The hijab (headscarf) has burst into the passionate and often confused discussion of current events and has become a highly charged battle standard on both sides of the veil. It has become an object of rage and indignation for many non-Muslims who see the practice as a backward custom, but one which is defiantly elbowing its way into the popular culture with increasing demands to be respected along with the identifying dress of other world religions. The phenomenon which most interests me, is the western woman convert to Islam with no experience of veiling growing up in the West who embraces hijab. It is however a phenomenon with what appears to be a remarkably short and identifiable history.

It was in 1975, in San Francisco, that I embraced Islam. I was the manager of a printing shop with a customer base that included a large number of Palestinians. These people delighted in discovering a Muslim convert and undertook to broaden my education in Islam. A large number of these people were women. Without exception they were strong and intelligent, and fiercely committed to their faith and to the salvation of their homeland, and none of them wore hijab of any kind. But this was the mid 1970s, Afghanistan and the Americans was decades away, Afghanistan and the Russians had not yet happened, and the political writings of ideologues like Dr. Ali Shari’ati and Jalal Al-i Ahmad and others that would help change the face of Islam and arguably the world forever, were just going to press.

The other side of my Islamic family was the mosque I attended and which had a large number of Iranian immigrants. This was a very different crew. Here was the Chanel suit crowd, the Mercedes, the Rolex watches, the poetry and the ney in place of the angry handbill and the never discrete collection envelope. And although we women did cover our heads during salat (prayer) in the mosque, none of these Iranian women ever wore any sort of hijab on the streets.

But this was the 1970’s in San Francisco, a confused experimental explosion of cults and religions and every possible and shameless cultural rip-off. The commonplace of turbans and harem pants, of saris and of a wealth of African plunder and Chinese imperial garb trailing in splendid layers off blue-eyed white bodies on the streets and in the cafes of San Francisco only increased the stark contrast of the Palestinians in their blue jeans and inexpensive brown business suits, and the Persians in their Chanel and Armani. And everyone drooled over the pages of National Geographic and the award winning photographs of veiled women jingled down under a wealth of jewelry and we each thought something very different, my two Islamic families and I.

Of course all us whiteys thought the veils were beautiful and exotic, we thought they were cool in our neo-Romantic ignorance of world culture. And all my Palestinian and Persian women friends hated the veil as an outdated symbol of former oppression, old fashioned and something their mothers did. And that’s where it stayed for a while, in the West, like a secret pregnancy, or a hidden virus, depending on how you chose to see it.

But there were widespread changes reshaping the world long before the events of September 11, 2001, changes which had their dark and tangled roots in Iran and the Middle East and in the imperialistic activities of three Western nations, Great Britain, the US, and Russia/USSR, and in events of the earliest decades of the 20th century and beyond which shaped future global conflicts. Then came the arrival of several waves of immigrants from places in the world referred to loosely as the "Middle East” but which included many countries not truly located in that geographic region at all.

Afghans fleeing the Russians came first - some of them wore hijab, and some did not - then came Iranians fleeing the Ayatollah - mostly not veiled - and, of course, more and more Palestinians fleeing everybody. Later still came the arrival of large numbers of people from Africa fleeing famine, war, corrupt and oppressive governments, drought, and AIDS. And this piece of cloth, hijab - a woman’s head covering which can be as simple as a scarf - has come out of the closet to become the branding logo for a whole new generation and a diverse range of conflicts, cultural and economic, religious and secular. These and similar issues, impossible to solve without the elixir of time, have now been distilled down to this little piece of black cloth.

Like the burning bra of the ‘60s, the hijab is on fire in the opening decade of the 21st century. But perhaps one of the saddest forums in which this controversy is raging is among Muslim women themselves. The dialogue among Western convert women at times has taken a peculiar turn. Several times I have encountered hijab-wearing convert women on the streets of Manhattan, their angry faces starring defiantly at me, seemingly very aware that they have adopted a mode of dress that singles them out and which affords them a strange and usually painless sort of martyrdom.

The purpose of hijab, as stated in the Qur’an, is modesty, and its purest goal is to remind one of their submission to Allah. Yet the reasons many convert women have cited to me for wearing hijab seldom include remembrance of God, but refer ironically to the great pride they feel when they wear hijab in public. With the growing number of mosques in the United States and the greater immigrant population, western converts to Islam increasingly find themselves unwelcome in mosques that frequently serve one ethnic or national group or another, and these converts will often adopt the national dress of the people whose mosque they attend in order to fit in.

