Journalist and author of Veiled Threat, Nadeine Asbali, once said: "To take off my hijab would be to dilute who I am" (Shah 2024). The hijab is a headscarf adorned by Muslim women all over the globe to symbolize their faith, intelligence, resistance, and strength. The hijab is often mischaracterized as a symbol of oppression and a cry for help by the West. Western countries like the United States, Canada, France, the United Kingdom, etc. have all demonized the freedom of Muslim women who choose to veil in their own respective ways, highlighting the disparity between religious freedom and Islam. Muslim women are forced to choose between their home country and their religion in order to be seen as Western women in the eyes of others. The West has had a history of needing to'save' Muslim women from their religion that requires them to wear a veil that'reduces' their identity as a woman. …show more content…
For example, the 2019 movie Hala is about a seventeen-year-old girl who struggles to pick between her identity as a veiled Muslim girl and an all-American girl. The movie raised a lot of arguments since the movie ended with Hala, the main character, praying to Allah and taking off her hijab as her final act to conclude that while she may take off her hijab, she is still a Muslim. The reason why many believe that this movie was depicted as disrespectful is because of the way it is a cliche about how a Muslim woman is finally 'free' from her 'oppressive' hijab. Many young girls were under the impression that if they took off their hijab, they would be able to experience true freedom, just like
Fatemeh Fakhraie’s essay “Scarfing it Down,” explains how Muslim women suffer because of what they wear. Fakhraie blogs about Muslim women in her website she explains; “Seeing ourselves portrayed in the media in ways that are one-dimensional and misleading." Several people judge Muslim's by their appearance because they assume they're a bad person. The author of this essay wants the reader to know that Muslim women wearing a hijab are not a threat to the world.
The article “My Body Is My Own Business” by Naheed Mustafa is about an Islamic women’s principle that putting on her usual headscarf, or Hijab, actually empowers her as a female, contrary to the popular principle that the hijab represents male oppressiveness. She ex...
For some women wearing a veil is not something that is forced on them but rather a choice of their own. Martha Nussbaum and Maysan Haydar are both authors that try to explain their reasoning that veiling isn't an oppressive tool used against women. Martha Nussbaum's article “Veiled Threats”, is a political and philosophical take on why banning the burqa is a violation of human rights. On the other hand Maysan Haydar’s article “Don’t Judge a Muslim Girl by Her Covering”, is a more humorous and personal take on why veiling shouldn't be as judged or stereotyped. Though Nussbaum and Haydar have equal goals this essay is being used to understand the main argument, claims and whether or not each article has any weaknesses.
Ever pass by Muslim woman in a hijab at the mall or park and think how oppressive and restraining her culture must be? Maysan Haydar, a New York social worker who practices the Muslim tradition of veiling, believes otherwise. In her article, “Veiled Intentions: Don’t Judge a Muslim Girl by Her Covering,” Haydar highlights on her experiences as a Muslim living in an American culture, where showing more skin is the “norm.” Haydar speaks specifically to a crowd who unconsciously makes assumptions about certain Muslim practices, in hopes of sharing the truth behind them. Haydar suggests that, contrary to popular belief, not all Muslim women cover themselves strictly as an “oppressive” religious practice, but that some women, like herself, find
As I sat in an airport one day, I noticed a family approaching the same waiting area as mine. This family was not the same as your ordinary family; the mother was completely covered, with only her eyes and hands showing. I immediately found myself wondering, being in America, the land of the free, did she choose to wear that or is it mandatory for her due to her religion. I also wondered if she knew that people were looking at her, possibly with the same question as my own.
Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving by Lila Abu-Lughod describes Western feminist beliefs on Muslim women and their burqa/veil and how focusing on these misconceptions are doing far more harm than good. This causes Western feminists reduce the culture and beliefs of Muslim women down to a single piece of clothing. The burqa is a type of veil worn by Muslim women for a number of reasons such as proprietary and signaling their relationship with God. The burqa is often seen a symbol of suppression amongst the Western world and it was expected for women to throw it off in a show of independence once liberated from the Taliban. The saving of Muslim women is often used to justify the “War on Terrorism” as exemplified in Laura Bush 's 2001 speech. The belief that Muslim women needed saving existed before the “War on Terrorism” as seen when Marnia Lazreg wrote about a skit where two Afghan girls talked about the beauty of the free Christian France.
According to Doucleff, “‘wearing the hijab eliminates many of the hassles women have to go through — such as dyeing their hair,’ she says. ‘For example, you're getting old, and gray hairs, when you wear the hijab, you might not think about dyeing your hair because nobody sees it anyway.’” By wearing a hijab women do not have to worry about “gray hairs, and can focus on other parts of their lives. Although this seems like a trivial improvement, women in the west spend inestimable amounts of money on beauty products and a surfeit amount of time on their daily regimen. Even though the burqa is therapeutic in helping women with their appearance, it can be physically restricting, “Mariam had never before worn a burqa…The padded headpiece felt tight and heavy on her skull…The loss of peripheral vision was unnerving, and she did not like the suffocating way the pleated cloth kept pressing against her mouth” (72). In this excerpt the burqa is described as “tight”, “heavy”, and “suffocating, making it seem like an unpleasant garment to be ensconced in. The burqa can cause an “unnerving” feeling, which can make daily tasks hard to complete. When interviewing a girl in Afghanistan Daniel Pipes, American historian, writer, and commentator, got her opinion on the burqa, “When I wear a burqa it gives me a really bad feeling. I don't like to wear it…I don't like it, it upsets me, I can't breathe properly.” The discomfort the girl feels in the burqa “upsets” her, linking her physical distress to emotional distress. The girl gets “a really bad feeling” when she wears a burqa, showing that the physical effects of the burqa can be negative. Besides the physical hardships Muslim dress may cause, it can also cover up physical abuse, “A Muslim teenage girl
Critical Response Essay 1 The article, “Unveiled Sentiments: Gendered Islamophobia and Experiences of Veiling Among Muslin Girls in a Canadian Islamic School” by Jamin Zine from the text book discusses the the cultural difficulties in modern time that Muslim women have faced with the hijab. The hijab has been banned in France, Turkey, and Quebec schools. This law suit and lengthy debate between secular and religious freedom began. The conservatives defending the law believed, “the veil is a sign of imprisonment that considers women to be sub-humans under the law of Islam” (Gutmann 1996, p. 161).
