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THE
VEIL IN ISLAM AND THE JUDEO-CHRISTIAN
TRADITION
Let
us shed some light on what is considered
in the West as the greatest symbol of
women’s oppression and servitude, the
veil or the head cover. Is it true that
there is no such thing as the veil in
the Judaeo-Christian tradition? Let us
set the record straight.
According
to Rabbi Dr. Menachem M. Brayer
(Professor of Biblical Literature at
Yeshiva University) in his book, The
Jewish woman in Rabbinic literature, it
was the custom of Jewish women to go out
in public with a head covering which,
sometimes, even covered the whole face
leaving one eye free [76]. He quotes
some famous ancient Rabbis saying,
“
It is not like the daughters of
Israel to walk out with heads
uncovered” and “Cursed be the
man who lets the hair of his wife
be seen....a woman who exposes her
hair for self-adornment brings
poverty.”
Rabbinic
law forbids the recitation of blessings
or prayers in the presence of a
bareheaded married woman since
uncovering the woman’s hair is
considered “nudity”. Dr. Brayer also
mentions that “During the Tannaitic
period the Jewish woman’s failure to
cover her head was considered an affront
to her modesty. When her head was
uncovered she might be fined four
hundred zuzim for this offense.”
Dr. Brayer also explains that veil of
the Jewish woman was not always
considered a sign of modesty. Sometimes,
the veil symbolized a state of
distinction and luxury rather than
modesty. The veil personified the
dignity and superiority of noble women.
It also represented a woman’s
inaccessibility as a sanctified
possession of her husband.
The
veil signified a woman’s self-respect
and social status. Women of lower
classes would often wear the veil to
give the impression of a higher
standing. The fact that the veil was the
sign of nobility was the reason why
prostitutes were not permitted to cover
their hair in the old Jewish society.
However, prostitutes often wore a
special headscarf in order to look
respectable. Jewish women in Europe
continued to wear veils until the
nineteenth century when their lives
became more intermingled with the
surrounding secular culture. The
external pressures of the European life
in the nineteenth century forced many of
them to go out bare-headed. Some Jewish
women found it more convenient to
replace their traditional veil with a
wig as another form of hair covering.
Today, most pious Jewish women do not
cover their hair except in the
synagogue. Some of them, such as the
Hasidic sects, still use the wig.
What
about the Christian tradition?
It
is well known that Catholic Nuns have
been covering their heads for hundreds
of years, but that is not all. St. Paul
in the New Testament made some very
interesting statements about the veil:
“Now
I want you to realize that the
head of every man is Christ, and
the head of the woman is man, and
the head of Christ is God. Every
man who prays or prophesies with
his head covered dishonors his
head. And every woman who prays or
prophesies with her head uncovered
dishonors her head - it is just as
though her head were shaved. If a
woman does not cover her head, she
should have her hair cut off; and
if it is a disgrace for a woman to
have her hair cut off or shaved
off, she should cover her head. A
man ought not to cover his head,
since he is the image and glory of
God; but the woman is the glory of
man. For man did not come from
woman, but woman from man; neither
was man created for woman, but
woman for man. For this reason,
and because of the angels, the
woman ought to have a sign of
authority on her head” (I
Corinthians 11:3-10).
St.
Paul’s rationale for veiling women is
that the veil represents a sign of the
authority of the man, who is the image
and glory of God, over the woman who was
created from and for man. St. Tertullian
in his famous treatise ‘On The Veiling
Of Virgins’ wrote, “Young women, you
wear your veils out on the streets, so
you should wear them in the church, you
wear them when you are among strangers,
then wear them among your brothers...”
Among the Canon laws of the Catholic
church today, there is a law that
requires women to cover their heads in
church [82]. Some Christian
denominations, such as the Amish and the
Mennonites for example, keep their women
veiled to the present day. The reason
for the veil, as offered by their Church
leaders, is that “The head covering is
a symbol of woman’s subjection to the
man and to God”, which is the same
logic introduced by St. Paul in the New
Testament [83].
From
all the above evidence, it is obvious
that Islam did not invent the head
cover. However, Islam did endorse it.