This, too, is a change from decades in the past. Today, convert women are often not welcome at all if they happen to show up alone on the doorsteps of a mosque. Some convert women have told me that one cannot be a Muslim at all without adhering to not only hijab but an entire mode of Middle Eastern dress. But I tell these women to be honest and admit to yourselves, if to no one else, the real reason you don that foreign garb - it's cool, it’s beautiful, and you like it, and the human creature always delights to drink deeply at the well of novelty. And there will always be those who secretly thrill to the kiss of hubris by feeling that they have shouldered a heavy and visible burden for the sake of religion.

But does it really bring one closer to Allah? Which century, which country, which social class, tribe, or religious sect within Islam is considered the correct mode of dress to adopt? I am not proposing that as was the policy during the reign of Reza Shah in the 1920s, the hijab be forcibly ripped from women’s heads on the street. Nor do I discourage any woman from wearing hijab. I defend a woman’s right to wear hijab if it is her desire to do so, and if she understands the act she is engaging in. But neither do I wish to be told by a furious recent convert who has no understanding of the cultural and political history of hijab, that the contents of my heart are invalid as long as I am not wearing a piece of fabric on my head.

What I am always most intrigued to discover is this lack of historic understanding of that piece of cloth, the role that hijab as little more than a symbol is playing in some very troubling global movements within Islam, and the ease with which some western women have embraced and championed various elements within Islam that are clearly under historic and heated internal debate and which are being used to polarize various camps in a global conflict.

And I wonder if people who convert to a new religion cling to the visible signs of a cultural faith. Do such people become addicted to these symbols and their antinomian place within American culture, and become so enamored with these surface symbols that they never penetrate to the real treasures they might discover within their new faith. Do I wear hijab on the streets of Manhattan? No. Do I dress modestly? Of course.

But it is the meaning that hijab holds in the minds of others that I disdain. Can I and have I worn hijab in a mosque? Of course. Could I wear hijab in any place where it is the custom and appropriately respectful of my fellow Muslims? Gladly and with great pleasure. Could I wear hijab in a place where it has come to mean a thousand and one things that have nothing whatsoever to do with Allah and everything to do with the all too mundane agendas of humanity? Never.

(Photo: Faraz Shah via flickr under a Creative Commons license)

Although, I understand the writer's deep, emotional trauma she may have encounter from some converts who may have ill-treated her due to lack of the Hijab. I find several of the writer's statements about why converts wear hijab, severely misconstrued as it applies to the present. Many converts who understand the Sunnah of the prophet (SAWS) wear the Hijab out of pure obedience to ALLAH and the prophet (SAWS). The Sunnah of Islam, Islamic law, is a tremendous justification for today's women convert and her adherence to the Hijab. Unfortunately the writer failed to convey and expound on this point.

As converts increasingly, with vigor move away from the ignorance of cultural practices. The ignorance of their association with immigrants, which held true to a larger degree some 20 years ago. We now see a serious academic approach to converts understanding of Islam today. It sounds like the writer is stuck in the 1970's. That's were here experiences and analogies apply mostly from what she wrote.

Converts no longer need Immigrants for understanding of Islam. Some converts now speak Arabic, have travel the Muslim lands extensively. Many have studied in the institutions of higher learning in the Islamic Universities. Many are degree holders from these prestigious Islamic institutions. We have been, bamboozled and manipulated long enough to know that some immigrants in America to some degree really hate Islam. Why would a convert, who is seriously seeking salvation and acceptance from ALLAH, seek guidance from an immigrant who has disdain for the Sunnah and Islamic law?

Again, the writer has done nothing, but indicated false outdated, stereo-types from the 1970's. American Muslim converts, now have a strong foundation of their own, deeply entrenched in the Sunnah, based on their on studies, from students who have learned from accredited Institutions of higher learning in the Muslim lands.

