Hi all,
I rarely post or visit here, but every time I do, I see how much I'm missing. On to the OP...
I know very little about Islam other than a vague understanding of the Five Pillars and a little bit about the Prophet's life. Being an American woman, I've always thought of the veil as a way to subjugate and control women. I thought a Muslim woman wearing a veil was a symbol of oppression.
However, I've been reading a book called The Battle for God by Karen Armstrong. This book traces the history of fundamentalism in Christianity, Islam and Judaism. A couple of times in this book the author has stated that in modern Islam a woman wearing a veil is often a symbol of defiance. This book speaks of the history of the attempted oppressions of Islam in both Iran and Egypt. How rulers who were attempting to modernize and seculurize these two countries banned the wearing of the veil, among other things, in an attempt to sweep Islam out of way.
Women in these two countries were often brutalized and/or imprisoned for wearing the veil and showing the outward symbol of their faith.
I suspect that there are many reasons that Muslim woman wear the veil even though it's my understanding that a strict reading of the verses regarding this may be applied to the Prophets wives only.
So, I would like to know from the Muslims who participate here why modern Muslim women choose the veil.
Edited to add: By the way, I really don't want to see this thread turn into a discussion of whether it is right or wrong for a woman to wear the veil. I'd just like a better understanding of the reasons.
I rarely post or visit here, but every time I do, I see how much I'm missing. On to the OP...
I know very little about Islam other than a vague understanding of the Five Pillars and a little bit about the Prophet's life. Being an American woman, I've always thought of the veil as a way to subjugate and control women. I thought a Muslim woman wearing a veil was a symbol of oppression.
However, I've been reading a book called The Battle for God by Karen Armstrong. This book traces the history of fundamentalism in Christianity, Islam and Judaism. A couple of times in this book the author has stated that in modern Islam a woman wearing a veil is often a symbol of defiance. This book speaks of the history of the attempted oppressions of Islam in both Iran and Egypt. How rulers who were attempting to modernize and seculurize these two countries banned the wearing of the veil, among other things, in an attempt to sweep Islam out of way.
Women in these two countries were often brutalized and/or imprisoned for wearing the veil and showing the outward symbol of their faith.
I suspect that there are many reasons that Muslim woman wear the veil even though it's my understanding that a strict reading of the verses regarding this may be applied to the Prophets wives only.
So, I would like to know from the Muslims who participate here why modern Muslim women choose the veil.
Edited to add: By the way, I really don't want to see this thread turn into a discussion of whether it is right or wrong for a woman to wear the veil. I'd just like a better understanding of the reasons.