Islamic Dress

Dress in Islam is meant to be a manifestation of piety and obedience to God. It is an important part of human representation of God on Earth. This can be appreciated in the story of Adam and Eve as it is told in the Qura'an. For the time they dwelled in heaven, God promised Adam and Eve the fulfillment of their every need. So, in heaven, they suffered no hunger, no thirst and no nakedness.



Indeed, it is [promised] for you not to be hungry therein or be unclothed (Qura'an 20:118).



But then, they both gave in to temptation and ate from the tree. The immediate result of their disobedience was that they got naked and they quickly covered up with leaves from heaven. So at that very moment, their time in heaven was up and their mission as God's representatives on Earth began. With this transition, they suddenly became aware of their private parts and of the choice to cover them.
As they descended to Earth, God ordered them and all their descendants not to listen to the whispers of the "devil" and ordered them to wear clothes and cover up in piety. And thus, dress is tightly related to right and wrong as they are seen in Islam.



O children of Adam, We have bestowed upon you clothing to conceal your private parts and as adornment. But the clothing of righteousness - that is best. That is from the signs of Allah that perhaps they will remember (Qura'an 7:26). O children of Adam, let not Satan tempt you as he removed your parents from Paradise, stripping them of their clothing to show them their private parts (Qura'an 7:27).



Consequently, Islam laid broad outlines and rules for dress. Most scholars agree that for men, the region from the naval to the knees should not show, and for women all the body should be covered except the hands and face. This is based on Hadeeths (sayings) of prophet Muhammad explaining and elaborating the verses in the Qura'an relating to dress, such as:

Tell the believing men to lower their gaze and guard their private parts. That is purer for them. Indeed, Allah is Acquainted with what they do (Qura'an 24:30). And tell the believing women to lower their gaze and guard their private parts and not expose their adornment except that which [necessarily] appears thereof and to wrap [a portion of] their head-covers over their chests and not expose their adornment except to their husbands, their fathers, their husbands' fathers, their sons, their husbands' sons, their brothers, their brothers' sons, their sisters' sons, their sisters in Islam, their female servants, or old male servants who lack vigor, or children who are not yet aware of the private aspects of women. And let them not stamp their feet to make known what they conceal of their adornment. And turn to Allah in repentance, all of you, O believers, that you might succeed (Qura'an 24:31).

Thus, dress in Islam is not just about covering the body, it is also about social behavior and interaction between the sexes. And most importantly, it's about limiting sexual relations only to married couples. So, to make this possible, it is not enough to wear modest clothes, you should also lower your gaze and not encourage the opposite sex and draw their attention to your body. The intended result, is a society free of objectifying the human body, which is seen as a sacred thing not for display.


In addition, the hijab (head-cover) for Muslim women is a means through which they are distinguished and known to be Muslim women. It is supposed to convey the message to men that such women can not be approached with sexual intentions unless it is through marriage. I'm not saying that the opposite necessarily applies to women who don't wear the hijab, be they Muslims or not. I have seen Muslim women who wear the hijab and who don't behave like Muslims. But for me personally, I use my hijab first as a declaration to the world that I am Muslim and second to set unspoken limits when I interact with men. They know exactly what goes and doesn't go with me. I am sure that other Muslims who don't wear the hijab and other non-Muslim women can also establish such limits without wearing the hijab. All I'm saying is that this should be part of what it means to wear it. After all, the word hijab in Arabic literally means barrier.



O Prophet! Tell thy wives and daughters, and the believing women, that they should cast their outer garments over their persons, that is most convenient, that they should be known (as pious) and not molested. And Allah is Forgiving, Most Merciful (Qura'an 33:59).



In addition to Islamic dress rules regarding what is allowed to be shown between opposite sexes, Islam also establishes rules for what can be shown of the body between members of the same sex. This was very important since it might provoke homosexual thoughts. Thus, because Islam considers homosexuality a sin -which I would like to discuss in a future post- it was essential to set limits on this. So, what is agreed upon among scholars in this regard is that what's between the naval and the knees is not to be shown among men. And for women, they can only show what normally appears of the body, including the hair, neck, arms, feet and legs up to the knees (I will also be discussing sources of jurisdiction in Islam and how scholars decide laws in Islam in a future post).