The dress of the Muslim converts today is merely a reflection of those American converts who have studied in the Muslim lands and have the understand that modesty of a particular nature that hould be exemplified. Not based on one's intellectual analogies, but based on the understanding of the prophet Muhammad (SAWS) and what ALLAH has made Lawful and Unlawful. Now that may appear to the untrained, tainted mind as Arab, Pakistani or some middles eastern dress. But if you visit some of the convert Masjids today (Philadelphia, New Jersey, North Carolina), you now see them taken Western clothing and modifying it to a degree to meet the needs of the Sunnah of the prophet (SAWS) and the Islamic law.

This idea of modifying Western clothing to meet the requirements of Islamic law surely did not come from immigrants, but rather from converts who are degree holders (BS, MS an PHD). The women converts to a larger degree now dress out of necessity of the Sunnah, Islamic law. They understand that not covering may cause great repercussions in this life and the the next life (after you die, ALLAH will judge ones actions).

Sure, there are some who still have the ignorance of why they wear the Hijab. Sure, you still have immigrants who come to this country and think that if they wear the Hijab, they will some how be less of a women or not accepted in the professional world. In North Carolina many professional convert Muslim women, with advance degrees, hold Presidential positions on University campuses, positions of management in corporations and many other professions.

Again, I think there is a serious biasness in the writer's analogies and it seems to be more of an emotional response in nature, rather than representing the present. It's not up to date factual accounts of Muslim converts of today. Muslim converts today don't need their immigrant counter part to exist or justified their dress today (Hijab). Knowledge alone, is the signifier, justifier and the realization of the Muslim women converts dress today.

We love the Hijab, because ALLAH loves the Hijab. We love the Hijab, because it's protection from men seeing our bodies. We love the Hijab, because I want to be judge by the content of my mind, not my body type. We love the Hijab, because the prophet's (SAWS) wives loved the Hijab. We loved the Hijab, because we know Islam for women is justice.

Salaams Karen - I loved your piece & regret that you have faced discrimination in ANY mosque! I believe that as long as a Muslim is dressed modestly - the clothing does not have to emulate 7th century Arabia. The hijab debate will continue as women choose to wear it for a variety of reasons, as you point out, but the intra-Muslim debate between women who judge each other based upon outward appearance is self-defeating & unIslamic since God is the ultimate judge according to the Quran.

I've seen a variety of differences in dress adopted by my convert friends too - but eventually most settle on modest clothing which also reflects their cultural heritage - American Muslims come in all colors too! That's the beauty of Islam - its diversity of appearance should not be a threat to Muslims who mistakenly believe that all Muslims must wear a 'uniform'.

>> But it is the meaning that hijab holds in the minds of others that I disdain <<

Another white racist convert from the Mrs A, OmarG and Alexabrainless ilk. Too much al-Ghazali and too little ibn-Taymiyah.

>> We love the Hijab, because ALLAH loves the Hijab. We love the Hijab, because it's protection from men seeing our bodies. We love the Hijab, because I want to be judge by the content of my mind, not my body type. We love the Hijab, because the prophet's (SAWS) wives loved the Hijab. We loved the Hijab, because we know Islam for women is justice.

"We"? You criticise the author for not knowing the minds of other women, but then boldly assert that you can. The Sunnah is so broad that it encompasses a large

>> Another white racist convert from the Mrs A, OmarG and Alexabrainless ilk. Too much al-Ghazali and too little ibn-Taymiyah.

>> We love the Hijab, because ALLAH loves the Hijab. We love the Hijab, because it's protection from men seeing our bodies. We love the Hijab, because I want to be judge by the content of my mind, not my body type. We love the Hijab, because the prophet's (SAWS) wives loved the Hijab. We loved the Hijab, because we know Islam for women is justice.

"We"? You criticise the author for not knowing the minds of other women, but then boldly assert that you can.

The Sunnah is so broad, that it encompasses sets of actions and behaviours that may not be easily understood or practiced by many people. But how many people are protecting the rights of orphans and widows? How many of them for the love of the Sunnah are living lives of austerity, wearing patched clothes and associating outside their social class?

I think that the author has a valid point. Hijab is a political tool that can be often used to isolate others instead of meaningully participating. It encompasses more than just values of modesty, but doctrines of separation/sexual-power/intellectual-capacity too. How many Muslims are actually represented Karens assertion is heresay either way. And at the very least she is basing her assertions on her experiences within the community. She is pointing out things that she has experienced. She is not making assertions based on polemic. And being honest is a respectable enough place for us to start.

