The Hijab is a headscarf worn by Muslim women in the presence of any male outside of their immediate family, which covers the head, neckand sometimes a woman’s shoulders and chest. The Burqa is an enveloping garment that comes in a variety of designs, but typically covers a Muslim woman’s face and head entirely and may cover most or all of the rest of her body.The Burqa completely covers the wearer’s face, including her eyes unlike the Hijab. A mesh square sewn into the burqa allows a woman to see what is in front of her. Some styles of burqa simply drape over a woman’s head, face, and body, while others have an attached face veil that a woman can lift without exposing the rest of her body if she needs or wants to. The covering of a woman’s face and eyes is an important distinction between the hijab and a burqa.The burka covers the entire body including the whole face, with a mesh window for the woman to see out of. Meanwhile, there is The Niqab, which covers the whole body including the face with the exception of the woman’s eyes.
The religious scholars of Islam are of the unilateral opinion that the Modesty of Women is an essential aspect of Islam and everyone respects that essential aspect of the Modesty of Women in Islam. Nevertheless, many Islamic scholars are of the opinion that it is the cultural differences from place to place rather than any clear rule in the Islamic religion, which makes it essential for a Muslim woman to wear a Hijab or Burqa or Niqab. While the religion of Islam is clear about protecting the Modesty of Women, there are no clear-cut religious instructions for Muslim Women to wear the Burqa or Niqab or Hijab. There is no mention of the word, ‘Hijab’ in the Quran. The practice of the Hijab custom is the result of the acceptance of varying interpretations about Muslim Women Dress Code by different scholars of Islam. The Muslim women all over the world dress according to traditions, cultures, tastes and preferences, economic and social status and unique geographical conditions of the place, where they live.
The origin of the custom of Hijab began in the deserts of Arabia during the times of Muhammad, who was considered by some people as a ‘Prophet’ or a ‘Messenger of God’. This custom of Hijab was practised after an incident, which happened to one of the thirteen wives of ‘The Prophet’. A peculiar circumstance happened to Sauda Bint Zam’a, a wife of the prophet. This information is factual as it has been obtained from the Islamic Hadith. It is part of Sahih Bukhari, Vol 1, Book 4, Verse 146.The Hadith is the collected traditions of the Prophet Muhammad, based on his sayings and actions.The Hadith makes it clear that the Hijab was meant for covering the identity of Muslim going for the Paikhana, thousands of years ago in the desert region of Arabia. There is no reason to believe that what was followed in another place and era should continue to be followed when the entire world has changed in so many ways in terms of technological advancement and overall progress.It is important to remember the fact thatthe conditions of Modern India are not the same as the conditions of ancient Arabia.Also, the fact that only Muslim Women are asked to wear the Hijab/Burqa/ Niqab speaks volumes about the inequalities in gender justice.
The wearing of the Hijab has assumed unprecedented and sudden importance in India, which is a secular nation as of now as per the tenets of the present Indian Constitution.
The entire issue started a couple of months ago in the temple town of Udupi in Coastal Karnataka in India. The controversy began a few months ago when some Muslim women students of the Government Women’s Pre-University College at Udupi began to attend the college wearing the Hijab and they were prevented from entering the college by the college authorities. This happened after October, 2021 when a few Muslim Women students in Udupi were pictured with a Campus Front of India banner. Meanwhile, one must not fail to recognise that CFI is affiliated to PFI or the Popular Front of India. The Popular Front of India is considered to be an Islamic Fundamentalist or Jihadist Organisation by many. One must also not forget the geographical proximity of Coastal Karnataka, where Udupi is located to Kerala, which is the epicentre of the activities of the SDPI or Student Democratic Party of India and PFI or Popular Front of India. In September 2021, the CFI joined hands with certain Muslim women students in Udupi. The same group of women(Almas, Ayesha, Aliya Assadi and Muskaan Zainab) joined Twitter in Oct 2021 and began propagating the views of the Fundamentalist group, the Campus Front of India backed by SDPI and PFI. The PFI was banned many times.
