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The New Fight to Ban the Veil
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As a prestigious Islamic university in Egypt makes a bold move to bar women from covering their faces, The Daily Beast’s Asra Nomani reports on a frightening brand of Islam taking hold among young girls.
For all those politically correct folks who wonder whether it’s OK to ban Muslim women from wearing the face veil, consider this headline on the front page of The Daily Times, a leading English newspaper in Pakistan: “Al-Azhar Plans to Ban Face Veil.”
Yes, indeed, the news spreading through the Muslim world is this: Al-Azhar University, the Harvard of Islamic theology in mainstream Sunni Muslim circles, is planning to ban its female students from covering their faces with the face veil, commonly called the “niqab.” Egypt's Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper reported this week that while touring a high school affiliated with Al-Azhar in a suburb of Cairo, Grand Imam Sayyed Tantawi got “angry” when he saw a student wearing a face veil and ordered her to take it off, declaring “The niqab is a tradition. It has no connection with religion.” Interestingly, he was there to educate students about swine flu, or H1N1.
When my mother arrived at the Nampally train station, my paternal grandmother, a feminist before her time, yanked off the veil covering my mother’s face. It was a shocking moment.
The newspaper said security officials have been given verbal orders to ban girls and women from entering Al-Azhar campuses if they cover their faces, and that Egypt’s minister of higher education, Hani Helal, had decided to ban students from wearing the niqab. The press attaché at the Embassy of Egypt in Washington, DC didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Why the ban? The same reason that security officials from Florida’s Department of Motor Vehicles to Michigan’s judicial court consider the face veil a problem: It’s a security risk. Indeed, from Islamabad to Baghdad, the face veil has been used by militants to escape police action, stage attacks, and feign identities. Most importantly, the face veil represents a frightening brand of Islam that is taking hold even among young girls. It preaches a literal translation of the Koran that becomes troublesome when applied to problematic verses—which are used by militants to sanction domestic violence, intolerance, and even suicide bombings.
But in the name of cultural relativism, many in the West have given the face veil a pass under principles of religious freedom. But it’s an edict of only the most hardcore of Muslims, typically those adhering to the rigid schools of interpretation called Wahhabism and Salafism. On many accounts, groups espousing these ideas essentially represent the KKK wing of Islam.
Strict Wahhabi and Salafi interpretations of Islam have increasingly crept into societies from Cairo to California since the early 1970s, fueled by petrodollars in Saudi Arabia, and promulgated by political Islam movements with slick marketing campaigns, sophisticated strategic communications strategies, and powerful publishing houses based in cities such as Riyadh. Over the last decade, I have witnessed more women covering their faces in veils from the suburbs of northern Virginia to my hometown in Morgantown, West Virginia, where women walk up and down the aisles of the Wal-Mart in full niqab.
The Koranic verse being interpreted by hardliners to veil women is chapter 33, verse 59. In The Noble Qur’an, a translation by Muhammad Al-Hilali, a professor of Islam, and Muhammad Muhsin Khan, there are all sorts of parenthetical phrases and examples inserted in the passage in order to say women have to “screen themselves completely.” Their full translation is: “O Prophet! Tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to draw their cloaks (veils) all over their bodies (i.e. screen themselves completely except the eyes or one eye to see the way). That will be better, that they should be known (as free respectable women) so as not to be annoyed.” That book is published by none other than the King Fahd Complex for the Printing of the Holy Qur’an in Medina, Saudi Arabia.
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Paul Schrodt is a writer living in New York City. He has contributed to New York magazine, Radar, and Esquire.com.
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The Daily Beast is dedicated to news and commentary, culture, and entertainment. We carefully curate the web’s most essential stories and bring you original must-reads from our talented contributors.
