Tololy's Box

I think either the Arab world has done a poor job of communicating what the hijab is, or the rest of the world has done a poor job of trying to figure out its purpose.&nbsp; You can decide who is to blame, but somehow people in the rest of the world are getting the wrong idea about head coverings.<br /><br />In Jordan, covering one’s head is a choice (some of the time).&nbsp; In other countries, it may not be.&nbsp; And in some countries, men have their women covered completely up as shapeless blobs, which is viewed by much of the world as an oppressive insult to women.&nbsp; So to the rest of the world, distinguishing between niqab and hijab, choice or no, is not so easy.&nbsp; Mixed signals are being sent, so it’s not hard to imagine why people are becoming confused.<br /><br />Nevertheless, I agree that people should not be judging others by their clothing, but unfortunately, this is a fact of life.&nbsp; Our clothing is–to a degree–a statement of who we are.&nbsp; The guy in the business suit is going to immediately form an idea of the kid with gothic clothing and piercings.&nbsp; Whether the business suit’s formulations are entirely correct or not is beside the point; it’s human nature to sum up others based on their external appearance.<br /><br />In other words, this isn’t just an issue of people dismissing those who wear the hijab.&nbsp; This is an issue of people not understanding (and in some cases, not willing to understand) things that are different from themselves.&nbsp; The American in the shorts and baseball cap is going to get stared at while traveling through India.&nbsp; A Nigerian in Germany is going to cause people to do a double-take.&nbsp; This is the global state of things.<br />

i agree with you.. some people tend to pre judge the person for some reason like hijab, hair, clothes or anything.. sadly, people in islamic countries judge worse than people in other countries.

Not that I am justifying <span style="font-style: italic;">judging </span>people by whether they are hijabi or not, I do believe that the headdress is a very important factor in determing a lot about the background of the person in front of you. You can tell that she is Muslim, probably is either religious/conservative or comes from a religious/conservative background, and that she probably has a very different leisure lifestyle than myself.&nbsp;

<p>Good post Tololy!</p>
<p>You know I find it really disappointing when I hear that someone, who is considered cultured and educated and who, without mentioning names, was once the head of a respectable institute that is supposed to promote open mindedness, considers the Hijab a cover that prevents the mind from thinking!! </p>
<p>The chinese (or Japanese I can’t really remember) found a way to concentrate on work, it was by wearing trianlgular hats. Why nobody suggested it was preventing them from thinking? Because they are bigger thann that. </p>

Interesting topic Tololy…personally I&nbsp; believe every woman should have the right to wear <span style="text-decoration: underline;">whatever</span> they wish to wear,eg Hijab if they so decide….however the problem is when countries like Iran etc make it <span style="text-decoration: underline;">compulsory</span> to wear hijab with terrible consequences if caught without the hijab,beating etc from the <span style="font-style: italic;">Herasat</span>,which is the religious police of the Iranian Basij or by the <span style="font-style: italic;">Mutaween</span> in Saudi Arabia<br /><br />Btw I suppose there must be quite a few&nbsp; halaal eating establishments in NYC … do you keep halaal Tololy?<br /><font size="-1"><br /><br /></font>

Our problem is not the Hijab ON the head but the Hijab INSIDE the Brain. I have met a lot of smart and dynamic girls with hijab and countless shallow girls in modern fashion. It is always bad to judge people based on what they wear. I have never judged women based on hijab but I have always knew that I will never marry a girl with hijab since we will be different in our opinion regarding religious figures. On the other hand I have to admit that I do not feel comfortable with men with untrimmed beards which reflect salafi ideologies. There is no right or wrong here but only a set of preferences that should be respected.