>> Another white racist convert from the Mrs A, OmarG and Alexabrainless ilk. Too much al-Ghazali and too little ibn-Taymiyah.

What is the difference between Al-Ghazzali and Ibn-Taymiyah that you somehow seem to find racism an acceptable value in one and not the other?

"We"? You criticise the author for not knowing the minds of other women, but then boldly assert that you can. The Sunnah is so broad that it encompasses a large --------------------


Defaming the Hijab, something that is a command from ALLAH is not praised worthy no matter what the political imprecations. The criticism is targeted not at the minds of other Muslim women, but rather the lack of what ALLAH and his messenger have ordained as obligatory. Those women who choose to follow obligatory commands from ALLAH should not be marginalized. Rather the argument should be, that the attitudes and compassion towards those who choose not to wear the Hijab, should be the example of kindness and good character. She made a very weak, almost demoralizing attempt, grossly criticizing American Muslims of today for their zeal to follow ALLAH's commands. That's not a commendable act. The women who choose to wear Hijab and hear this kind of speech, (given all due respect) should be wiry of such of such an individual. It's a matter of what ALLAH has commanded, (at the very least respect ALLAH's LAW) not a personal feeling or experience. We have no choice when ALLAH has made something obligatory. Do you have the choice to pray or did ALLAH make it obligatory?

I don't think the author or the comments of subsequent posters are 'defaming the Hijab'. This article wasn't about criticizing women who wear or don't wear hijab, but rather discussing the implications of how we view each other.

As human beings - we ALL have free will - therefore the choice of how we believe, interpret, & behave is up to us. God will judge us - that's the whole point! I believe that the Quran also emphasizes 'doing good works/deeds' - shouldn't we also focus on some of the commands which strengthen community/society as well as the individual spirituality of prayer?

ALLAH knows best. I'm not judging the writer personally. I'm only protecting what ALLAH has ordained as one of the protections of a Muslim women. These days the Hijab is ever so criticized and I would hate for America to become like France or some other European country and outlaw the Hijab. That's a reality for American Muslims. These kind of articles perpetuate and foster a sentiment of let's get rid of the Hijab, it certainly doesn't defend the Hijab. It what be a travesty for Muslims in America to lose the privilege to wear the Hijab. It takes a whole lot more courage to wear the Hijab for a convert, than not. Let's try to ask our sister's who choose to wear the Hijab to be respectful of women who don't and vice versa.

While I can appreciate many of the points the author made, I found one of her points to be an oversimplication of hijab, the very thing she is trying to counter. She says:

"The purpose of hijab, as stated in the Qur’an, is modesty, and its purest goal is to remind one of their submission to Allah. Yet the reasons many convert women have cited to me for wearing hijab seldom include remembrance of God, but refer ironically to the great pride they feel when they wear hijab in public."

I am so tired of people calling out Muslim women for not wearing hijab for the "right" reasons. Wearing the hijab is not a ritual act like the prayer is. Ritual acts are done purely for the sake of God because they are private and have no social impact in their simplest form. Wearing hijab is a public, social act, with social implications, that happens to fall under religious law, like making business contracts is (the distinction between ritual and social acts is one made by classical scholars). Social acts have a worldly purpose, and therefore often get mixed up with worldly concerns, while their religious aspect often fades away or into the background. It's natural for more worldly concerns to come to the fore in these cases. Is that "right" or "wrong"? I think it's an oversimplification to even answer that question.

Women who wear hijab are faced with the difficulty of coming to terms with the social impact their act is having on the world around them. In a non-Muslim post-9/11 society, that difficulty is compounded. How is it fair to judge them for however they cope with this process? I wouldn't expect their only reason for wearing it to be purely for God's sake, as if they are divorced from society. They are not monks, they are not saints, they are human beings interacting in the world and dealing with all its complexities and contradictions just like everyone else.

I think one of the biggest problems with Muslim perceptions of hijabi women is that they expect them to be super-human, super-pure. Where in Islam does it say that they are anything more than human?

>>> I'm only protecting what ALLAH has ordained as one of the protections of a Muslim women. These days the Hijab is ever so criticized and I would hate for America to become like France or some other European country and outlaw the Hijab.