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Asra Q. Nomani is the author of Standing Alone: An American Woman’s Struggle for the Soul of Islam. She is co-director of the Pearl Project, an investigation into the murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. Her activism for women’s rights at her mosque in West Virginia is the subject of a PBS documentary, The Mosque in Morgantown. She can be found on Facebook, and reached at asra@asranomani.com
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Asra Q. Nomani is the author of Standing Alone: An American Woman’s Struggle for the Soul of Islam. She is co-director of the Pearl Project, an investigation into the murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. Her activism for women’s rights at her mosque in West Virginia is the subject of a PBS documentary, The Mosque in Morgantown. She can be found on Facebook, and reached at asra@asranomani.com
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Asra Q. Nomani is the author of Standing Alone: An American Woman’s Struggle for the Soul of Islam. She is co-director of the Pearl Project, an investigation into the murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. Her activism for women’s rights at her mosque in West Virginia is the subject of a PBS documentary, The Mosque in Morgantown. She can be found on Facebook, and reached at asra@asranomani.com
bademus
It's encouraging to hear that respected voices in the Muslim world are coming out against the veil. Great post!
faryalk
Sorry all but I strongly disagree with any country that tells me if I can or cannot wear a veil. This is a choice that each of us should be allowed to make. It should not be imposed on us either way.
Genni2002
Bravo! It sounds like a very reasonable ban.
Embers
Good for your paternal grandmother, Asra!!
The face veil has got to go. That's a start. Next up: the rest of the veil.
johnmcenroe
That I'd consider one step too far; if people choose to cover their hair, for whatever reason (and it's not always clear why a woman or girl would cover her hair), they should be free to do so.
robjh1
This is a fight for the Islam people and not the West. However, once on Western soil take it off. You can't get a drivers license with only your eyes showing. That's ridiculous! Obey the law.
"and we are not saved..."
perdidochas
Ironically, in stricter Islamic countries, women can't get a driver's license at all.
chekov
Thank you very much for this piece. I have been constantly bemused by the support that some on the traditional left, and others in the women's movement have given to fundamental Islam, especially under this guise of 'tolerance'.
I have watched in horror as even Sharia law has been accepted by some mainstream feminist organizations as an option within our justice system here in Canada. Thankfully government officials were able to nix that particular odious idea before it went forward.
Ideas, concepts and practices that would be rightfully excoriated by progressives if posed by our western governments, seem to be overlooked if not advanced by these same individuals and groups when it comes to Islam.
This ignorance permeates all the politics of the middle east. The left getting into bed with the most right wing elements of Islam is played out with the anti-Israel crowd in probably the most dishonest display of this misplaced solidarity with oppressive Islam.
We haven't struggled for equality rights all these years to just toss our gains aside by a false sense of "cultural sensitivity".
Counterglow
Chekov's view of Canada is somewhat selective. It was Ontario's Conservative Party that was willing to offer government money to fundamentalist schools. This potentially-disastrous proposition was roundly rejected by the electorate. And the current Conservative federal government has failed to show the guts of the French government and ban this abomination in Canada. It has been as silent on the matter as the groups Chekov mentions. It is the left's lunatic fringe that has suffered from a case of excessive cultural sensitivity, failing to recognize the burka and similar costumes for the anti-female mobile prisons that they are.
Chekov's misleading generalization is equivalent to equating all conservatives with the Birthers, Klansmen and other idiots on the far right fringe.
chekov
What misleading generalization?
Counterglow
This one in particular, but your entire post amplifies it: "The left getting into bed with the most right wing elements of Islam..."
The left is no more monolithic on the burka issue than the right is on matters of civil liberties. Your allegation that it is "getting into bed" with such people is an outright lie.
GinaRN
There are more and more veiled women in the SF bay area town that I live in.i
I am very afraid for the future.
When I see the veil, I see a patriarchal religion that seeks to subjugate and dominate women.
I feel like a european jew, seeing more and more swastikas on the street.
Maezeppa
If it's not religious and merely cultural, I have no comment whatsoever. If Muslims want to hash out this matter and abandon the veil, be my guest.
artsyfartsy
What a great piece. I love your use of the word hyper-sexualize, it's absolutely right. I've always been disgusted by all three mainstream religions making it a woman's fault that men desire them. So, instead of men dealing with their desires, these religions (particularly the ultra-conservatives) try to make women invisible. Its' all about power. Muslims do this with the niqab, Ultra-Orthodox Jews do this with wigs and keeping them separate and Christians do this with making women where skirts and keeping them pregnant. It's all about restricting our movements.
