islam from
the impurities that gathered on it over the centuries and bring it to its
original form as Mohammed left it behind. Abdul Wahhab's strategy was not
to compromise, because it's only Allah, he had to fear. He succeeded in bringing
Islam back to it originality by purging all the impurities, which he called
'dalala'. The Saudi flag is an honest expression of what the country and Islam
stand for: that is, to spread the word "no God but Allah, Mohammed is
his messenger" by the sword.
Hijab and headscarves
The word Hijab is currently used to refer
to headscarf that covers the hair of a Muslim woman. In this article, both
words will be used to refer to a woman's head-dress. Until recently, many
Middle Eastern Arabs used the word 'Isharb' as a name for women's head-dress,
but that foreign name is rapidly becoming obsolete in favour of hijab.
Contrary to what most people think, hijab
is a fairly recent innovation in Muslims' societies; it started gaining popularity
only in the 1990s. In fact, the popularity of hijab in the Middle East came
about so swiftly that the Arabs were not sure which word to use to describe
it. They had a selection of words including hijab, niqab, burqa, khimar, and
more. So it was left to the press, and it's usually ignorant journalists,
to make their choice. Of these words, namely 'hijab', has the most precise
and clear definition in the Arabic language; it means a total barrier between
two things.
Hijab is a purely political issue
I do not want to bore the reader by discussing
the sharia validation of hijab, or the lack of it, because this is NOT the
issue. The important fact to know about hijab is that it is purely a political
issue, promoted by the Muslim Brotherhood movement. The hijab to the Muslim
Brotherhood is like the "red flag" to communists.
Our understanding of what the Quran and sunna
say about women's dress is irrelevant, because what matters is what Muslims
and their scholars understand. Undoubtedly, the vast majority of Sunni Muslims
and their scholars-the Muslim Brotherhood scholars, the wahhabis and the Taliban
included-agree with the well-established sharia rules regarding Islamic dress-code.
Women's dress-code in Islam, just like anything
else, is open to many interpretations. It is possible to argue that women
dress can be anything, or almost anything, that appeals to the mind, and still
be able to support the argument from the Quran and the sunna.
* It is possible to argue that women should
be covered from head to toe, which in my opinion, is the most honest and straightforward
understanding of Islam. This is the view of all devout Muslims, who never
compromise on anything to 'appease' their desires and wouldn't change Islam
to fit modernity but rather change modernity to fit Islam.
* It is possible to argue that women are allowed
to display only one or both eyes.
* It is also possible to argue that women
are under no obligation to wear any special Islamic dress. This is my favourite
argument, which I often use to defend my position when I happen to be in a
Muslim community. Some Muslims, even in the West, are rude enough to ask me
(as a Muslim) why I do not 'order' my wife to wear hijab.
* However, it is rather difficult to argue
that women can expose their faces and cover their hair, which a hijab does.
Nothing in the Quran suggests that! This Islamic fashion has no foundation
in Islam and is prohibited under proper Islamic rule, such as in Saudi Arabia
and formerly in Afghanistan under the Taliban.
Against all these odds, the headscarf has
risen to become the most popular Islamic dress; it also oddly assumed the
name hijab, even though a headscarf doesn't act as any kind of barrier between
a man and a woman.
The Muslim Brotherhood (ikhwan in Arabic)
are happy with the widespread use of headscarves, even though, in their writings
and teachings, they clearly project an Islamic dress-code akin to that of
the Wahhabis.
What makes the Muslim Brotherhood happy with
the headscarf? Why are they satisfied with half-measures?
This Islamic irony is not unprecedented. In
the past, the Muslim Brotherhood had accepted temporary solutions in hard
times, just like Prophet Muhammad did fourteen centuries ago. Accepting half-measures
is only a waiting tactic to eventually achieve the full-measure they seek
to implement. This explains why the Muslim Brotherhood leaders and the female
relatives of some of them did not follow proper Islamic dress-code from 1928
to the beginning of the Islamisation of Europe in the 1980s.
The Islamic Dress-Code
According to sunni Islam, the entire body
of a woman is considered 'awra', an Arabic word that refers to private parts
and shouldn't be seen by other men. Therefore, a Muslim woman should be completely
covered with loose-fitting clothes to completely obscure the outline of the
female body, which can also be a source of sexual arousal. A woman's voice
is also considered as awra, because it has the potential to cause sexual arousal;
therefore, women should be careful with their tone when they speak to men.