The word Hijabi is Pakistani. The real Arabic word is Mohajabah.<br /><br />Great article <br />

"<span id="printableVersion">My opinion is that if we stop at the level of clothes, <em>clothes</em> people!, "<br /><br />I reserve the right to judge those guys who go around beltless with their trousers have down and underwear showing.<br /></span>

<p>Here’s what I think:</p>
<p>1- No woman should be forced to wear hijab or take it off. </p>
<p>2- Hijab has been associated with political movements. With the rise of political Islam (and not the number of Muslims) the number of women who wear the veil increased. Even though quite a lot of women who wear hijab have nothing to do with politics even may have opinions completely opposite to those of political Islmaic movements the association between both has been consistent.</p>
<p>3- Most people who are very zealous about hijab are men and not women, for me it sounds like a way to control women. </p>
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My words might hurt, but I will say them anyways. I believe any decent and self-respecting person should have nothing to hide! [Please don't take my words personally, its meant to be a general statement.]<br /><br />I cannot embrace the idea of taking pride in what you refuse to show!! People hide their weaknesses and cover their shame… Thats what I know!<br />

I think most people here in the US have decided that hijabs are a political statement, Tololy. And people make political statements for the express purpose of drawing a reaction. If I saw somebody wearinga&nbsp; Che Guevarra tee shirt, I wouldn’t confront them about it, but I wouldn’t interact with them any more than I had to, either. Why would I? I already know I won’t get alonmg with them. Same as others wouldn’t associate with somebody who was wearing a "I support the troops" tee shirt, right?<br /><br />Everyone is free to wear what they want, but they are also free to react to what other people wear in whatever way they want. That’s the way it works.<br /><br />If you really feel that hijab should be treated as religious dress and nothing more, you should (in my opinion) be more concerned with the women who wear it for other purposes and create a bad impression. I personally tried to be open minded the first time I worked with a woman in hijab, but as I got to know her I realized there was a lot more going on with her than religious beliefs. I doubt I’m the only one here who had that experience. I don’t think I’ve ever been anything but polite when I’ve met a woman in hijab, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to be sociable.<br />

<p>People will always have pre conceptions based on the appearance of people. The hope is that people are able to make a proper judgment of a person based on something less "shallow" as you say
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<p>I think it can be hard for people to see the hijab as just another piece of clothing&nbsp;because it represents something to the person wearing it. I think if someone judges someone unfairly because they are wearing a hijab then it tends to be from a lack of understanding
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<p>Good post</p>

<p class="MsoNormal">Thanks for the comments everyone.<br /><br />
The post is not exclusively about Americans, Jordanians, or any other specific
people. It is not spurred by my being in <st1:state _moz-userdefined="" w:st="on"><st1:place _moz-userdefined="" w:st="on">New
York</st1:place></st1:state> right now. It is about anyone who in my opinion
has such low standards of people as to judge them by their hijab or the lack
thereof. <br /><br />
I can go on and on about how so many veiled women are very religious and how so
many of them are very unreligious, like myself. Some of us do not even think of
themselves as Muslim and you really would be surprised what they do in their
leisure time. We can argue for hours on their living double lives but that won’t lead us anywhere. Do not generalize.<br /><br />
The point is this and it is very focused: if a woman is forced to wear the veil
and you think you’re liberal and still judge her, then you really aren’t
helping at all. If she has chosen to wear it and you are not religious and
claim to be liberal, then accept her choice and move on. But do google the word
"liberal" anyway.<br /><br />
Whether or not the hijab is a political statement, a tool of patriarchal
control, or a religious requirement is not what I am concerned with here. I
just wanted to express my wish that people would be more tolerant on both ends
of the "hijabi-or-not" debate. Maybe I’m just too open-minded.<br /><br />
On a different note, I don’t eat dead pigs and I try my best to eat anything
else. And as for the "hide your shame" remark, I can only say that some people consider the quality of their audience before flashing. Just a thought.<br /><br /></p>

about the right of choice what to wear and how to look and other choices which changes the life is possible to discuss on a new forum over here http://umabbas.net/forum/index.php … thanks and have a great day.

Bashing muslims for wearing hijab is a manifestation of the bigger issue of bashing islam in general. Sikhs is England are exempted from wearing a helmet on a mobike because they wear turban. In Canada they won the right to carrry the ceremonial sword ( a religious symbol) -even to schools- by the supreme court. Simply most of the west view muslims as terrorists and are picking on muslims for wearing hijab or growing a beard when they don’t find other issues to target. Can you imagine a bearded muslim being allowed to schools and colleges carrying a daggar or a sword?