Islamic clothing

Muslim women do not necessarily view the hijab as an oppressive garment that is forced upon them. Syima Aslam, a Muslim businesswoman from England, feels a special place for the hijab in her heart and feels that it directly connects her to Islam. Although she garners some disdain and disapproval of her choice to wear the hijab from some business partners, she stands firmly by her choice to don the hijab.[24]

Another young woman, Rowaida Abdelaziz, explains that the hijab is something that she has decided to wear herself and she "does not wear it because [she] is submissive".[25] Sarah Hekmati says that the hijab gives her a sense of freedom and that she likes the idea that a man should know a woman through her intellectual prowess rather than her looks.[25]

Interviewing "one of the Muslim hipster trailblazers" Hana Tajima for Vision magazine, writer Suzanne Elliott states that "fashion-conscious Muslims are proving that you can be cool and modest, stylish and individual without compromising faith". Tajima started her own fashion label Maysaa in 2011, and blogs about her far-reaching influences and inspirations. According to Elliott, 26-year-old Tajima "epitomises the new Muslim hipster, glamorous yet edgy, elegant yet quirky. The trend straddles the big cities of the world from London's Dalston to New York's Williamsburg – or the glitz of Dubai."[26]

Muslim woman in niqab.

There are some Muslim women who believe that the hijab indeed hinders their personal freedom as a woman. A Muslim woman by the name of Rasmieyh Abdelnabi explains that she decided to stop wearing the hijab because she felt that it was putting too much pressure on her to "represent an entire community".[27] She further explains that she feels that hijab is not representative of Islam but more so of the Arab culture.[28][29] Another belief of some women that wear the hijab is that it could potentially "strip them of their individuality"[28] and turn them into a figurehead for their religion. Some women do not want to have to deal with this on a daily basis, and it is another reason that some Muslim women have decided to un-veil themselves. In an article written in September 2013, Nesrine Malik explains her discontent with being forced to wear the niqab, a kind of dress that only exposes the eyes, saying, "I would rather no one wore a niqab. I would rather that no woman had effectively to disappear, from a young age, because that is the norm in her family. [...] I would rather that Islam be purged of the niqab and all its permutations." Malik is among the Muslim women who feel as though the act of veiling hides women; she would like to ban the niqab from Islam.[30]

The former Muslim, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, wrote in her book Nomad about the veil: "(...) deliberately marks women as private and restricted property, nonpersons. The veil sets women apart from men and apart from the world; it restrains them, confines them, grooms them for docility. A mind can be cramped just as a body may be, and a Muslim veil blinkers and conditions both your vision and your destiny. It is the mark of a kind of apartheid, not the domination of a race but of a sex."[31]

A recent incident in Germany reflects the extent of the issue on an international scale: "An administrative court in the southern German city of Munich has banned a female Muslim student from wearing a facial veil in class."[32] Although Germany does not have an official ban on the hijab, according to the nation's highest courts federal states have permission to ban Muslim state employees wearing clothing they deem inappropriate. This rule leaves flexibility for German legislators to essentially make their own rules concerning clothing/dress in the country.

Iran is another country with strict[33] rules on the hijab, and many women feel pressured from the government to dress in a certain style. One Iranian woman, Hengameh Golestan, decided to protest the Iranian government through her own artistic display.[34]

In 2017, a legal ban on covering one's face in public (primarily targeting Islamic clothing such as burqa and niqab) was adopted by the Austrian parliament.[35] Additionally, on 16 May 2019, the Austrian parliament placed a ban on "ideologically or religiously influenced clothing which is associated with the covering of the head" in primary schools.[36][37] This ban directly bans traditional headscarves worn by Muslim women worldwide.

