Hijab
Why is it
people have a problem with muslim women wearing hijabs a.k.a head coverings?
From my investigation hebrew/jewish women and christian women were/are suppose
to wear them as well.
Christian Women: Corinthians 11:3-10
3 But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head
of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.
4 Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his
head.
5 But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered
dishonoureth her head: for that is even all one as if she were shaven.
6 For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn: but if it be a shame
for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered.
7 For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image
and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man.
8 For the man is not of the woman: but the woman of the man.
9 Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man.
10 For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the
angels.
St. Paul the creator of the New Testament and earlist writer of christianity
urged women in the Corinthian churches to cover their heads (the only place
where the Bible teaches about this), he followed a custom prominent in many
Eastern cultures of his day. Although women and men alike covered their heads
for various reasons, married women specifically covered their heads to prevent
men other than their husbands from lusting after their hair. A married woman
who went out with her head uncovered was considered promiscuous and was to be
divorced as an adulteress. Because of what head coverings symbolized in that
culture, Paul asked the more liberated women to cover their heads so they would
not scandalize the others. It is also well known that Catholic Nuns have been
covering their heads for hundreds of years.
St. Tertullian in his famous treatise 'On The Veiling Of Virgins' wrote,
"Young women, you wear your veils out on the streets, so you should wear
them in the church, you wear them when you are among strangers, then wear them
among your brothers..." Among the Canon laws of the Catholic church today,
there is a law that requires women to cover their heads in church. Some
Christian denominations, such as the Amish and the Mennonites for example, keep
their women veiled to the present day. The reason for the veil, as offered by
their Church leaders, is that "The head covering is a symbol of woman's
subjection to the man and to God", which is the same logic introduced by
St. Paul in the New Testament.
Jewish Women - Ancient Israel (Jewish/Hebrew law)
According to Rabbi Dr. Menachem M. Brayer (Professor of Biblical Literature at
Yeshiva University) in his book, The Jewish woman in Rabbinic literature, it
was the custom of Jewish women to go out in public with a head covering which,
sometimes, even covered the whole face leaving one eye free. 76 He quotes some
famous ancient Rabbis saying," 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." 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". 77 Dr. Brayer also mentions that
"During the Tannaitic period the Jewish woman's failure to cover her head
was considered an affront to her modesty. When her head was uncovered she might
be fined four hundred zuzim for this offense." Dr. Brayer also explains
that veil of the Jewish woman was not always considered a sign of modesty.
Sometimes, the veil symbolized a state of distinction and luxury rather than
modesty. The veil personified the dignity and superiority of noble women. It
also represented a woman's inaccessibility as a sanctified possession of her
husband. 78
The veil signified a woman's self-respect and social status. Women of lower
classes would often wear the veil to give the impression of a higher standing.
The fact that the veil was the sign of nobility was the reason why prostitutes
were not permitted to cover their hair in the old Jewish society. However,
prostitutes often wore a special headscarf in order to look respectable. 79
Jewish women in Europe continued to wear veils until the nineteenth century
when their lives became more intermingled with the surrounding secular culture.
The external pressures of the European life in the nineteenth century forced
many of them to go out bare-headed.
The Lord had given a certain commandment to Moses regarding clothing, with an
explanation for its reason:
Speak to the people of Israel, and tell them to make tassels on the corners of
their garments throughout their generations, and to put a cord of blue on the
tassel of each corner. And it shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember
all the commandments of the LORD, to do them, not to follow after your own
heart and your own eyes, which you are inclined to whore after. (Numbers
15:38-39. See also Deuteronomy 22:12, You shall make yourself tassels on the
four corners of the garment with which you cover yourself.)
Philo of Alexandria (who lived from 20 B.C to A.D. 50) in his treatise The
Special Laws gives an interesting comment about the significance of the Jewish
woman's headcovering. Regarding the procedure followed by priests who examined
women accused of adultery (cf. Numbers 5:18) he writes, "And the priest
shall take the barley and offer it to the woman, and shall take away from her the
head-dress on her head, that she may be judged with her head bare, and deprived
of the symbol of modesty, which all those women are accustomed to wear who are
completely blameless." (13) But it should not be taken for granted that
Jews in general attached any such definite symbolical meaning to the
headcovering.
Think about it, why does every Christian picture of Mary mother of jesus have a
head covering? Did the mother of their lord and savior ever have her head
covered? Answer: More then likely!!!
So why should Christians be angry when a muslim has a head covering,when the
bible tells them they should do it as well
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