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Behind the veil
EDUCATED MUSLIM WOMEN IN MUMBAI ARE FORSAKING JEANS AND TEES FOR BURQAS OR HIJABS. THEY TELL REENA MARTINS THAT COVERING UP IS EMANCIPATING
Behind the veil
Some extracts:
2. Does the hijab really empowers a woman as the woman says? If so, how?
3. Why are more and more educated young Muslim women, who were once comfortable in jeans and tees, are becoming hijabis — women who wear scarves or clothing that put a veil between man and woman, when the mothers did not wear the same?
2. Or are all these 'justifications' being given as a reaction to the Mumbai riots?
2. Is she justified to only treat women in her clinic and not men? Is she doing justice to society where there is dearth of medical practitioner, just to be more 'holier than thou'?
EDUCATED MUSLIM WOMEN IN MUMBAI ARE FORSAKING JEANS AND TEES FOR BURQAS OR HIJABS. THEY TELL REENA MARTINS THAT COVERING UP IS EMANCIPATING
Behind the veil
Some extracts:
1. Why are once chic, modern Muslim women who were hep, discarding their hip lifestyle for a this conservative dress code?Saman Khan gets ready for work. The fresh-faced medical intern at a Mumbai hospital puts her books and other belongings in a heavy haversack — and then carefully ties a hijab around her head.
Three years ago, Saman went to medical college in jeans and a chic hairdo. But soon she started seeking answers to questions about Islam and its guidelines for women. After poring over religious books, she decided to adopt the hijab — a scarf covering the head and the face.
"The hijab is most meaningful during youth when you're the most beautiful," she reasons. "It makes me feel empowered, rather than simply being looked upon as an object of beauty." Some of her Muslim classmates at medical school also started wearing the veil after her.
Across Mumbai, more and more educated young women, who were once comfortable in jeans and tees, are becoming hijabis — women who wear scarves or clothing that put a veil between man and woman. Their mothers didn't cover their faces or heads, but the daughters have adopted veils to underline their identity as Muslim women.
"Many of these women who find safety and respect in the burqa are doctors and engineers," says Mumbai-based Islamic scholar Mufti Abdul Rasheed Khan. "It is more essential for a woman to wear it in our times than in the days of Prophet Mohammed," he adds.
2. Does the hijab really empowers a woman as the woman says? If so, how?
3. Why are more and more educated young Muslim women, who were once comfortable in jeans and tees, are becoming hijabis — women who wear scarves or clothing that put a veil between man and woman, when the mothers did not wear the same?
1. How does the hijab make a young girl 'safer'? Haven't burqa clad, let alone a hijab clad women, been raped?A few months ago, Tumbi's 16-year-old daughter who studied in a co-educational school, swims, plays football and drives a car, announced that she would wear the hijab because it made her feel "safer".
The growing influence of ultra conservative sects such as the Wahabis and the desire to assert religious identity, a need that emerged after Mumbai's 1992-1993 communal riots,
2. Or are all these 'justifications' being given as a reaction to the Mumbai riots?
Is this Born Again Muslim attitude the effect of the influence that the Wahhabis are exerting all around the Islamic society all over the world?"The hijab is a result of both traditionalism and a cultural imposition of the patriarchy that is alive and kicking," argues Javed Anand, general secretary, Muslims for Secular Democracy. "The growing Wahabi influence, which is pushing its own version of Islam, also has a role to play," says Anand, adding that his sister and sisters-in-law too wear the burqa.
1. How is that a Hindu woman who converted to Islam is more fervent about Islamic dress code and imposing the same on her near and dear ones?But for Zubeda Hamidani, an ophthalmic surgeon in Mumbai who was born into a traditional Hindu Gujarati family and was a "normal, modern college girl who wore only jeans", wearing the burqa was a matter of choice, prompted by her reading of online religious literature. She has now managed to convince her mother-in-law and sister-in-law to wear burqas.
In the presence of her husband's male relatives, Hamidani wears the gol dupatta, with only her eyes showing through the naqab. She wears a cap at home, taking it off only at bedtime. Her husband, Arif, also an ophthalmic surgeon, went from wearing a coat and tie to a flowing kurta-pyjama.
But while Arif still treats female patients, Zubeda no longer deals with men in her clinic. Saman Khan also wants to treat only women and children and hopes to be able to specialise in obstetrics and gynaecology.
2. Is she justified to only treat women in her clinic and not men? Is she doing justice to society where there is dearth of medical practitioner, just to be more 'holier than thou'?
Would this Born Again Muslim attitude lead to 'religious stereotyping?But not everybody sees the hijab as a sign of emancipation. "In a male dominated society it is the men who decide on the symbols of political or religious identity to be worn by women," points out Dr Asghar Ali Engineer, writer and reformist.
Some members of the community are concerned about the growing popularity of the hijab. Anand fears that it could only "strengthen" religious stereotyping. "A lot of oil money is being pumped in to strengthen the tradition of hijab, which will be very difficult to remove," warns Engineer.