On 31 March 2010 the Belgian Chamber Committee on the Interior unanimously approved legislation instating a nationwide ban on wearing the burqa in public.[38] The proposal was accepted by the Chamber of Representatives on 27 April 2010 with only two abstentions from Flemish Socialist MPs.[39]

In 2016, a legal ban on face-covering Islamic clothing was adopted by the Bulgarian parliament.[40]

In April 2011, France became the first European nation to ban face covering in public space. Balaclavas, face-covering niqabs, full-body burqas and carnival masks (outside carnival season) are prohibited,[41][42][43] though hijab is permitted in public space, because it doesn't hide the face. The law was passed unanimously asserting that face-covering, including Muslim veils are contrary to the principles of security on which France is founded.[44] Sharp criticism had accompanied France's nearly year-long debate on banning burqa-style veils, with those opposed saying, among other things, that the entire process has stigmatized the nation's estimated 5 million Muslims – the largest Muslim population in western Europe. They also claim it is a political ploy because only an estimated 1,900 women wear veils that hide the face.[44]

In 2015 Latvia started debates to forbid face-covering clothing with proposed fines up to 150 euro for covering face in public and up to 350 euro for forcing someone to cover face in public.[45] Government of Latvia agreed on the law only in 2017,[46] and forwarded it to Saeima for final confirmation. Since 2018 process hasn't moved forward and law isn't confirmed and operational yet.[47] There are almost no women in Latvia who cover their face and many have pointed out that such law would be redundant.

The Dutch government parliament in January 2012 enacted a ban on face-covering clothing, popularly described as the "burqa ban".[48] Offenders can be fined up to 390 euro. The prohibition does not apply to face covering that is necessary for the health, safety or the exercise of a profession or practicing a sport. Excluded from the ban are also events such as Sinterklaas, Carnival, Halloween or when a mayor granted an exemption for a particular event. Also excluded from prohibition are places and buildings intended for religious purposes. The prohibition does not apply to passengers in airplanes and airports who are traveling through the Netherlands to their final destination.[49]

In Gaza, Palestinian jihadists belonging to the Unified Leadership (UNLU) have rejected a hijab policy for women.[50]

Turkish women who want to wear the hijab – the traditional Islamic headscarf covering the head and hair, but not the face – to civil service jobs and government offices will be able to do so now that the Turkish government has relaxed its decades-long restriction on wearing the headscarf in state institutions.[51] The new rules, which don't apply to workers in the military or judiciary, came into effect in 2013, and were put into place to address concerns that the restrictions on hijab were discouraging women from conservative backgrounds from seeking government jobs or higher education.[51] "A dark time eventually comes to an end," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a speech to the parliament. "Headscarf-wearing women are full members of the republic, as well as those who do not wear it."[51]

In 2011, Syrian President Bashar Assad reversed a decision that bans teachers from wearing the niqab. The move was seen as an attempt to appease Salafis as he faced down the uprising challenging his secular rule. As a symbol of political Islam, the government had banned the niqab in July 2010. Syria was the latest in a string of nations from Europe to the Middle East to weigh in on the niqab, perhaps the most visible symbol of fundamentalist Sunni Islam.[52]

In Pakistan, the topic of the hijab is extraordinarily controversial. The veil is constantly a topic of debate and has been for decades now. The Pew Research Center gathered information on several countries, including Pakistan, and came back with results on how people's perceptions of the veil differ across the world. Participants were given pictures of six women wearing different styles of veil along with the question: "What Style of Dress is Appropriate for Women in Public?". The results found that: "In Pakistan, there is an even split (31% vs. 32%) between woman #3 and woman #2, who is wearing a niqab that exposes only her eyes, while nearly a quarter (24%) choose woman #4."[53] The results show that there is still a lot of debate about what type of dress women perceive to be most appropriate, and it seems that the debate will continue to go on for many years to come.

Reem, an Egyptian young lady wearing the Egyptian style of the Hijab, in 2010.

On 8 January 2014, the Pew Research Center conducted a survey of Muslim women in various countries.[54] An overwhelming eighty-nine percent of Egyptian women who responded to the survey believed that women should show their face in public. Ten percent of the survey participants believed that women should be fully veiled when in public. Compared to other countries, Egypt is not as conservative as others, but only fourteen percent of the women surveyed believed that Egyptian women should be able to choose their own clothing. Compared to six other countries, Egypt was last in this category; the statistic (eighty-four percent) suggests that Egyptian women (according to that single survey), do not believe that women should have freedom to choose their clothing. Meanwhile, in Egyptian media, women have always spoken about their freedom and right to wear whatever they want and that no one should be judged based on their outfits.

