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Modesty
is not a black and white issue
By Shelina Zahra Janmohamed
Modest dress is a key component of Islam, says Shelina
Zahra Janmohamed, but it’s important to retain
personality and aesthetics in the way we dress. This week I tried out the most extreme black cloak to make it into my wardrobe. A piece of elastic attached it to the top of my head, and then the single piece of long fabric hung snugly over my hair, sweeping over my shoulders and down past my feet. The final flourish was for me to hold together the two edges under my chin. Two eyes, a nose and a squashed mouth peeked through the gap under the black sheet. My husband peered into the bedroom, and nearly dropped his mug of tea. “You look like a black blob,” he said, horrified.
“Where have you gone?” He poked underneath the black
cloth like a serious Sherlock Holmes. Despite feeling uncomfortable about the cloak, no man was going to tell me how to observe modest dress. “Don’t you want me to hide my figure so I’m not attracting attention?” I barked at him. He froze, rabbit in headlights, and then looked at me
for a clue. “Of course I want you to be modest,” he
said, certain that this was the right answer. I looked at him sternly, with the if-you-dare glint
of a determined Muslim woman, who has pro-actively
chosen to wear the headscarf and modest dress. He looked
more terrified of me in my new guise of crazy-eyed
Muslim harridan than he had of the black blob. But he was right to be distressed. The question about
how we should define modesty is constantly plaguing the
Muslim community. Neither men nor women can map out any
consistency or meaning in the higgledy-piggledy
implementation of the rules of modest behaviour. At work
you can interact with the opposite gender but not at
Islamic conferences. Muslim men can shake hands with
non-Muslim women, but not vice-versa. Brides who
normally wear hijab will uncover in front of men to be
shown off. In some communities, men will push into the
women’s section during weddings, but will enforce
segregation at home. In others it is the opposite, with
women not allowed to participate in mosque management
due to the fitnah (division) this could cause, but
happily socializing together. The spirit and
implementation of modesty is confused at best. Women and their clothing have become hijacked into
being the symbol of how religious we are as a community.
If women are properly covered, then everyone seems to
think they can rest easy. Her choice of dress is
inextricably linked to a judgement about her spiritual
status. At the sober end she is considered overly pious,
not to mention excruciatingly dull. By contrast those
women who choose not to wear a headscarf, are
immediately judged to be irreligious, un-spiritual and
not considered to be ‘properly’ practicing. There has been a visible increase in the number of
women wearing the hijab (head covering), the jilbab
(loose fitting long dress) as well as the niqab (face
covering). Colours are subtle, greys, browns, blues,
blacks. These women cite their dress as a freedom, an
escape from the body-obsessed post-modern world, as well
as a greater commitment to the values of Islam. At the
other extreme is the rise of the Muhajababe. Her head
covered, she probably wears skinny fit jeans and lycra
t-shirts. For her, the headscarf itself has shown her
commitment to her Muslim identity and faith We sighed simultaneously at the black cloak I was
still wearing. “We all end up looking the same, I feel
anonymous and unknown. I’m not me anymore,” I mourned to
him. “Some people say that our voices should not be
heard either. I’m part of a black silent mass at the
back of the room. Surely individuality is important?
Especially if Allah says that there are as many ways to
know Him as there are human beings?” I squinted dubiously at him. “Does this mean you
think women don’t need to wear niqab, jilbab or even the
hijab?” “Defining what ‘modesty’ means isn’t easy, and we
Muslims spend an awful lot of time on the outward signs
like dress and physical separation. Where we need to
focus more is on the complex relationships between
modesty, personality and aesthetics.” I draped the abaya playfully over his shoulders.
“Modesty isn’t just for Muslim women to worry about,” I
reminded him. “To build a strong community we all have
to be concerned with inner spirituality as well as outer
codes of conduct like dress.” Grinning cheesily, I pointed at the cloak: “Modesty
is definitely not a black and white issue.” |
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