>> Ritual acts are done purely for the sake of God because they are private and have no social impact in their simplest form. Wearing hijab is a public, social act, with social implications, that happens to fall under religious law

These are both very normal views, echoed by the author, but you are NOT listening to all of what the author is discussing. The Hijaab is at its purest a commandment from Allah and basically an act of modesty. But Armani and Hijaab make poor bedfellows while secular Education and Hijaab do go well together. Participation and the Sexual-Equality in the social sphere are very complementary features of Hijaab. Maligning woman or assuming fault in women who don't (for example assuming fault in their sexual behaviour) does not go well with Hijaab. Family Honour (as it is practiced in some parts of the Muslim world) and the Hijaab are separate issues. Finding a woman complicit in her rape for not wearing Hijaab is not the intent of Hijaab. The niqaab is not a supreme example of hijaab while a head scarf is a weaker hijaab. All of these are internal cultural dynamics.

Furthermore, the view of Hijaab as foreign/exotic/unusual is also an abuse of the view Hijaab. Hijaab, like other eastern practices such as yoga and the kabbalah, is being subjected to various and conflicting western cultural views. This is resulting in Muslim women re-inforcing those cutural views with the mistaken belief that by protecting those false notions, they are protecting the Hijaab. In reality they are making it more exotic, more isolating and more controversial and pandering to false notions regarding it.

Listen to the author. She is not criticising Hijaab or Allah's commands. She is asking you to have a frank conversation about the values of women (Muslim and non-Muslim) themselves and the true value of Hijaab. This is not an attack on separate-but-equal dogma. It's an attempt to get Muslim women talking about the Hijaab. What it is and what it means. And I don't doubt her view for a second because I've seen those same issues being acted out in my community. There's no need to clam up and be on the defensive. Muslims can discuss contemporary Muslim issues.

The Prophet (sal-Allaahu `alayhe wa sallam) said, ((Allaah does not accept the prayer of a female who has reached the age of puberty except if she is wearing a head covering (khimaar).)) This was recorded by at-Tirmidhee, Ahmad, Abu Daawood and Ibn Maajah.

You're wrong. Prayer and the Hijab of the women are the same. Much like Wudu. Wudu is obiligatory before you can pray. You can't debate ALLAH's LAW. Sometimes we don't like it, that's your choice. It's better to say that I don't like it and stop tell lies on Islam.

Ok first of all, I wasn't talking about wearing hijab during prayer. I was talking about wearing hijab outside of prayer, in society. If you honestly are equating the importance of prayer - The SECOND PILLAR OF ISLAM - with the importance of wearing full-time hijab, which is not even close to being a pillar of Islam, then you are grossly mis-prioritizing Islamic principles. Not all Islamic principles are of the same importance, any scholar will tell you that. Would you say that learning to control one's greediness and stepping into the bathroom left foot first are of equal importance? NO.

By equating prayer and hijab you are doing the same thing as the people who say that a non-hijabi is not really a Muslim just because she doesn't wear hijab. The author condemns this and I stand with her 100% on that.

American Muslims in general are not ignorant to the fact of why you wear the Hijab any longer. That's outdated behavior. Even if the believer obeys ALLAH out of ignorance they still receive a reward from ALLAH.

It is obligatory upon the believer to submit to any order from Allaah and His Messenger, regardless if they do or don't understand the wisdom behind it. This is because the act of submission itself is an act of wisdom. Allaah says, {It is not for a believer, man or woman, when Allaah and His Messenger have decreed a matter that they should have any option in their decision. And whosoever disobeys Allaah and His Messenger, he has indeed strayed in a plain error}, [al-Ahzaab 36].

When 'Aa.ishah was asked about the situation of the menstruating woman, why she makes up her fasts but not her prayers, she answered, "That happened to us during the time of the Messenger of Allaah (sal-Allaahu `alayhe wa sallam) and we were ordered to make up our fasts and we were not ordered to make up our prayers." Hence, she equated the order as being the wisdom in itself. Even given that, the wisdom behind the hijaab is very clear as a woman displaying her beauty is a source of temptation. When temptation occurs, sin and lewdness occur. If sin and lewdness spread, that means that destruction and ruin are on the way.