My husband and I lived in Germany for two years and it was the first time I'd lived around a lot of muslims. I was always amazed that the young Turkish women who covered their hair for modesty also wore scarves so brightly colored and clothes so tight that you noticed them more. I would look at them and think well what's the point of this scarf when the clothes left nothing to the imagination. Just an observation.
selahh
You speak of being disgusted by all three mainstream religions, then cite examples of those within the religions who belong to radical sects, not the mainstream.
aninigma
How interesting. Our American culture hyper-sexualizes women and relieves men of all the blame, saying that they can't help themselves they are simply made that way. I can't speak for Islam, but I know for Christianity and Judaism (at least the actual Torah, not cultural Judaism), men and women are equally to blame for improper actions. A woman should be careful how she presents herself and a man should have self-control. As selahh says, you're pointing out radical sects of these religions as the norm.
ashytators
Mmm, this is incorrect. The Quran is more specific and says to cover their bodies, hair, and neck I believe. I read an english interpretation and there wasn't any room for embellishment; the face veil has never been required. I don't believe the Imam became angry because it was a "security risk" since he says this is not a part of the religion, it is part of the culture. It seems he was angry at the excessive veiling for no religious reason.
aminahyaquin
The ban of the veil is a potentially Lose-Lose battle. There is no reason to ban the veil whatsoever in a multi-faith, pluralistic society. every society and most religions have members who adapt traditional, moderate, or progressive views on various aspects of that society or religion.
Usually these folks worship or interact socially with a community of both like and different minded individuals.
To ban an article of dress that women freely adopt and choose because of their religious and/or cultural beliefs, is in effect infantilizing women in the mistaken notion that externals will change internals of a society or religion for the better. Ideology is both more and less adaptive to a dress code.
Will we challenge the Quaker women's plain dress? the Orthodox Jews' wigs and shved heads? why do we not find the catholic priests' garb or a conservative jew's yarmulke objectionable and make it verboten?
and while we are at it please tell me in what way being an anorexic size 0 obnoxious vicious alpha girl plutocratic social darwinist into hedge funds that wither social justice on teh vine is superior to being a practiicng muslim female who is modest, loving, values lovemaking over sexual depravity and chooses to wear the veil because she can be more than a choice, sub par or otherwise male rated piece of meat is a negative?
Just asking, in solidarity with my muslim sisters who choose to wear hijab for reasons of their own.
artsyfartsy
No one is standing up for size zero women and that little hateful rant shows a lot about your ideology. All the dress code examples you mentioned are not stripping the wearers of their identity. In this country people you have to right to your religious belief or unbelief, but you don't have the right to put cultural beliefs in front of our laws.
ashytators
Maybe we're all mistaken, but isn't it a part our laws to give the right to religious freedom? And it is in your OPINION that covering one's body is stripping the wearers of their identity. How many practicing Muslim women have you found that told you they felt they had no identity? I have seen plenty of women who wear a hijaab and still MIRACULOUSLY find ways to express themselves through clothing. Layering your clothes doesn't exactly limit your artistic style of expression. Apparently they can't put their cultural beliefs in front of our laws, but you can.
michaelbessette
artsyfartsy, ease off a bit, eh? While Amina did go on a (quite funny) rant about "vicious alpha girls", her post was thoughtful, well written and raised some challenging points. Such as: whether it is Qur'anic or not, a minority of Muslims regard wearing the nijaab as a religious practice. Where do we draw the line about what religious dress codes to allow, or where the boundary lies between the culture and faith of another? Is such a decision by a majority to restrict the harmless practice of a minority even desirable in a liberal society? I'm not certain that it is. And Amina's quite right to point out the hypocrisy of the West in decrying how imprisoning and sexist the nijaab is while ignoring the tartish dress and behavior of their own young women. Are high heels and a skirt up to "here" any less imprisoning or male-directed? We have our own sartorial demons.
