Women in Islam Versus Women in the Judaeo-Christian Tradition: The Myth
and The Reality
By: Sherif Abdel Azim, Ph.D.
Queens
University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
THE VEIL ?
Finally, 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. 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 dishonours his head. And every woman who prays or
prophesies with her head uncovered dishonours 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. 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.
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...." (Quran 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" (Quran 33:59).
This is the whole
point, modesty is prescribed to protect women from molestation or
simply, modesty is protection. Thus, the only 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 only 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" (Quran
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." 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. |