Comments on: Everywoman: Hijab Fashion

By: Nicholas

Nicholas — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 02:11:58 +0000

mdyayayaya ….. * Many people think *…. the author thanks for the post!

By: jessyz

jessyz — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 00:06:33 +0000

I watched it and felt it was interesting sort of. I am an Egyptian Muslim and I live in Kuwait. When I first moved here and could only find my way to shops like H&M, GAP and Mango “Western” franchises or the black Abaya shops and had trouble finding things I liked and were modest at the same time. So it was interesting to see what other people do in the rest of the world out of curiosity not that the show was enlightening just entertaining no more no less. Perhaps you took it personally so you didn’t like it that much?

By: LimitedLiabilityGirl

LimitedLiabilityGirl — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 16:42:06 +0000

Something else not shown in that clip was women and girls who wear hijab but maybe with conservatively styled Western clothing: I definitely see school-aged girls in New York with scarves on and long-sleeved shirts and jeans! And women in tunics and pants and other loose-fitting clothing.

Also I’m told girls are taking a lot of options for covering the head besides just the closely wrapped scarf; turbans, looser wraps, even one girl who wears a hooded sweatshirt and pulls the hood up every day (which I’d like to see!).

The vid does seems like a very slender representation of the total options, although I don’t have the familiarity/expertise that the rest of you do in commenting on the specifics.

PS: Nice to see your site back, MMW!

By: Faith

Faith — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 02:38:02 +0000

@ Celeritas: that was creepy! Ugh! Hijab is such a small piece of being a Muslim. Wearing hijab for me is the easiest part of being a Muslim. In time, hopefully Muslims and non-Muslims will realize this.

@ Jana: Thanks for the link!

@ Jamerican: When I watched I didn’t hear her say “for me”. Sorry about that. I did think that I was bordering on the nitpicking. I’m going back in my memory bank to see how many times I say “I wear hijab because Allah said so” or “Because that’s what the Qur’an says”. You’re right. You don’t really think about it until pushed on it. Still, now I do try to be more conscious of it.

@ Fatemeh: Thanks!

@ Laila: IA that we have to be conscious and aware not to impose our views on others and not to create a monolithic view of Islam. That’s one of my problems with features in the media that only focus on one “type” of Muslim woman. There isn’t any diversity.

By: Fatemeh

Fatemeh — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 21:58:53 +0000

@ Jamerican: I didn’t hear the “for me.” That makes sense; as long as she’s got that personalizing preposition or qualifier, I’m happy.

My problem is mostly with what laila termed “one-dimensional” representation. Though that’s the burden of the media, I still like it when we help represent ourselves as a diverse community.

By: Jamerican Muslimah

Jamerican Muslimah — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 21:29:13 +0000

@ Fatmeh and Laila, clearly she said “for me” go back and watch the clip. I think you guys are nitpicking. It seems rather cumbersome to have to launch into detail about what other people’s perspectives are when the focus is on her and her style. I don’t wear abayas or pashminas every day but I’m not upset because the abaya and pashmina is her chosen style of dress and could possibly be viewed as “thee Muslim woman form of dress.”

By: laila

laila — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 19:32:57 +0000

Fatemeh I agree with you on her “personal perspective is packaged in a way to make it seem universal.” What’s wrong with telling people that not all Muslims believe in this mandate, and that not all Muslim women wear a hijab. It reinforces the idea that Islam is a monolithic religion— but there is wide diversity in this religion. Or that if you are a Muslim women you Must look like this ect.

I know that as a hijabi, if a non-veiled/non-hijabed Muslim woman made a universal comment about the hijab not being mandated, I would get pissed off because she has no right to speak for me or my views on my hijab. In both ways it comes off intolerant of the OTHER. In both ways, are we showing a fear of the OTHER views?

It just comes of too one dimensional. When someone asks me about an issue, I tell them my view from a stand-point of the others. For example, I see such and such from a traditional point or in this I’m an ultra orthodox , etc. It shows them a diversity of thought/interpretation.

Do we want people to see only ONE side, and if so why do we want them to see it one way?

By: Fatemeh

Fatemeh — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 18:38:38 +0000

Faith, you hit the nail on the head! Spot on!

@ Celeritas: There you have it! This makes it blatantly obvious that their purpose is to otherize Muslim women who wear headscarves by parading them around like they’re animals in a zoo.

@ Jana: thanks for posting this link!

@ Jamerican: that’s a good point; she could have been speaking about her personal perspective. The only problem with that is that I think her personal perspective is packaged in a way to make it seem universal.

By: Jamerican Muslimah

Jamerican Muslimah — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 15:18:09 +0000

I posted this on my fashion blog a while back and I have to say, it wasn’t anything new to me either. I liked seeing Neelam’s (that’s the sister Zain went shopping with, I think) sense of style. Apart from that the same ole same. I agree with you about the east vs. west dichotomy and the assumption that Western women aren’t Muslim.

“The same woman who spoke a few times about dressing in accordance with how her “Creator” commands her to dress. She seemed a bit oblivious to the fact that not all Muslims believe that the Qur’an mandates hijab.”

I think she was speaking from her perspective. I know when someone asks me why I wear the hijab I share MY belief with them which is similar to the aforementioned quote. I don’t automatically launch into an explanation about other Muslim women who do not believe it is a command since we are discussing my belief system. If the conversation is a more expansive one then I will talk about the different perspectives. Just a thought…

By: Jana

Jana — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 11:34:56 +0000

This episode for me ran in the same vein as Women in Black. I don’t know what Amani Zain’s obsession is with telling the world how Muslim women dress. Did you watch the Everywoman episode about the veil in Egypt? I posted it a while ago and there were a lot of strong opinions:

http://hijabstyle.blogspot.com/2008/09/everywoman-veil-in-egypt.html