They’ve dehumanized them so much that they can’t see their identity in a gendered way anymore. The only thing they see is that they are Muslim” (“Muslim Women’s Rights”, 2016). With the increasing number of terror attacks around the world, the general public has an intense fear or prejudice against the Islamic religion or Muslims. The religious headdress or garment that Muslim women wear make that a visible target of various type of discrimination and
299). The study consisted of having in-depth personal interviews to share their experiences of being a Muslim American woman (Anderson Droogsma, 2007, p. 300). Veiling to these women was a way of freedom while also having a Muslim identity (Anderson Droogsma, 2007, p. 301). It was also a source of behavior control, to not be sexually objectified, a way of commanding respect from others and even a source of checking their own behavior (Anderson Droogsma, 2007, p. 301). One of the women interviewed said, veiling to her was a way to feel connected to other Muslim woman who veil (Anderson Droogsma, 2007, p. 302). Veiling can be a way to feel connected to your religion and God as well as being connected to those who practice the same faith, it can be considered an act of membership. Many of the women interviewed noted they have been removed from planes, been treated unfairly, and have had strangers shout at them all for just being Muslim and being more visibly recognized from veiling (Anderson Droogsma, 2007, p. 303). This is an example of how media can affect the general population. When the media only shows radicals and compares all Muslims to being terrorist or dangerous they are actually putting Muslim people at risk of being assaulted in public. Muslim woman in particular are more at risk for being assaulted as they are more identifiable. So while veiling can be a source of empowerment and freedom for women it is a double-edged sword because it also puts them at further risk of being
Various instances of discrimination against Muslim women wearing Hijab have increased with the new administration, people trying to remove Hijabs from muslim women and name calling have been the highest in the last one year (New York Times, 2017). Persuaded by the media and major political decisions, such as the 2017 Travel Ban, the pervasiveness of “islamophobia” has intensified and perpetuated the stereotypes associated with being Muslim or being perceived as one. Although being a Muslim or wearing a Hijab can be a form of privilege due to the perception that “ Muslim don’t cheat people,” the everyday threats, discrimination and humiliation shows that what we notice in the world depends in large part on the status we occupy (Rosenblum & Travis,2018). Also, the dynamics of how beauty and sexuality should be portrayed in public in United States has always contradicted with Muslim culture. According to the culture, women’s beauty is a gift to their husbands only and covering their body is a shield from the idea of women being perceived as objects of desires that could lead to sexual harassment (CNN,
Within the Middle East, the largest population of the men and women are Muslim. The Muslim religion suggests that women wear a veil or hijab, which is a head scarf that only exposes a woman’s eyes, accompanied by a burqa which is a full body cloak. The sole purpose of the clothing is to cover a woman’s feminine features from men’s eyes. The Qur’an, an Islamic scripture, supports and slightly obligates the uniform by saying that women are to be conservative, “let them wear their head covering over their bosoms, and not display their ornaments.” (Qur’an).
History proves that women have been considered inferior to men, since the time of Adam and Eve. Chapter two in Genesis states that Eve was made out of Adam’s ribs, hence, women are derivatives and secondary ontologically. Various religions consider women to be created for men, causing the oppression of women and their rights. Women have come a long way since a time when they were solely responsible for household and did not have an opinion in anything. But have women really received all of their rights?
When outsiders view the hijab what they see is something mysterious and unfamiliar. They do not understand the reason behind wearing it. They look at a Muslim woman and her fully covered body and see something rigid and restrictive. In their culture, for a woman to wear what she likes with no restriction is the norm and having a certain dress code to put up with is considered to be restraining. A woman’s body is seen by non-Muslims as a great art that can be displayed and hiding it means being unappreciative to that art. Furthermore, when outsiders look at the scarf tied around the Muslim woman’s head, they see something oppressive and backward. They believe that the headscarf is forced on girls and women to oppress them and deprive them of their fundamental freedom. It is also considered to be backward due to the fact that it is not in the same fashion line with the rest of the western clothing. Outsiders look at the long, black, abaya and see something unbearable to wear. In their understanding, having to wear such a long and dragging cloth is intolerable; wearing sh...
One aspect of women and religion that I am choosing to write about is the wearing of head coverings by women in Islam. Before learning about this religion, I didn’t know much, aside from the fact that they serve one God, Allah, and his messenger is Muhammad. This was the extent of my knowledge of Islam at the start of the class, and it remained the same at the midterm reflection. In my pre-speaker reflection, I wrote that the “perceived image of a Muslim woman is one hidden behind a veil, someone who is silent and voiceless.” Although I knew that Muslim women wear the head coverings, I never truly knew why that was.