The Quran urges the believing men and
women to lower their gaze and guard
their modesty and then urges the
believing women to extend their head
covers to cover the neck and the bosom:
“Say
to the believing men that they
should lower their gaze and guard
their modesty......And say to the
believing women that they should
lower their gaze and guard their
modesty; that they should not
display their beauty and ornaments
except what ordinarily appear
thereof; that they should draw
their veils over their bosoms....”
(24:30,31). The Quran is quite
clear that the veil is essential
for modesty, but why is modesty
important? The Quran is still
clear: “O Prophet, tell your
wives and daughters and the
believing women that they should
cast their outer garments over
their bodies (when abroad) so that
they should be known and not
molested” (33:59).
This
is the whole point, modesty is
prescribed to protect women from
molestation or simply, modesty is
protection.
Thus,
the purpose of the veil in Islam is
protection. The Islamic veil,
unlike the veil of the Christian
tradition, is not a sign of man’s
authority over woman nor is it a sign of
woman’s subjection to man. The Islamic
veil, unlike the veil in the Jewish
tradition, is not a sign of luxury and
distinction of some noble married women.
The Islamic veil is a sign of modesty
with the purpose of protecting women,
all women. The Islamic philosophy is
that it is always better to be safe than
sorry. In fact, the Quran is so
concerned with protecting women’s
bodies and women’s reputation that a
man who dares to falsely accuse a woman
of unchastity will be severely punished:
And
those who launch a charge against
chaste women, and produce not four
witnesses (to support their
allegations)- Flog them with
eighty stripes; and reject their
evidence ever after: for such men
are wicked transgressors” (24:4)
Compare
this strict Quranic attitude with the
extremely lax punishment for rape in the
Bible:
“
If a man happens to meet a virgin
who is not pledged to be married
and rapes her and they are
discovered, he shall pay the girl’s
father fifty shekels of silver. He
must marry the girl, for he has
violated her. He can never divorce
her as long as he lives” (Deut.
22:28-30)
One
must ask a simple question here, who is
really punished? The man who only paid a
fine for rape, or the girl who is forced
to marry the man who raped her and live
with him until he dies? Another question
that also should be asked is this: which
is more protective of women, the Quranic
strict attitude or the Biblical lax
attitude?
Some
people, especially in the West, would
tend to ridicule the whole argument of
modesty for protection. Their argument
is that the best protection is the
spread of education, civilised behaviour,
and self restraint. We would say: fine
but not enough. If ‘civilization’
is enough protection, then why is it
that women in North America dare not
walk alone in a dark street - or even
across an empty parking lot ? If
education is the solution, then why is
it that a respected university like
Queen’s has a ‘walk home service’
mainly for female students on campus? If
self restraint is the answer, then why
are cases of sexual harassment in the
workplace reported on the news media
every day? A sample of those accused of
sexual harassment, in the last few
years, includes: Navy officers,
Managers, University professors,
Senators, Supreme Court Justices, and
the President of the United States!
I could not believe my eyes when I read
the following statistics, written in a
pamphlet issued by the Dean of Women’s
office at Queen’s University:
In
Canada, a woman is sexually
assaulted every 6 minutes”, 1 in
3 women in Canada will be sexually
assaulted at some time in their
lives”, 1 in 4 women are at the
risk of rape or attempted rape in
her lifetime”, 1 in 8 women will
be sexually assaulted while
attending college or university,
and A study found 60% of Canadian
university-aged males said they
would commit sexual assault if
they were certain they wouldn’t
get caught.”
Something
is fundamentally wrong in the society we
live in. A radical change in the society’s
life style and culture is absolutely
necessary. A culture of modesty is badly
needed, modesty in dress, in speech, and
in manners of both men and women.
Otherwise, the grim statistics will grow
even worse day after day and,
unfortunately, women alone will be
paying the price. Actually, we all
suffer but as K. Gibran has said, “...for
the person who receives the blows is not
like the one who counts them.” [84]
Therefore, a society like France which
expels young women from schools because
of their modest dress is, in the end,
simply harming itself.
It
is one of the great ironies of our world
today that the very same headscarf
revered as a sign of ‘holiness’ when
worn for the purpose of showing the
authority of man by Catholic Nuns, is
reviled as a sign of ‘oppression’
when worn for the purpose of protection
by Muslim women.
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