Salam and early Eid Mubarak. I thought I would give Salim a reality check from a Muslim male. Here we go, so strap on your seatbelts, and tight!

>>We love the Hijab, because ALLAH loves the Hijab.

I've never heard this in the Quran. Allah loves the believers, though so let's keep love for animate creation and not abstract concepts.

>>We love the Hijab, because it's protection from men seeing our bodies.

If you walked in front of me today, then I already saw your body and my desire is enough that I've already looked you up and down and figured out what I wanted to imagine despite the umpteen layers of cloth you had on.

>>We love the Hijab, because I want to be judge by the content of my mind, not my body type.

I already do that for you, not because of your scarf, but because its how I was raised and socialized.

>>We love the Hijab, because the prophet's (SAWS) wives loved the Hijab.

You and I have not met the Prophet's wives; we really don't know what they loved in the depths of thier hearts, in what order and how much.

>>We loved the Hijab, because we know Islam for women is justice.

Perhaps in some respects, but in many respects the obsession over women's bodies in Muslim cultures is the same as Western culture's obsession over women's bodies (cultures, not Islam because hijab is one of the LEAST mentioned things in the Quran and even the hadith!) The only difference is the objective of each: both promise liberation through either covering up or taking it all off. Both are supreme false promises.

And I say this will all the respect I have for my Muslim sisters, whether they wear hijab or don't wear it. I respect them simply because they exist, and they believe not for what they wear or don't wear, wallah.

It's better for you to say you don't like the Hijab, I can understand that. But STOP telling lies about the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad (sal-Allaahu `alayhe wa sallam).

>>if the believer obeys ALLAH out of ignorance they still receive a reward from ALLAH.

Meh?? So, what about the hadith, "actions are by intentions"? Niyya (intention) is a critical part of judgment, rewards and punishment. So, how can one be rewarded for an act they did not intend, unless it is simply through Allah's boundless mercy that he says, "you didn't intend to go this good deed, but I'm going to credit you for it anyway because I'm cool like that"...

Whoever ridicules a Muslim woman or man for sticking to and applying the teachings of Islaam is a disbeliever. This is regardless of whether it is concerning woman's hijaab or any other matter of the Sharee'ah. This is based on the following narration from ibn 'Umar: At a gathering during the Battle of Tabuk, one man said, "I have not seen anyone like our Qur.aanic readers who is more desirous of food, more lying in speech and more cowardly when meeting the enemy." A man said, "You have lied and you are a liar. I shall definitely tell the Messenger of Allaah (sal-Allaahu `alayhe wa sallam) about that." That news was conveyed to the Messenger of Allaah and the Qur.aan was revealed. 'Abdullaah ibn 'Umar added, "I saw the man holding on to the bag of the camel of the Messenger of Allaah and the dust was striking him while he was saying, 'O Messenger of Allaah, we were just joking and playing. The Messenger of Allaah (sal-Allaahu `alayhe wa sallam) was simply saying the verse of the Qur.aan], {Was it Allaah, and His Signs and His Messenger you were mocking? Make no excuse, you have disbelieved after you had believed. If We pardon some of you, We will punish others among you because they were sinners}, [Soorah at-Towbah, Aayahs 65-66]. So ridiculing believers has been equated with ridiculing Allaah, His Signs and His Messenger.

Huh? There is no mocking here; please check the dictionary, and then seek tawbah for committing the sin of takfir. You're approaching this from the world of theory and rules while the rest of us are discussing the real-life implications of obeying Allah and how to deal with the complex greyness of real life at the same time. I'm sorry if that nuance escapes you.

On second thought, with a male name of Salim, are you female or male? The world wonders...

Sure Omar G.

The writer made the mockery, "And I wonder if people who convert to a new religion cling to the visible signs of a cultural faith. Do such people become addicted to these symbols and their antinomian place within American culture, and become so enamored with these surface symbols that they never penetrate to the real treasures they might discover within their new faith."

That's mockery of the commands of ALLAH (Hijab). We don't question something that is obligatory from ALLAH. If a person doesn't like the Sunnah or a part of it, then it's better to say that.

I didn't make takfir, may you did with your arrogant manners, you said, "I'm cool like that"...". Boosting and bragging.

The words are from ALLAH, not me. Soorah at-Towbah, Aayahs 65-66]