According to the Karnataka Education Minister, B.C. Nagesh, the SDPI backed CFI is behind the current Hijab Conflict in Udupi. One can clearly understand that this is a well-planned conspiracy to ruffle the feathers of the Indian Muslims before the Assembly Elections in five Indian states to destabilise India and to create Hindu-Muslim disunity. Currently, investigations are on to find out more about Bibi Muskaan, the Muslim woman student face behind the Hijab protests in Udupi, Karnataka. The Indian Intelligence agencies are trying to find out if Muskaan has any connection with our unfriendly neighbouring country of Pakistan. One wonders if there is a bigger conspiracy to destabilise India, which is on the super highway to peace and prosperity under the dynamic leadership of its Prime Minister, Shri. Narendra Modi.
A lot of Muslim women themselves are not supporting the system of Hijab. Taslima Nasreen, the world-famous author of ‘Lajja’(‘Shame’) has said that the Hijab is a symbol of oppression. She was among the earliest intellectuals to identify the flaws of Islam religion with respect to the way it treats its women folk.
World over, we notice that whenever and wherever Muslim women have spoken up againstthe Hijab, they have been universally condemned by the male chauvinists within the Islam religion, which is patriarchal in nature. The religion of Islam does not provide much freedom to its women. In the garb of protecting the modesty of women, they have turned women into commodities with no identities. One must not forget the case of the Iranian woman lawyer, who defended women’s right to remove Hijab, who got 38 years imprisonment along with 148 lashes in 2019. There is no point in continuing a custom that has lost relevance and sympathy among its own principles.
It is easy and quite plain to understand that when you hide the face of a human being, an individual, be it man or woman, you are essentially obliterating their identity and their fundamental right to express themselves as individual people. Thus, while the right to wear Hijab may be argued as a fundamental right of religious expression, it annihilates the identity of the individual with little or minimum freedom of expression as a free human being. No human being is the property of another, even if they are a family member. Every human being, man or woman have the right to present themselves in the way they want, that is without any extra accessory clothing garment like a ‘Hijab’ or ‘Burqa’ or ‘Niqab’.
The Burqa/Hijab is either fully or partially banned in more than 20 countries (both western and Muslim theocracies) including France, Belgium, Congo, Chad, Gabon, Bulgaria, Latvia,Austria, Denmark, Switzerland, Sri Lanka, Canada, Germany, Cameroon, Morocco, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, Sweden and Norway. The then President of Egypt, Gamal Abdel Nasser laughed at the Mandatory Hijab proposal by the ‘Muslim Brotherhood’ or group of Muslim countries in 1953. In Syria, there is a partial ban of the Hijab. In Azerbaijan, Hijab has been banned in school in 2011. In Nigeria, there is a partial ban since 2015 after use of the Hijab by Female Suicide Bombers of Boko Haram. The Burqa is banned in the Islamic country of Morocco, where there is a full ban on Hijab in educational institutions. In Tajikistan, there is a ban on Hijab since 2017 since it is far from Tajik culture. In Western countries like France and Austria, there is a ban on Hijab. The Hijab is banned in China, too.
According to Dr.B.R. Ambedkar, the architect of India’s Constitution, ‘The Hijab is a symbol of Slave Mentality. We should end it.’
The sight of Hijab clad women might give nightmarish experience to other women belonging to other religious groups in Secular India. Just as the minorities have the right to profess their religion, the sensibilities of people belonging to other religious groups should also not be offended.
There is not much support for the Hijab on the legal side, too. The wearing of the Hijab appears to cause a clash between various fundamental rights as enshrined in the Indian Constitution. Although Article 25(1) guarantees to every person, the freedom to freely profess, practice and propagate religion, the system of Hijab seems incompatible with article 19(1), which ensures Freedom of Expression. How can there be Freedom of Expression when an Individual’s identity itself is repressed through backward practices like the Burqa and the Hijab? Although as per the clauses 1, 2 and 3 of Article 15, which allows for special provision for Women and children as permissible, outdated systems like Hijab/Burqa/Niqab cannot be justified as the very identity including the gender identity of the individual is obliterated to a certain extent.