Saudi Arabia is one of the few Muslim countries in which women are forced to cover in most parts of the country.[55] While opinion surveys in Saudi Arabia suggests a strong belief that women should be covered, paradoxically there is also a strong belief that women should have the right to choose what they wear.[56]

A survey done in 2011 by the Pew Research Center asked women of different Muslim countries to choose which of several dresses they think are most appropriate for their country. Among Saudi women, 11% of women said a fully headed burqa is most appropriate, 63% of women said the niqab that only exposes the eyes is appropriate, only 8% said a black hijab covering the hair and ears is appropriate, 10% said a less conservative white hijab covering the hair and ears is appropriate, a small 5% said an even less conservative hijab that is brown and shows some hair is appropriate and a mere 3% said not wearing any covering was appropriate. The niqab is the dress that the highest percent of Saudi women felt was appropriate dress for women in Saudi Arabia. In accordance with these statistics, the Saudi woman that is used in the video, cited above, to show the popular view of Saudi women was wearing this niqab that only exposed her eyes.[54]

Young Somali women wearing the hijab.

During regular, day-to-day activities, Somali women usually wear the guntiino, a long stretch of cloth tied over the shoulder and draped around the waist. In more formal settings such as weddings or religious celebrations like Eid, women wear the dirac, which is a long, light, diaphanous voile dress made of cotton or polyester that is worn over a full-length half-slip and a brassiere. Married women tend to sport head-scarves referred to as shash, and also often cover their upper body with a shawl known as garbasaar. Unmarried or young women, however, do not always cover their heads. Traditional Arabian garb such as the hijab and the jilbab is also commonly worn.[57]

Most Muslim women in the United States wear hijab at least some of the time.[58] Contrary to popular theories about assimilation, this number is in fact higher among native-born Muslim women compared to first-generation Muslim immigrants.[59]

Despite perceptions of social discrimination against Muslim women, there are no legal restrictions on Islamic modesty garb in the United States, due to universal religious freedom protections in American law. For example, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled against Abercrombie and Fitch when they refused to hire a woman named Samantha Elauf on account of her wearing hijab, stating that the dress code policy violated Elauf's religious freedom.[60]

As most gyms, fitness clubs, and other workout facilities in the United States are mixed-sex, observant Muslim women must either avoid these facilities or exercise in hijab, which is often impractical. Individuals such as Maria Omar, director of media relations for the Islamic Food and Nutrition Council of America (IFANCA), have thus advised Muslim women to avoid these complexes entirely as being in conflict with Islamic norms.

In 2011, the Canadian government made it illegal for women to wear face-covering garments at citizenship ceremonies, because the judge must be able to see each person's face reciting their oath. In 2012, the Supreme Court issued a rare split decision on whether women could cover their faces in the witness box. Four judges said it depended on the circumstances, two said witnesses should never cover their face, and one said a Muslim witness should never be ordered to remove her veil. Canada is considering a wider ban on veils in government offices, schools, and hospitals.[61] On 16 June 2019, the provincial government of French-speaking Quebec enacted the Act respecting the laicity of the State. The Act prohibits certain public servants from wearing religious regalia – including Muslim scarves and veils, turbans, Jewish skullcaps and Christian crucifixes. [62]

In 2011 Argentinian President Cristina Fernández pushed for legislation which allowed for Muslim women to wear hijab in public places. According to the new law Argentine Muslim women can wear a hijab while being photographed for their national id cards. The law was created in order to help promote freedom of religion and expression in the country, and help the Muslim population, which is estimated to be between 450,000 and one million, feel more integrated into society.[63]

Chile has a minority Muslim population. Fuad Mussa, the President of the Islamic Cultural Centre, is quoted as saying that "there is a general ignorance among Chileans about Islam."[64] This was after a Chilean citizen was refused service at a bank because of her hijab in 2010, and would not be served until she removed her hijab.