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WHAT
[NOT] TO WEAR: CLOTHES & FAITH
Throughout
history people have used clothing to say something about their
religious beliefs and allegiances - even if it is nothing
more than a badge, a pendant or a 'logo' on a sweatshirt.
In a free society the right to do this should be inviolable,
although there may be times when it is inadvisable or inappropriate
for reasons of courtesy, personal safety or public order.
A deliberately provocative, 'in your face' approach is unlikely
to serve any good purpose. And there will also be times when
particular types of clothing are simply impractical. A symbol
dangling on a chain or a loose-fitting garment may well be
dangerous around machinery, for example. And in situations
requiring a face-to-face encounter - for reasons of recognition,
security, identification, trust-building and effective communication
- a garment that partially or wholly conceals the face might
also come in this category.
It
is this issue that has dominated debate in recent weeks, and
a pretty poor debate it has been too! What started out as
a minor local issue, that was surely amenable to an amicable
local solution, became inflated out of all proportion. On
one side we had ill-advised government ministers weighing
in with clumsy and counter-productive remarks aimed at one
young Muslim woman - cheered on by sections of the media.
On the other we had certain self-appointed Muslim 'leaders'
who are regrettably prone to take offence at every conceivable
opportunity. Debate - I would prefer conversation - should
be informed and undertaken with goodwill and a cool head.
I don't think that any reasonable or responsible person wants
issues like this to divide communities and foster ill-will,
so maybe we should all just think twice before shooting our
mouths off.
I
don't want to comment further on the affair in question, but
maybe it's worth saying something about 'Muslim dress'. And
the first thing to say about it is that, strictly speaking,
there is no such thing. Neither the Qur'an nor the Muslim
faith in general prescribes or proscribes the wearing of any
particular garment, either for men or for women, except while
on the Haj - the Pilgrimage to Mecca. All the various garments
that are called 'Muslim dress' are simply the various culturally-determined
interpretations of what the Qur'an actually says about clothing
- which isn't very much. It is perfectly possible to use 'Western'
clothing in ways acceptable to Qur'anic teaching - as many
Muslim women (and many more Muslim men) actually do.
What
the Qur'an says about clothing is, basically, that it should
be modest. Large expanses of naked flesh, skin-tight garments
and ostentatious jewellery are out as far as appearance in
public is concerned (what you wear in private is another matter),
but there is no requirement to veil the face - in whole or
in part. I have no Arabic, but I do have six different translations
of the Qur'an, along with several books on Islam by Muslim
authors, and they all seem agreed on this point! To quote
one translation, the two principal Qur'anic passages on the
matter say:
'O
Prophet, tell your wives and daughters, and believers' wives
as well, to draw their cloaks around themselves. That is more
appropriate so that they may be recognized and not molested.'
(Sura 33: 59)
'Tell
believers to avert their glances and to guard their private
parts; that is purer for them. God is informed about anything
they do. Tell believing women to avert their glances and guard
their private parts, and not display their charms except what
normally appears of them. They should fold their shawls over
their bosoms and show their charms only to their husbands,
or their fathers or their fathers-in-law…' [There follows
an extensive list of male relatives, 'womenfolk' and others
likely to be encountered in the home or other private settings.]
(Sura 24: 30-31)
The
reason for the dress code is thus modesty and, particularly
for women, safety. But the injunction to 'avert' one's glances
shouldn't be forgotten either: modesty also applies to the
eye of the beholder, regardless of gender! There is an echo
here of those challenging words of Jesus: 'If a man looks
at a woman with a lustful eye, he has already committed adultery
with her in his heart' (Matthew 5: 28). The modesty in dress
required by Islam is thus also intended to protect us from
ourselves by minimising temptation. Bearing in mind the number
of young women who drink too much and wear too little on our
streets at weekends, it makes you wonder why one young Muslim
woman going to the other extreme should cause such a fuss!
But
why do some Muslim women opt for the full 'veil' and cover
their faces when this is not a requirement of Islam? For some
it is a personal choice freely undertaken as an expression
of their deep devotion to God, and so must be respected. For
others it may be an assertion more of Muslim identity than
of spirituality, even of defiance, in a situation where they
feel that identity to be under attack. This is more problematical,
and needs sensitive handling. For others still it may simply
be a matter of custom brought from elsewhere. But there is
a more disturbing aspect that can't be ignored or dismissed.
In some parts of the Muslim world the wearing of the full
'veil' is not a matter of personal choice but of compulsion,
and any woman not conforming to this extreme interpretation
of the dress code is liable to be punished, attacked and even
killed by fanatical so-called 'fundamentalists'. That is unacceptable
by the standards of any moral code, including that of Islam,
and it should certainly not be tolerated here, should it occur.
Personally,
I find no problem whatsoever with the clothes worn by most
Muslim women in this country - increasing numbers of whom
are English converts, incidentally. None of those outfits,
in themselves, constitute 'Muslim dress', though. They simply
comply with the broad guidelines set out in the Qur'an. As
for covering the face, this may not have originated in Islam
at all! One suggestion - from a Muslim source - is that it
originated in either high-caste Hindu or Persian Christian
circles to shield the faces of noblewomen from the gaze of
the common people! I can't comment on that, but I do think
that we should all exercise a bit of tolerance and common
sense in matters both of faith and of clothing!
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