With the recent ban of religious symbols in France's public schools and the ensuing outcry that came from the world Muslim community, many are asking why this law would affect Muslims in a more extreme manner than French Christians and Jews.
The law will ban large Christian crosses, Jewish yarmulkes and Muslim head covers that females wear. From an Islamic point of view, I can elaborate on how this law affects Muslims and I hope members from both the Jewish and Christian community will elaborate on why this law will affect their respective religious communities as well.
The hijab is an extremely important concept in Islam. The word hijab in Arabic means shield. Most notably, the modest covering that is the hijab is in the form of a female head cover. Women and men in the Quran are urged to respect the concept of wearing modest clothing in public to create a more harmonious environment in which men and women can interact with each other without the distraction of the woman's attractive feminine features. The separation that the hijab creates between a man and woman is not meant to exclude; it is meant to ensure that the woman's dignity is upheld and that the woman is not judged on her physical charms, but on her intellectual and humanitarian efforts in the spirit of societal progress.
In Chapter 24, verses 30 to 31, the Quran says, Say to the believing men that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty; that will make for greater purity for them; and God is well acquainted with all that they do. And say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty; and that they should not display their beauty and ornaments except what must ordinarily appear thereof; that they should draw their veils over their chests and not display their beauty except to their husbands...
For a woman, the concept of wearing a modest covering over her beauty is very important because it protects the woman from unwanted sexual advances that may lead to sexual assault.
The Quran says in Chapter 33, verse 59, O Prophet! Tell thy wives and daughters
and the believing women that they should cast their outer garments over themselves (when abroad): that is most convenient that they should be known (as such) and not molested. And God is Oft-Forgiving
Most Merciful.
In the case of those who associate the hijab with backwardness and repression, it is possible that they only know the term hijab in the context of those who misuse the concept of modesty and take it to an extreme in order to isolate and exclude females from society, which violates Islamic Law. Women and men in Islam have specific duties toward God. Men have their responsibilities just as woman do in observing the concept of hijab. Wearing of modest clothing is a matter between God and the woman just as prayer and other acts of worship are. Islam has no room for those misogynistic and patriarchal individuals who use religion to advance their own agendas.
Email Jordan at jordan.robinson@ohiou.edu
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Jordan Robinson