The question remains: does the hijab oppress women? The direct answer to this is that it doesn't if you choose to wear it out of religious conviction. My own personal answer to this is that I definitely don't feel oppressed wearing it. On the contrary, I feel protected by it. I choose to keep wearing it because I believe in its purpose and the society Islam tries to create. Plus, wearing the hijab also means that you don't have to conform to the stereotype image of women today. This same view was expressed by Karen Armstrong, a British author and commentator who used to be a Roman Catholic religious sister, and used to wear a nun's habit that covered all her body except a part of her face:

“I found my habit liberating: for seven years I never had to give a thought to my clothes, makeup and hair - all the rubbish that clutters the minds of the most liberated women. In the same way, Muslim women feel that the veil frees them from the constraints of some uncongenial aspects of western modernity (The Guardian, Thursday 26 October 2006)”.

The hijab is always attacked by saying that it is a sign of men's supremacy in Islam. This maybe true in certain parts of the Islamic world where women are forced to wear it by their male relatives. But this definitely has nothing to do with the real message of Islam, where God clearly says in the Qura'an:

“There shall be no compulsion in [acceptance of] the religion. The right course has become clear from the wrong. So whoever disbelieves in idolatry and believes in Allah has grasped the most trustworthy handhold with no break in it. And Allah is Hearing and Knowing (Qura'an 2:256).”

To me, the opposite also seems valid. The way I see it is that women not dressing and acting modestly is a sign of men's supremacy. Some women may claim that it is empowering to dress as they wish, but the result is that they're wearing what men would like them to wear. I think in that situation men are getting a good deal, free flesh to feast their eyes on and sex without commitment.

In my next post, I'll be discussing polygamy in Islam.

Islam: The way I see it (An Introduction)

First I would like to introduce my self, I am a Jordanian 34-year old Muslim woman. I have a master’s degree in Biology and I’m doing another master’s in Bioinformatics. I’m not an experienced writer, so bear with me.
In this blog, I will try to discuss aspects of Islam that I find interesting or are usually considered to be controversial. Sometimes I will add my own personal opinions which may not be shared by other Muslims.
A taste of the things I’ll be discussing:
1. Hijab and women rights.
2. Polygamy.
3. Homosexuality.
4. Creationism.
5. Jihad and terrorism.
6. Halal foods.
And many more.
I’ll be constantly updating each topic as I learn new things about them. I’m initiating this blog actually to push myself to learn more about my religion and to have a clear stand on the arguments against Islam.
As someone trained in science, I’ll be most interested in scientific aspects of these topics. I might be a believer, but I definitely demand hard proof to really believe.

Islam: The way I see it (My Hijab)

