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Lifting the veil of silence on hijab The decision to keep the veil on is getting harder
for some girls in Egypt. CAIRO: Twenty-five-year-old Reem is mustering
all her courage to make a move she had been contemplating for months. Years
ago, Reem had taken on the hijab (Islamic headscarf) but now she was about to
remove it once and for all. Like many girls her age, Reem represents a
growing trend in Egyptian society of women deciding to remove the hijab,
despite the social and family pressure to keeping it on. The growing phenomenon includes students and
fresh graduates as well as grown middle-aged women, who may have donned the
veil for over 15 years. Dina Mohamed, 38 (not her real name) is a former
translator who now works in public relations and who was still at school when
she first got veiled. Her life-changing decision, however, not only led to a
dramatic career change, but also to her divorce. “I grew up wearing the veil and initially I had
never questioned it,” Dina told Daily News Egypt. “My husband, who was religious and conservative
at one point, strengthened my commitment to abide by the Islamic dress code by
encouraging me to wear black. Because of that commitment I had to pursue a
certain type of career,” added Dina. “It was a big blow to me when, by chance, I
discovered that my husband played behind my back with other women and that he
wasn’t the pious man he pretended to be. “I woke up to a fallacy, a mirage, then decided
to throw away the veil, wear fashionable colorful clothes and get a better-paid
PR job I had always wanted.” Dina is quick to add that she still behaves
within the boundaries of decency. “I haven’t gone to the other extreme as other
women who remove the veil,” she says. Laila Rashid, 45, who removed the veil early
this year says that it was a very personal decision. A few years after Laila had completed her
university degree at Cairo University’s faculty of arts, she moved with her
husband to Saudi Arabia where, like him, she was a teacher. The change in her appearance and outlook became
obvious to everyone who knew her when she returned from Saudi about five years
later. She became a preacher in her spare time,
alongside her day job as a secondary school teacher. When the authorities started a massive
clamped-down on the Muslim Brotherhood in the past two years, Laila told her
friends that she will have to giving religious lessons temporarily, but then
she surprised everyone by appearing publicly without the hijab. She is still
married. A new trend? Religious scholars believe that those who remove
the veil are an insignificant minority in a society where a passion for
religion is all-encompassing. Others argue that it is unrealistic to dismiss
the trend simply because it is impossible to tell whether an unveiled women
used to wear the hijab in the past, or to obtain statistics on the issue. “Even those who have taken it off once and for
all prefer not to make it public knowledge,” noted Dr Ghada El Khouly, assistant
professor of psychiatry at Ain Shams University. “One of the symptoms of personality disorder
among some patients is the hasty and unjustified wearing and removal of the
headscarf,” El Khouly said. “I believe it is the religious factor that rules
supreme in matters like hijab,” Mahmoud Ashour, of the Islamic Research Center
told Daily News Egypt. “Those contesting the influence of religion and
opting to refer the matter to a series of social factors could be right, but
they should remember that the social aspect of hijab also emanates from
religion,” Ashour explained. However, Nadra Wahdan, a sociologist at the
National Planning Institute in Cairo, insists the veil is part of a cultural
tradition and is bound to take a back seat as the winds of change start to
overtake local culture. Conflicts of opinion The tug-of-war over the hijab has a been a bone
of contention between the religious institution and secularists in Egypt, with
the scholars at Al-Azhar, the bastion of Sunni Islam, insisting that the
hijab is a religious obligation stipulated in the Holy Quran. However, unconventional Islamic thinker Gamal El
Banna, breaks from traditional views on the issue, heralding in what critics
believe to be a more moderate/modern trends in Islamic thought. El Banna argued in a highly controversial book
titled “The Hijab” that, in addition to the lack of proof to support the belief
that the veil is a religious obligation, the headscarf is impractical and can
be an obstacle for women who wish to pursue certain careers. He also says that a woman’s hair was never seen
as a temptation the way many male chauvinists believed. A tradition that preceded the advent of Islam by
2000 years, the veil is the mark of a bygone era that is unsuited to current
developments in the women’s status, El Banna says. While Ashour believes that there is no arguing
that the hijab is a religious obligation, taking it on should be left entirely
to individual women’s decision and conviction. “There is no use wearing it in your neighborhood
then taking off immediately once you’re away,” he stressed. The younger generation While sociologist Wahdan stresses the social
impact that compels girls and women at home, school or the workplace to don the
hijab, Somaya Ibrahim, a gender and development specialist and a women’s rights
activist, points out that research on the phenomenon indicates that many young
women usually start wearing it at a critical time in their lives. Echoing the same view, El Khouly said: “In most
cases I’ve seen the act of donning the veil was an emotional decision taken as
a reaction to a crisis, severe stress or isolation. When the surrounding
circumstances change, those girls immediately remove the veil.” The accounts of Salma Saqr, Reham Hossam El Din,
Noura Kamel and Sarah Assem, four young women who chose to remove the hijab,
give credence to the specialists’ theory. The four girls, all in their 20s, have been
veiled for an average of five years. They first decided to cover their hair after
listening to preacher Amr Khaled, but all admit that their decision cannot be
seen in isolation from their social and family backgrounds. Salma’s black robe and scarf, for instance, was
a reaction to her family’s liberal attitude and lack of religiosity. While Reham took the decision to protect herself
from the permissiveness of her high school management that was too tolerant of
matters relating sexual relations, drinking and drug addiction, Noura got
veiled after a long phase of depression and desperation. The veil came as part
of her decision to turn to God for consolation. Sarah, who grew up in the US, was forced to wear
as their religious father feared she and her two sisters would be swayed by
Western values. “I had a really bad experience with some overtly
religious people, some of whom were morally corrupt,” recounted Salma. She added: “I began to feel that the hijab was a
camouflage and not necessarily a mark of piety. Now I no longer associate faith
with dress. I know many veiled girls who don’t pray and have boyfriends.” Salma adds that her family was happy to see her
shed the hijab. “I must also admit it is very difficult to be
veiled amid a group of liberal people in the same way you feel out of place as
an unveiled girl amid a conservative group.” Reham found out that being veiled made her life
very difficult. “Some people use the veil only as a defense
against harassment,” she continued. “When you take it off you learn how to
develop the self-confidence necessary to defend yourself.” Noura was put off when one day a preacher said
that girls who didn’t wear the hijab would never get married. “I was shocked and I started to have serious
doubts about whether it was right to cover my hair,” says Noura. “It seemed
ridiculous that someone would assume that an unveiled woman would never get
married.” For Sarah it was a different matter. “As I attended Islamic conferences regularly I
realized that the hijab was more than a dress code. “Veiled women were perceived unassuming and tended
to accept being pushed to the sidelines. Many times I tried to come to the
forefront to discuss things but was brushed aside because I was veiled. People
assume that a muhajaba (veiled woman) should remain silent. “Slowly I began to give up wearing long dresses
then renounced the hijab completely.” http://dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=15019 |
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