Having said that, Amina might agree, perhaps, that there are more and more circumstances where the nijaab is inappropriate. What I said a couple sentences ago about the veil being harmless? Well, when it's used to hide criminal or even murderous behavior, then the nijaab becomes a real problem, and so where security is a concern the nijaab should come off, no questions. Nor is it appropriate in a mixed classroom or office, where there is a culture of looking into people's faces to gauge their thoughts and reactions. While I believe that women should be free to veil themselves as they wish, they should realize how much this will inhibit their education and employment, and thus their independence.
artsyfartsy
ashytators - pretend all you want that being covered head to toe and wearing a veil and in some cases that horrible thing with the screen over the face doesn't take away a person's identity. Layering your clothes is not the issue (nice try) and I wasn't saying a muslim woman couldn't cover herself. I've heard this feminist argument about how empowering it is to be covered. Well, then why is it only required of women? Making all women to look alike with their black shrouds is absolutely taking away their identity and sets them aside as the "other." There are loads of cultural beliefs that are illegal, female circumcision and polygamy to name a couple of examples and I didn't write the laws.
I am certainly not standing up for slutty dressing women either and high heels hurt like hell. Women can dress modestly without men, religion or a culture telling them what they can and can't wear. This story is about the veil, but believe me, I have problems with any religion or culture that dictates what women can or cannot expose. What the hell is sinful about hair, or a face, or hands? It's about power cloaked in religion. I don't like the way western cultures portray women either, but the veil does not belong in countries where women are equal.
michaelbessette
artsyfartsy, you ask "why is [an abaya] only required of women"? Actually, I agree with you; in my opinion, the terms of modesty for one should apply to all. I'd be happy to see men in full black gowns ;). The abaya is also clearly intended to make the wearer anonymous - most men simply can't tell the difference between women who are so dressed, though the women themselves are very good at noticing the subtle details that individuate each other. But that isn't my culture, and I can tell you from much personal experience that those women who choose to wear an abaya, or even a simple headscarf, do so for one primary reason: because they want to. Because it makes them feel comfortable and comforted and happy. Genuinely happy. So that being the case, who are we to tell them to take it off?
midixon19
I have no problem, and I think the majority of Americans don't have a problem with Muslim women covering their hair. However, when they wear face veils that only have eye holes then we have a problem. Furthermore, the Imam said that this is not a religious item of clothing. The niqab that covers the face shouldn't be allowed in banks, stores, while driving, etc. There are too many places in our society where making an identification is too important and security outweighs religious freedoms.
Mary50
Great article. I hope every ignorant multicultural relativist/apologist in America reads it.
dcbooknurse
It has been established that wearing articles of religious clothing is protected under the 1st Amendment. I know women who voluntarily cover themselves out of religious belief, including covering their head but not wearing the face veil. I also have known women who would never wear jeans or short sleeves because their very Christian husbands didn't think it was appropriate for a 'lady' to dress like that.
I don't think it is being politically correct to be against banning the wearing of face veils by stating it is religious freedom. It is religious freedom. What a woman does or doesn't wear in accordance to her religious beliefs should be up to her. If anything, it is politically incorrect to insist that women who may want to wear a veil be forbidden to do so because 'we' know what is best for them.
midixon19
It is not legal for someone to wear a mask into a bank, it is not legal for Muslim women to NOT show their face on their drivers license. There are too many instances (the Michigan drivers license comes to mind) where the community's security trumps religious freedom.
endgame
"What a woman does or doesn't wear in accordance to her religious beliefs should be up to her. If anything, it is politically incorrect to insist that women who may want to wear a veil be forbidden to do so because 'we' know what is best for them."
Well said. If the veil is a product of radicalism and a misreading of the Quran, and I cannot say whether that is or is not true, then the path to the reduction of use of veils should be through education, not the removal of the rights of the individual.
I will add, however, that any person who chooses to cover his/her face must submit, in the United States at any rate, to showing their face in appropriate circumstances for security identification purposes. No exceptions.
evae1960
Blah, blah, blah...
Hello?? have any of you been to Kuwait in June? It's as hot as hell and the sun will scorch the hair right off of your head if anyone of either gender dare venture out in the sun for any length of time. The men wear their own version of a head covering, too.
