We received so many emails about our posting about the hijab in The Hijab Debate (Part One)that we thought it worthwhile to see what other commentators are saying in the Western Media. Crikey.com is a widely read Australian online journal and carries a piece this week.
"We keep hearing about hijabs and burqas, niqabs and chadors. What's the difference? Hijab is the Muslim practice of dressing modestly, although what this actually entails can vary enormously between different countries and communities."
In the West, the hijab usually refers to a veil that covers a woman's hair, neck and chest, says Andrew Anthony in The Observer piece headlined THE BIG COVER UP. The burqa and the niqab are both veils that cover everything but the eyes – though the burqa also refers to a veil with a grilled mask before the eyes. The Afghan burqa is a robe that covers the entire body, revealing only the eyes and hands. A chador is an Iranian garment that drapes over the head and body and is held together by the wearer's hands.
A report carried by Macleans.ca reports on the situation in Iraq through the eyes of 29-year-old Ansam Abbas
"Yes, our salaries have increased and we can buy things from the market. But now our country is going to ruin. We didn't like the old regime, but now there is violence and corruption. This is the freedom they are talking about -- if you talk, you'll be killed. I thought I would be the last woman in the world to wear a hijab. But I have been forced to do so because of the insecurity. The majority of women wear the hijab because they are afraid." Ansam trained as a translator but has abandoned all hope of continuing: most translators are now employed by the Americans or the new Iraqi government -- and are targeted by the insurgents as collaborators. As for the insurgency, she says, "I support those who attack Americans on their bases here, but not on the streets. I don't support the killing of civilians."
In Australia the call to ban the hijab in schools has support from Leslie Cannold in her article in Online Opinion To Hijab or not to Hijab
Cannold states: "But arguably what matters most in assessing the need for an Australian ban is the way Australian Muslims and non-Muslims understand the hijab. My impression is that rightly or wrongly, many Australians see the scarf as a symbol of the gender-based oppression women suffer in many non-western countries, and thus a challenge to the credo of gender equity preached and largely practiced in Australian public schools.
"Because equality - of persons and of opportunity - is a critical value that Australian schools must - and must be seen to - uphold, the wearing of the hijab in public schools must be banned. At the same time, as per the original advice the French Government received on banning conspicuous religious symbols in schools, Jewish and Muslim holy days should join Christmas and Easter as official school holidays," says Cannold.
According to a piece headlined: Muslim women say veil is more about expression than oppression in the Pittsburg Post Gazette, the hijab can have it's dangers... "in the first days after Sept. 11, this form of traditional Muslim dress became a target for some angry Americans. Some women had their scarves ripped off, or had cigarette lighters thrust at their heads. In Pittsburgh, women wearing the hijab were taunted at bus stops. A Muslim reporter for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer who donned a veil to see for herself how women were being treated was pushed into the path of a truck."
"This is not about men and women doing the same things, it's about a culture that values women," said Aaisha Haque, 22, a fourth-year medical student who is interning at Allegheny General Hospital and who grew up in Louisiana, the daughter of parents born in India.
"The notion that by choosing to cover her hair a woman is somehow oppressed is as ludicrous as to say that a woman in a long-sleeved shirt is oppressed in comparison to those in a tank top," said Haque.
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Tags: Morocco, Fes, Islam, Hijab
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