On the other hand, some scholars consider
the genitalia to be the only part of the male body to be awra, but the general
view is that men need to cover from the waist to the knees. Muslim men should
grow beards, but not moustaches, and should wear garments that do not reach
the ankles.
The above is the proper Islamic dress-code,
which will be enforced in societies once the Islamists assume political control.
It is already applied in Saudi Arabia and the Taliban controlled areas.
Muslim women's dress before the hijab
Before the current hijab fashion, Muslim women
(at least in Middle Eastern countries) used to be covered to various degrees,
on a cultural rather than religious basis. In some societies, women were covered
head-to-toe; in others, they just followed latest Western fashion. In general,
women in cities were more likely to wear Western clothes than those in rural
areas, but it had nothing to do with the degree of their adherence to Islam.
In the 1920s, two important Islamic movements
appeared in the Middle East, the Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia and the Muslim
Brotherhood in Egypt. The two groups have very similar understanding of Islam,
as reflected in their teachings and writings. They were basically two sides
of the same coin. However, they had to adopt a completely different strategies
that suited its own environment, but without departing from the guidance of
Mohammed's sunna.
The Wahhabis were allies to the Saudi clan,
who managed to subjugate entire Arabia by force. Spreading the Wahhabi Islamic
teachings was straightforward; Arabia was simply forced to adopt Wahhabi Islam.
The situation sharply different in Egypt, where the Muslim Brotherhood was
founded in 1928. There were signs of secular trends in the Middle East; Egypt
was more open to the West than other Middle East countries. The Muslim Brotherhood
had to work in a hostile environment, because neither the government nor the
people were in a mood to listen to them. Egypt to the Muslim Brotherhood was
like Mecca to Mohammed in the early part of his prophetic mission. The leaders
of the movement, therefore, had to adopt a careful strategy similar to that
of Mohammed's. On the other hand, Arabia to the Wahhabis was like Medina to
Mohammed from where he unleashed the full force of Islam against Arabia.
While still weak, the Muslim Brotherhood's
strategy is to move slowly and carefully without upsetting the society by
showing them the full picture of Islam. However, implementing the full Islamic
sharia including the Islamic dress-code has always been a central demand;
they only needed to wait for the right time.
The Muslim Brotherhood's demise of 1952-70
The Muslim Brotherhood believes that the most
practical way to implement sharia in a country is to take control of that
country, through jihad, and force the Islamic rule. This is a well-known Islamic
strategy that worked well with Mohammed and his followers; the success of
the Wahhabis in Arabia is a living a reminder. The brotherhood movement had
serious problems with its chronic hunger for power, which lead the movement
to infiltrate the army and government departments and to indulge in a series
of political assassinations.
The Muslim Brotherhood's dream nearly came
true in 1952, when a group of army officers, some with sympathy to the Muslim
Brotherhood, staged a military coup in Egypt. The leaders of the Muslim brotherhood
approached the new leader, Gamal Abdul Nasser, offering him support if he
applies the Islamic sharia; they specifically mentioned the Islamic dress.
Nasser reportedly pointed out to them that their own daughters go to university
uncovered, so why do they want all Egyptian women to be covered. Nasser, however,
had different plans in mind and was too powerful to need their support. It
became clear to the Muslim Brotherhood that the new leadership refuses to
be influenced by them; therefore they reverted to their assassination policy.
After a failed assassination attempt on Nasser, the Egyptian government responded
by a crack down on the movement and imposed total ban on its activities.
Although banned in Egypt, the Muslim brotherhood
was still active outside the country, thanks to the generous support from
America and its friendly allies like Saudi Arabia. However, all that political
and financial backing was no consolation to the Brotherhood movement, which
remained helpless against the powerful Egyptian propaganda machine. Its members
were branded, quite correctly, as terrorists who use religion to achieve their
goals, and for nearly two decades, they failed to gain any significant popularity
in the Middle East.
