A Muslim woman makes the case that face veils, head coverings are not required by Islam

I was raised as an observant Muslim in a British family. Women, I was taught, determine their own conduct — including their ‘veiling’. We’d cover our hair only if we freely chose to do so. That’s why I’m baffled by the notion that all good Muslim women should cover their hair or face. My entire family are puzzled by it too, as are millions like us. Not until recent years has the idea taken root that Muslim women are obliged by their faith to wear a veil.

It’s a sign, I think, not of assertive Islam, but of what happens when Islamists are tolerated by a western culture that’s absurdly anxious to avoid offence. This strange, unwitting collaboration between liberals and extremists has been going on for years. But at last there are signs that it is ending.

In response to cases brought by two veiled Muslim women from Belgium and France, the European Court of Justice has ruled that employers have the right to stop employees wearing visible religious symbols, including headscarves worn in the name of Islam. This ruling includes not only the burka and the niqab (already entirely banned from the public space by a number of European countries) but also the face-revealing hijab. The ruling goes two ways: if the company does tolerate religious symbols, then no employee can be asked to take them off.

In its ruling, the ECJ has made a secularist stand against Islamists who seek to dominate the public space. A secular public space allows me to practise my faith, as it allows others to observe theirs. As the Quran says (109:1-6): ‘To you your religion and to me, mine.’ Giving an employer the right to restrict the use of headscarves, in Britain or elsewhere, is good for every believer.

I’ve seen what happens when the public space is infringed upon by the religious. My medical career took me to Saudi Arabia, aged 31, where I was mandated by law to wear the hijab, covering all of my hair and neck. And with it the abbayah, a cloak covering my entire body from my neck to my ankles. For those two years, I became intimately acquainted with the cumbersome nature of forced veiling and its impracticality — even seeing it imposed upon my unconscious female patients. Where the veil is mandatory, a kind of oppression is implemented: an oppression that has absolutely no basis in Islam.

There’s nothing from the early Islamic period about what the khimar — or veil — should cover, whether face, body or hair. The Quran, in Sura 24:31, reminds Muslim women simply of the need to ‘draw…[it] over their bosoms’. One of the Prophet Mohammed’s wives is commanded to speak from behind a ‘hijab’ (Arabic for ‘curtain’) as a mark of high distinction (Quran Sura 33:53). But even though Aisha — one of the most eminent of the Prophet Mohammed’s wives and a great scholar of Islam — provided many details about the khimars, no record exists as to exactly how they were worn.

Ben Reilly wrote:So it does seem that if you see a Muslim woman wearing a veil, or a head covering, it's not safe to assume that she's been forced to wear it.

phildidge wrote:

Ben Reilly wrote:So it does seem that if you see a Muslim woman wearing a veil, or a head covering, it's not safe to assume that she's been forced to wear it.

For those claiming to choose to wear, are they really?
Its the belief, that they should wear, through coercion. As they are taught they will suffer in the after life if they do not.
Hence its the belief they are following, because those who claim to choose to wear, believe they have to wear.
You tell me whether that is really a choice to wear?

Ben Reilly wrote:

phildidge wrote:

For those claiming to choose to wear, are they really?
Its the belief, that they should wear, through coercion. As they are taught they will suffer in the after life if they do not.
Hence its the belief they are following, because those who claim to choose to wear, believe they have to wear.
You tell me whether that is really a choice to wear?

You can never truly know what's in someone's heart, of course. But:

I was raised as an observant Muslim in a British family. Women, I was taught, determine their own conduct — including their ‘veiling’. We’d cover our hair only if we freely chose to do so. That’s why I’m baffled by the notion that all good Muslim women should cover their hair or face. My entire family are puzzled by it too, as are millions like us. Not until recent years has the idea taken root that Muslim women are obliged by their faith to wear a veil.

I would expect a woman raised as an observant Muslim to know whether her religion dictates wearing a veil, and yet she states the exact opposite.

Now, if you can cite me the part of the Quran that says, "Women, you don't have to cover your face in public, but if you don't, you'll be punished in the afterlife," I'll accept your premise.

phildidge wrote:

Ben Reilly wrote:

phildidge wrote:

For those claiming to choose to wear, are they really?
Its the belief, that they should wear, through coercion. As they are taught they will suffer in the after life if they do not.
Hence its the belief they are following, because those who claim to choose to wear, believe they have to wear.
You tell me whether that is really a choice to wear?

You can never truly know what's in someone's heart, of course. But:

I was raised as an observant Muslim in a British family. Women, I was taught, determine their own conduct — including their ‘veiling’. We’d cover our hair only if we freely chose to do so. That’s why I’m baffled by the notion that all good Muslim women should cover their hair or face. My entire family are puzzled by it too, as are millions like us. Not until recent years has the idea taken root that Muslim women are obliged by their faith to wear a veil.

I would expect a woman raised as an observant Muslim to know whether her religion dictates wearing a veil, and yet she states the exact opposite.

Now, if you can cite me the part of the Quran that says, "Women, you don't have to cover your face in public, but if you don't, you'll be punished in the afterlife," I'll accept your premise.

Because she believes she does not have to wear
Do you not notice the difference?
I dont have to cite any part of the Quran, as its not in the quran, but its certainly taught to Muslims, from very conservative families. In how they interpret passages from the Quran.

I tell you what. Tell any little girl they have to wear a wonder woman outfit for the rest of their lives and if they dont, they will suffer horrible in the after life. What do you think will then happen?

Hence my point that some women are unlucky to be born into certain families. Take Saudi Arabia, where its not even achoice on the belief, its compulasary. That is how it is taught to some Muslim girls.
They are basically indoctrinated, just as many religious people are, with a fear of what will happen to them in the next life if they do not

That is coercion

Ben Reilly wrote:

phildidge wrote:

Because she believes she does not have to wear
Do you not notice the difference?
I dont have to cite any part of the Quran, as its not in the quran, but its certainly taught to Muslims, from very conservative families. In how they interpret passages from the Quran.

I tell you what. Tell any little girl they have to wear a wonder woman outfit for the rest of their lives and if they dont, they will suffer horrible in the after life. What do you think will then happen?

Hence my point that some women are unlucky to be born into certain families. Take Saudi Arabia, where its not even achoice on the belief, its compulasary. That is how it is taught to some Muslim girls.
They are basically indoctrinated, just as many religious people are, with a fear of what will happen to them in the next life if they do not

That is coercion

Of course some women are coerced into it, that's not what I'm saying. I'm saying this woman knows the Quran and knows it's not in there, so it's not the religion that is to blame, but the conservative factions of Islam, as you say.

So unless you know how a woman was raised, and what she was taught about the veil, you have no way of knowing whether she was coerced into it or not.

You certainly can't logically make the blanket statement that the veil is tantamount to slavery, which you often do.

I was raised as an observant Muslim in a British family. Women, I was taught, determine their own conduct — including their ‘veiling’. We’d cover our hair only if we freely chose to do so. That’s why I’m baffled by the notion that all good Muslim women should cover their hair or face. My entire family are puzzled by it too, as are millions like us. Not until recent years has the idea taken root that Muslim women are obliged by their faith to wear a veil.


https://www.spectator.co.uk/2017/03/the-right-to-ban-the-veil-is-good-news-for-everybody-including-Muslims/