All that garb is cultural. Period. All these arguments are representative of clashing cultures, and nothing more. All religions have their own versions of female repression, and the exploitation of women in the West for the sexual gratification of men is no less sad.
Our western culture with it's crazy insatiable market-driven machine uses images of sexualized women to get us to buy, buy, buy products to remain "desirable" sexually. While some of the discussion here approaches sophistication and the complexities that invariably are involved in this subject, I am disappointed that more objectivity is not displayed.
Jammin
I love the family history in this piece - The Nomani women have guts! I I think all conservative religious edicts deserve to be questioned with vigor. As a Christian, I cringe at the subservience and modesty in both behavior and dress expected from "good Christian women." If I were Muslim, I'd probably be tossing my face veil to the wind!
AsraNomani
:) I love the spirit I inherited. Thank you for recognizing it. I had my mom read my piece first. She is my shero.
jaclynde
this article is like a breath of fresh air. People who are against the veil aren't against religious freedom in most cases....We need to think about the veil the same way we think about the KKK now, it is against the law for them to have rallies, because the only meaning of their rallies is to instill terror in people. When women cover their faces, it robs them of their identity, and has nothing to do with God or their spirit or what they believe. It is used as a tool by her family to control her life.
GinaRN
I agree. The veil IS a kkk robe, a swastika, a hammer and sickle.
The veil is a visible symbol of a dominator cult of men ruling women.
Islam is sexism at the core.
There are no female muslim religious leaders or clerics.
It is men, and only men, telling women what "allah" wants.
I worked as a nurse in saudi arabia. It is a religious fascist state. The mutawa, the religious police is comprised of hyper-religious men who beat, torment and abuse women in the name of religion.
I would also add a point. When people discuss this by using the quran or
the Iman as an authority, it's frightening. These arguments assume that all laws should conform to religious beliefs. In fact, saying that these books have legal standing. They do not. They are bronze age myths, legends and primitive tribal laws. Historical documents, but not laws.
I used to believe that religion was benign. No more.
The local shcools in my town decided to teach children that bullying gay kids or kids we gay parents was wrong. The local baptist church AND the local mosque showed up in force with homophobic signs.
AsraNomani
Thank you for your insights from the trenches in Saudi Arabia.
Would you tell us where the local school issue over ending bullying of gay children happened? I think it's important to bring to life this point that you make of the local Baptist church and mosque coming together.
So often, progressives don't similarly organize because they are paralyzed by political correctness.
I honestly believe we can be respectful, while we still stand up for values of social justice, tolerance and women's rights.
GinaRN
Alameda California is where I live.
But I read today on the daily beast, that the rightwingers, nationwide, are describing any tolerance program in the public schools, as, "promoting homosexuality".
I'm afraid that this is the next fear campaign geared toward the stupid, fearful and bigoted.
just2think
a muslim woman who veils her face or covers her hair also is allowed by religion to uncover her face when deemed necessary be it for example, for court where she is a witness or to the police or immigration officials to verify identity. if she veils her face she is within her (U.S.A.) legal rights to request a female officer if one is availible. and it is in the Quran that a muslim woman cover her face as well as that she not cover her face in circumstances like when she is the sole supporter of her family, for health reasons, etc. Islam is not as rigid as its detractors would like people to think.
isn't it slightly irrational to think that a woman would not allow for positive identification just because of a religion? maybe what she is not allowing is wantom enjoyment of her. just as rare works or art or expensive jewelry are protected but enjoyed by some, similar could be the case for some woman whether muslim, christain hindu or any woman who values her worth. though this may be expressed in different type of dress, the bottom line will most likely always be what the majority will say is modest dress and what is immodest. and most likely those who are religiously inclined in a orthodox way will dress modest and shy away from the immodest dress. and there will most likely always be those who will say "take it off", " it is not necessary", "it is backward". but is it really backward and if so by whose standard? and how long will that standard exist if there will almost surely be those who rally against and seek to impose rightly or wrongly each new dress standard for the day?
there are different ways to clothe and adorn the body. lets allow woman to dress themselves just as men do.
Thank you.
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