Why veil in islam

It sounds like a simple question: "Why do some Muslim women wear a veil? To some, the veil a symbol of religious observance.

To others it has cultural significance. And to some women, it is a way to show solidarity with women who are forced to veil. There are those for whom it makes a political statement, while others simply like the convenience.

Author Sahar Amer examines the veil and all its religious, political, social and cultural implications in her new book " What Is Veiling?

However, in none of these verses is it explicitly indicated that women must veil. This is an interpretation that was imposed on the Quran several centuries later.

Another misconception about veiling, Amer says, is that it is necessarily oppressive. Very few countries and regions, including Iran, Saudi Arabia and the Aceh province of Indonesia, require women to veil. I decided one can be modest without wearing a headscarf, and that one could be an equally good Muslim regardless of what one is wearing.

More often, women choose to veil to express their religious and cultural identities and challenge repressive kinds of veiling. Amer grew up in Egypt but attended Bryn Mawr college in the U. She started veiling in Egypt but chose to unveil in college. The experience made her question whether she was being modest if she was the center of attention because of what she was wearing. Today, some women wear the hijab to signal pride in their ethnic identity.

This is more so for immigrants in Europe and the United States , where there has been an increase in Islamophobia. I was told that to be a Muslim was to be a terrorist and that to be outwardly Muslim was to endorse violence and oppression … I understood that I would be unwelcome as long as I wore symbols of my heritage and chose to, in however modern a way, embrace my ancestors.

Muslim African-American women in the U. They also want to dispel the assumption that all African-Americans are Christians, and that only people with origins abroad can be Muslim. In fact, 13 percent of adult Muslims in the U. S are black Americans born in the country. For many other women, the headscarf has become a means of resistance to standards of feminine beauty that demand more exposure.

Proponents of this view argue that removing clothing for the benefit of the male gaze does not equal liberation. According to researchers, women in hijabs note that employers must interact with them based on their qualifications rather than their appearance and that, therefore, the hijab levels the playing field. Further, they gain freedom to study, work, and even interact with men being viewed as unchaste. In this view, wearing the hijab permits a degree of autonomy and freedom.

For numerous Muslims, however, none of that is the point. Most conservative scholars, and numerous Muslim women, hold that wearing a headcovering is an absolute obligation for Muslim women, regardless of other social considerations. Thus, if a woman is likely to be the subject of special attention on the basis of wearing a headscarf, she need not do so.

In a context where other women wear miniskirts and halter tops, long pants and a loose shirt are modest enough.