I see my hijab really as part of my body. I can’t imagine myself ever taking it off outside home, I would literally feel naked. The story of how it became to be such an integral part of me goes far back to when I was in second grade I think. This is the farthest memory I have of wearing it. I remember having a green scarf that I occasionally wore at school when I felt like it. At that period of my life I guess I was trying to imitate my mom. I remember one day at school when I took it off, and someone said “it’s been a long time since we’ve last seen your hair”, this sentence is what tells me that I actually wore it quite often even at that early age.
Of course, at that age it meant almost absolutely nothing religious to me. I just imitated my mom because she knew best. After all, my opinion of my mom is that she was (God have mercy on her soul) such an extraordinary woman who knew everything and was so wise. In fact, that same green hijab was once hanging in her bedroom when it caught fire from the heater. Bravely and quickly, my mom knew exactly what to do, she took a blanket and covered the fire with it and made it go out almost immediately.
Later on, I got to that stage of one’s life where you’re so influenced by your school teachers, and where all you did at home was to pretend to be one. I remember spending hours and hours torturing my brothers as they sat in my make-belief classroom. I think I was in fourth grade when I had an Arabic class teacher that I adored. Her name was Hanan, I loved her classes so much, to the extent that when they moved me to another class for some reason which I can’t remember, I cried my eyes out and they had to move me back. Miss -as all female teachers are addressed in Jordan regardless of their marital status- Hanan was a Muslim, but did not wear the hijab. I was influenced by her so much that I told my mom: I think I’ll be like Miss Hanan, I’ll be a Muslim who doesn’t wear the hijab. I don’t think my mom had such a strong reaction to this, but I have a vague impression that she made me feel that it must be worn.
As a kid, I used to spend a lot of time at my maternal grandparents house, especially with my grandmother and only aunt. Once, I was visiting, and my uncle invited me to take a stroll outside. It was spring and all the wild flowers were in bloom, we picked quite a few flowers, it was so lovely. I especially liked red anemones that were abundant in Jabal Amman. When we finished and got back home, I was excited to show my grandmother and aunt the flowers we had gathered. But instead of sharing my enthusiasm, they reproached me for having gone out without my hijab. I didn’t really expect this, I think I was in sixth or seventh grade, and I had no idea that I should have a formal commitment to hijab. My mother never pressed me to commit to it. I felt shame and I tried to wear it always after that incident. Although I clearly remember one Eid (Muslim festivity), when I decided to take it off and put it back on afterwards, and the hardest part about this was telling my grandmother and aunt.
So I guess after that I pretty much kept it on. And then it was inevitable that at some point I also had to move on to wearing a jilbab (a coat-like piece of clothing that reaches the feet). This my friends is viewd in Jordan to be the mark of quite religious women. If you wear it, certain things are expected of you. More or less a stereotype of an Arab Muslim woman and how she should behave. Again, I think I saw that as inevitable because my mom wore it. I knew someday I should wear it too. But I wasn’t very excited about it, especially because back in the day, the designs of jilbabs were so bleak and old womanly. But I did start wearing it, and I did look like a geek, little old woman. When I look at old photos of me in high school and early college years, I feel like ripping those photos.
I had a Religion class teacher in tenth through twelfth grade that I respected. Although now when I think back, I don’t share her stand on certain aspects of Islam. Once, in religion club, a super religious girl made a presentation with the teacher’s blessings, on what would happen to you in the grave if you didn’t pray or wear the hijab, I can’t quite remember which it was, but it was pretty scary stuff. After the presentation, a girl that didn’t wear the hijab asked a question about religion, but the teacher totally dismissed her and practically told her to wish to ever come to be like that super religious girl. Nevertheless, this same teacher, was what drove me to commit to wearing the jilbab. I came to school on the first day of twelfth grade wearing the jilbab. It didn’t mean so much to me, but when she saw me she said something to the effect of “so you’ve finally decided to wear the jilbab then?”. Since I respected her and didn’t want to disappoint her, I finally made the transition to wearing it always.
In college, I did try to make the jilbab my own. I liked eighties style, and I especially liked old white sports shoes like the ones worn by Marty’s girlfriend in Back to the Future. I couldn’t afford Nikes or Reeboks but I did buy generic white shoes (that would stupidly have a print that says “Sports” or something like that) and wore them with my overflowing hideous jilbabs. People stared, as Jordanians do when you do something different to what they are used to. It was a rare scene, but gradually it caught on, I’m not saying thanks to me, but it did.
Jilbab designs did improve with time, to the point that even thought I’m on the tiny side, I can’t find a jilbab now that fits me. The jilbab has lost almost all meaning and purpose. It’s all about the tightest and most revealing it can get. The more it squeezes your figure the better. But yet, for some reason, people still think that if you wear a jilbab, then you are religious to an extent that surpasses that of women who don’t.
Now, after having worn the jilbab for fifteen years, I suddenly took it off. The reason is that I moved to Europe to study. I didn’t want to stand out too much, I mean considering how shy I am and how persecuted Islam is these days. My understanding of Islam tells me that there is no fixed dress code, there are only characteristics to abide by. From my view point, I’m abiding by these rules now more without wearing the jilbab, than I did when I wore it.
In addition, I think that wearing regular clothes with the hijab helps in bringing out individuality of expression. So instead of a stereotype of what Muslim women should look like, you would see the same modest characteristics of dress employed in as different ways as there are Muslim women. Besides, leaving the jilbab would show the world that Islam can be modern and is adaptable to the modern world, you can be Muslim and be fashionable at the same time. 
Nevertheless, I feel somewhat guilty to take it off, it’s so deeply rooted in my psyche that it’s supposed to be part of my religion. I even wear it on my visits to Jordan, because I’m afraid people would think I’m abandoning my religion. And I even think of this as just being temporary and that I’ll probably go back to wearing it when I move back to Jordan. I’m still not clear on that, but I have to come to peace with how this will make me feel about myself, and how it will affect my family and especially what dad would think about it. That said, I am an independent woman, my family has always trusted me and always believed in my decisions, and gave me the space to make them on my own. In the end, I will make the decision that makes me happy with me.
My story with the hijab seems like it was driven always by external influence. Although such influence was the driving engine for my commitment, I gradually developed the conviction that wearing the hijab is an integral part of the kind of society that Islam tries to create. And I realize now that my deep belief in the hijab actually comes from the person that least pressed me to wear it, i.e. my mom.
In my next post, I will be examining the religious justification for wearing the hijab, and why I believe it is the right thing to do.