This was an interesting comment left by a Heather Hopkins on Indigo Joe Blogs. Heather, for a college assignment, chose to wear a hijab for a week to see how people would react. The part that I really enjoyed was the second paragraph, that she confirms what many Muslim women have said for years - that wearing a hijab is a liberating experience, that she is appreciated for herself, rather than as being treated as a sex object.One wonders when other Western, non-Muslim women will get a clue.
I read through all the comments written here, and would like to add a few of my own. First of all, I am a non-Muslim woman living in California. I am in the process of conducting a similar, yet not as extreme experiment of my own. What started as a project assigned in my cultural anthropology class to go and experience something from another culture and report about it has become much more than that. As a long-time Buddhist, going to visit a Mosque would be a completely new experience for me, but I wanted to learn about what Islam was about and why Muslims dressed the way they do and many other things, so this is what I chose. I contacted the mosque and told them I wanted to visit and I must say that they were so warm and welcoming and answered all my questions. I also contacted several Muslims on the internet to ask their advice on what to wear, how to act, etc. at the mosque. It was recommended that I wear modest clothing and a hijab as a sign of respect, so I went to an Islamic clothing store to purchase a hijab. The lady at the store was very nice as well, and I enjoyed shopping for the hijab. I decided on a pretty pink 2-piece hijab with an embroidered design on it. I decided to start wearing it then and there to see how people reacted to me wearing it. I put it on and drove home on the freeway, and since it was rush hour by this time, people had a lot of time to stop and look at me, though people would usually glance and then pretend not to be looking any more. My visit at the mosque was great, everybody there was so nice and helpful and I have to say that Muslims are the nicest people I have ever talked to. All of this inspired me to wear the hijab everywhere for another week in order to see what it is like to be a Muslim woman in Orange County. For the most part, people seemed to go out of their way to be nice, or they would just ignore me all together, but I did get a few negative comments, mostly from old people. I've got to say that wearing a burqa must have been quite the experience. If I think about how odd it felt and how I felt like I stuck out like a sore thumb in hijab, it must have been very interesting to wear the burqa. I give her a lot of respect for doing this.
One thing I do have to say about my own experience wearing Muslim garb: It is true what they say about it being liberating. I am not one to dress provocatively, but even so I still always get stares and whistles from people and I hate it. I never understand why, because I do nothing to provoke this and usually wear just jeans and long jackets in the winter or other fairly conservative clothing, but when I was dressed in Muslim clothes, I did not get any of this, and I felt like for the first time in my life I was not being looked at as a sex object but for who I am.
5 comments:
Off hand, I would say that it's certainly not a bad thing, generally speaking, if more non-Muslim women covered their hair. I know that, in the past, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has defended several Christian women (against their employers) who had chosen to wear a scarf over their heads while they were at work (they were following 1 Corinthians 11:2-6). I certainly don't have a problem with Christian women following their faith in this regard. (Growing up Catholic, as a child, I remember my mother covering her hair with a scarf when we went to Mass, but that tradition seems to have faded by the 70s. I wonder how many Christian women, if any, ever cover their hair when they go to church today?)
Certainly, I think it would be beneficial for Muslim women in Western countries if more non-Muslim women were to cover their hair, so that the Muslim women would "blend in" and become less obvious targets for abuse. (Safiyyah over at SAFspace has a very good story on this topic.) Of course, the opposite would also be beneficial, for there to be more Muslim women wearing hijabs. There's safety in numbers.
My wife, when she read your question, said, "So what if non-Muslim women were to cover their hair? What's the big deal? Rural women, working on farms, or in colder climates, often wear scarves over their heads. Indian women often wear part of their sari over their head, covering their hair." It doesn't make any difference to her, whether women (Muslim or non) wear scarves. It makes them neither good nor bad. However, Muslim women are expected to wear a hijab and, so, those women who don't are not following what is required of them in Islam.
what a brilliant piece of writing. I myself do not wear the hijab - yet. I do plan to wear it some time soon. I never felt the need to do so back in Singapore as being Muslim was something one took for granted. Here, I would do it to make a point, to assert my choice. I know exactly what it means, that it is liberating! And I certainly think that it doesn't matter who decides to dress modestly, religion wise. All women should aim to carry themselves with dignity and modesty because women in revealing clothes, merely perpetuate the notion that women are sex objects. Most women who dress revealingly, dont completely understand, that they are being controlled by the dictates of fashion (and men) when they "choose" to dress sexily.
Assalamu'alaykum,
Came here through Izzy Mo's blog... I've heard stories like the one by Heather pretty often; I think in Canada, some of the biggest supporters of hijab are coming from women who have also tried similar social experiments and saw the benefits.
Needless to say, if it is a system chosen by the Creator of humanity, it must be something beneficial for it.
There are still lots of elder women, particularly in Eastern Europe, that wear some sort of head covering especially when going to church. It amazes me that hijab is the subject of so much scrutiny when it is part and parcel of so many other cultures as well.
Most women who dress revealingly, dont completely understand, that they are being controlled by the dictates of fashion (and men) when they "choose" to dress sexily.
If only more women understood that.
It's nice to hear that there are non-Muslims who realize the beauty of Hijab. Being a Muslim and wearing hijab since 9, I take it for granted sort of but when I read such stuff, it reminds me how lucky and blessed I am.
How funny that I found this online so long after I wrote it, hahaha. I was searching something else and saw my name on there, very funny. I am glad that you enjoyed my piece of writing :O)
I wanted to do a follow-up on this because an interesting thing has happened to me since I wrote this piece...I have become muslim myself. What started as a social experiment left me deeply interested in Islam. At first it was just because I found it to be fascinating, but after reading more and more about it, it all began to make sense to me, as though it were a truth I had known all along and was just waiting to discover the words for what was in my heart. Islam has made me feel complete. It has liberated me from the troubles of my past. And though some things have been tough since my conversion (or...reversion) (such as my family and friend's reactions....not as bad as I thought it would be, but still awkward), I have been better ecquipped to deal with these things because I can hold fast to my faith. Islam has changed my life for the better and I just want to share it with the world.
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