Way back in 2006, in India, the Madras High Court held that Faith and Practice were on two different planes – saying there was nothing wrong on the part of Election Commission to insist on a photograph of the face of a purdah clad woman for the purpose of preparing electoral rules. In 2010, the Supreme Court said that a Burqa clad woman cannot be issued a Voter Identity Card. In a similar case of wearing Hijab to school, the Kerala High Court in 2018 observed that the religion rights are relative rights and that ‘the Constitution itself envisages a society where rights are balanced to subserve the larger interests of the society.’ Interestingly, the writ petition filed by the Muslim petitioners was dismissed and the landmark judgement was delivered by A. Muhamed Mustaque, a pious and learned Muslim Judge. It is to be understood clearly that many learned and pious Muslims of both genders are not in favour of the Hijab/Burqa/Niqab custom. They understand that the rights of women must be upheld. They understand the need for a greater liberal outlook by the Muslim community at large. This includes Senior legal luminaries like A. Muhamed Mustaque and the current Governor of Kerala, Shri. Arif Mohammad Khan, who hasopenly stated that the ‘Hijab row’ is a deliberate conspiracy to suppress Muslim women. In other words, it is clear that the custom of Hijab is not favourably looked upon by many liberal, pious and learned Islamic scholars as well as by liberal, pious and learned Muslim men and women in addition to the displeasure expressed against the obsolete Hijab/Niqab and Burqa system in multiple Muslim countries including Azerbaijan, Egypt and Morocco
In India too, there has been little history of Muslim girls wearing Hijab at school level. All Indians are witness to the fact that most Muslim girls did not wear Hijab/Burqa in schools all over India till some years ago. One does not recall Muslim girl classmates wearing Hijab in schools. Everyone wore ‘Uniforms’ and every institution has its freedom to choose the ‘Uniform’ of the students. If the student or student find that their tastes in clothing are not in congruity with the tastes of educational institutions in which they are studying in, they are most welcome to choose a different educational institution. As stated earlier, the Kerala High court judgement of 2018 makes it amply clear that the system of Hijab is not acceptable in educational institutions and the authority to impose or change uniforms rests with the educational institutions. Neither the Muslim Hijab/Niqab/ Burqa nor the Hindu ‘Ghoonghat’ is compatible with the system of ‘uniform dress code’ in educational institutions.
There are other problems associated with the usage of Hijab. Sometimes, men masquerade as women using Hijab/burqa/niqab for whatsoever reasons.There are also instances of fake voting under cover of Hijab/burqa etc. Even worse is the misuse of Hijab to cover up their real identityduring terrorist attacks by terrorists, sometimes etc. To prevent all these, the use of Hijab/burqa/Niqab should be restrained only to the domestic setting of ‘home’ and not in the public.
The Hearing on the Hijab controversy is still on in the Karnataka High Court in India. The final verdict of the Hijab hearing has not yet been given by the Karnataka High Court. As of now, the Interim order given by the Karnataka High Court is that neither Saffron scarfs nor Hijabs are allowed in educational institutions in Karnataka.
The custom of Hijab must be banned in public places. In the end, Muslim women themselves should understand that the system of Niqab/ Hijab and Burqa are oppressive systems and is genderbiased.Let us also remember that women are often forced to wear the Hijab/Niqab/Burqa.As argued by the advocate general of the Karnataka government in the Karnataka High court in the recent hearing, the system of Hijab is not ‘an essential feature of Islam’. This is the view of multiple Muslim scholars and liberals of both genders belonging to Islam. One must never forget that there is zero mention of ‘The Hijab’ in the ‘Holy Quran’. One must never forget the fact that the Hijab/Burqa/Niqab are all signs of regression and oppression, which are essentially advocated by Hardliners like the Taliban. It is only the Hardliner Muslims in India who are advocating the usage of the Hijab/Burqa and Niqab and not the majority Muslim liberals in India. The time is ripe for women to ascertain their rights in favour of a more liberal dress code across religions, cultures, communities and societies.
By Dr.S.Padmapriya, Ph.D.
Writer, Educator& Thinker Chennai, India