As I listen and enter into conversations concerning Islam, I continue to be worried about our separation and our ignorance. We need to face our own reactions to outward expressions of Islam if we are to avoid that sneaky, creeping, evil - prejudice. For example, I have very different reactions to the hijab (the headscarf) and the hiqad (the face veil). I’ve had quite a bit of positive experience with women wearing hijab. When I visited Palestine I met the wives of neighborhood friends from Boston. The men were in the U. S. earning a living, the wives and children living in Ramallah. We met in East Jerusalem, the friends wearing hijabs. They volunteered later that they had no external pressure or compulsion to wear them, but that they were signs of their solidarity and pride as Muslim Palestinian women. When a guard at the Muslim museum wanted me to cover my head, the women vigorously protested.
In urban ministry in Boston and in Chester I have had many occasions to work and to socialize with American Muslim women, some wearing head scarves, some not. I respect their decisions around this and I can empathize with either position. See, for example, an article on www.Islam101.com by Naheed Mustafa, a young Canadian woman who writes in “My Body is my Own Business” that “Why would I … want to cover myself…? Because it gives me freedom.” (I remember what it was like to be a young mother in a mini-skirt in the 60s, having to steel myself every day as I walked by a construction site on my street.)
But then there is the hiqad – the face covering. Again, I respect another person’s decision about how she will dress. But, I have an emotional reaction to sitting across a table at dinner with a woman in a veil, she negotiating her fork underneath the veil in order to eat; later meeting the woman in the ladies room without her veil and not recognizing her – someone with whom I had just shared a meal! I think of the communication and empathy exercise we did with youth – we gave them a sheet of paper with pictures of faces with many expressions and asked them to identify the emotion behind the expression. How can we communicate without seeing faces? In England a teacher was dismissed because she would not remove her veil. I understand that.
Of course I know that this is a debate within Islam, and I have profound respect for the women of Islam to address the issues that face them. It is up to me to face my own reactions, to respond with respect, to seek dialogue and relationship, and to seek to be well informed. I wonder what would happen if Christian women wore hijabs for a week or so in solidarity and respect! We would probably learn something.
Marisa | 16-Nov-06 at 1:53 am | Permalink
This makes me think of all the controversy that was sweeping England maybe a month ago, I think it was during Ramadan, about the governmental official who asked that women where the full covering remove their face veils when they came into his office to talk with him. He explained that had a hard time communicating with the women when he couldn’t see their faces or read their expressions. He was demonized in the press because of it, but I really felt and understood his side. It’s a tricky issue.