Resurgence of the Muslim Brotherhood
The political picture in the Middle East changed
dramatically after Nasser's death in 1970 and the appointment of Sadat as
his successor. The new president allied his country with the America, and
pursued a policy that was a virtual reversal of that of his predecessor. In
an attempt to overpower the political groups that opposed his policies, Sadat
lifted the ban on the Muslim Brotherhood, released their prisoners and encouraged
the movement to go into action. The gates of heaven opened wide to the Muslim
Brotherhood who, for the first time, enjoyed the backing of the governments
of their home country, and other Middle Eastern countries, as well as America
and the west. They wasted no time and took control of the mosques, the universities
and the media. Lifting the lid on the Muslim brotherhood was probably one
of the most doomed decisions of recent times. Sadat paid the price of his
decision with his life when he was assassinated, by the Muslim Brotherhood,
in 1981. Joining forces with their Wahhabi brothers, the Muslim brotherhood
became an international force to reckon with; their evil activities spread
in lightning speed claiming hundreds of thousands of lives. That was the beginning
of the current wave of Islamic jihad that started, by the Muslim Brotherhood,
in Afghanistan then moved to the Middle East causing civilian unrest in Syria
1981 then swept Algeria and Egypt in the early 1990s and the rest of the world
since then.
The Muslim Brotherhood seeks dominance through
intimidation, just like Mohammed did fourteen centuries ago. They dominate
the Muslims' societies by using religion as a tool and intimidate the politicians
by using the people in the streets as indicators for their influence and power.
There is no better indication for the public support than the scenes of streets
full with women with headscarves and men with beards. The current Islamic
dress, although not yet properly Islamic, serves as a living opinion poll
that sends a powerful message to the authorities.
The Muslim Brotherhood cannot rely on forcing
men to grow beards because this is only a sunna (preferred) duty, but they
can force women to wear hijab because it is a fard (obligatory). Unlike a
full veil, a head scarf is a compromise that appeals to modern women and doesn't
cause resentment of those not so religious women or societies. The headscarf
serves as an introductory hijab for Muslim women, who once put it on cannot
take it off. In Egypt and the West Bank, women are virtually forced to wear
the hijab by the aggressive advertisement in the streets and public transport
depicting women who do not wear hijab as prostitutes.
Beyond Hijab
It is noticeable in Muslim countries that
an increasing number of women who used to wear headscarves have upgraded to
full veil. Those women were initially told they only needed to cover their
hair to become good Muslims, which worked as the bait to enrol them to fundamental
Islam and those after prayers lessons. They soon discover they are way behind
in their religious duties and there is more to be done and more to be covered.
Eventually, all women who live in an Islamic state will be asked to wear full
body covers, willingly or by force, which is the stated plan of the Muslim
Brotherhood.
The full veil has caused some antagonism from
the public in western countries because of well justified security concerns.
However, I think hijab poses even more threat to our national security than
the veil because of its acceptance by the society. Most radical women, including
those who carried out suicide bombing, only wear headscarves with no material
veil. With such a mask of innocence and moderation that conceals her real
intentions, a radical Muslim woman can infiltrate deeper into the society
to unleash the evil of Islam.
The difference between a woman with a veil
and a woman with a hijab is like the difference between an enemy in uniform
and an enemy in disguise. The Muslims' uniform is a thoub (a dress) and a
beard for men and a full veil for women. The Muslims I fear most are those
who are disguised in moderation because they are the darlings of the western
governments, which select them to key positions. These eloquent and moderate
looking Muslims can do immense damage to our societies, and their strength
lies in their disguise.
Muslim women are often asked to wear hijab
from a young age; of course they had no choice but are educated to believe
that was their choice! In western societies, Muslim girls develop an image
problem and become self conscious of their unusual dress. Muslims tend to
be aggressive in propagating hijab; those girls who would rather not wear
it fall under immense social and moral pressure, or rather intimidation, to
do so. This is true even in western countries, where Muslims tend to live
in Muslim neighbourhoods and socialise mainly with other Muslims. The Muslim
brotherhood strategy in spreading hijab in small societies is the same they
use in Muslim counties, which is to associate hijab with good conduct and
bare hair with prostitution.
There are Muslim women, who live in the west,
and would rather not wear hijab at all. In theory, they have full rights to
be able to make their choice but they are denied this basic human right. It
is sad that nobody rises to defend the rights of those women, who are so intimidated
that they cannot ask for help or express their free wishes.
- Mumin Salih is a Middle Eastern ex-Muslim.
He can be contacted at rawandi@googlemail.com
