A few pieces of reflection (in list form) from Thursday’s iThink on the Muslim veil as a symbol of contemporary cultural policing:
-What about the corpus of Hadith? When we think of “the Muslim consensus,” we generally turn to the Qu’ran. There is, however, another significant scripture guiding the Muslim faith. Perhaps we should check it out?
-The notion of clothing as a public entity–not for family, but for image. How does this contrast, however, with the use of the veil in places like Turkey, where women wear it specifically for family (around the home), but are legally prohibited from wearing it in public?
-The notion of self-dignity and pride: story from the Hadith of a blind man with a group of women wearing revealing clothing. The women ask the man why, if he is blind, they should “cover up.” He responds with the question, “are you too blind?” The hijab, in that respect, is not just about men’s gaze but also about women’s self-respect and dignity.
-The veil as a cross-cultural phenomenon: in reality, covered heads/shoulders hold a long tradition in the Judeo-Christian world. Interestingly, though, this tradition is rooted in a distant past, which is often why other religions look at Islam condescendingly, from a “we were there once” perspective. Is the veil just a trivial fad? Is it a futile one, destined to pass as it did in other religions?
-The notion of “white men trying to save brown women from brown men.”–the sexual, cultural, and religious implications of such a concept
-Regional nuances in the headscarf tradition: “the mind of the prejudiced person knows no subtlety”–Professor Koonz on the notion that the hijab realistically has different practices and different meanings in different parts of the world
-The line between liberation and exploitation in the West (i.e. Princess Hijab comics)–What is progressive? What is obscene?
-What about Muslim men?! In many ways, the way men dress can influence the public’s perception of them too.
-Religion vs. Culture–in Malaysia, for example, non-Muslim women wear the hijab out of cultural conformity (does that mean that the significance of the hijab need be religious? can it be arbitrary?)
Just some food for thought to chew on till the next iThink.
More bites later.