Hijab Niqaab and Veil Historical perspective

21/02/2022

This is an issue that surfaces now and then with incidents in different parts of the world. Most recently in Karnataka, India, a girl was harassed by a mob for entering an educational institution dressed in the attire of her choice. What, and how to dress is the personal preference of a woman. She can choose this according to the custom, culture, and faith she practices.

Forcing her to change her dress code or way of life is illegal and immoral.

Looking into the historical perspective of the veil, we see that it has been present in the European, Asian, and African cultures for centuries, and predates the Islamic era.

Asking women to wear the veil appears to have been established among Jews and Christians, before spreading to urban Arabs of upper classes and eventually among the urban masses.

It was not stringent for women working in the fields or in the markets to practice wearing a veil. Veil symbolized a woman to be of the affluent class or one with a rich husband.

In the Arabian Peninsula and parts of North Africa, an abaya is worn which is like a loose robe. In Iran, the chador is draped over the head like a shawl. The Afghan burqa covers the entire body. In Algeria, a larger veil called the Haik includes a triangular panel to cover the lower part of the face. In the Indian subcontinent, married Hindu women used the veil which is known as Ghoonghat.

In West Africa, women do not traditionally wear veils but men do.

Male veiling was common among the Berber tribes. It is regarded as a mark of manhood. The North African male veil, which covers the mouth and some parts of the nose is called Litham.

Wearing the Litham was not viewed as a religious requirement, it served as protection from dust and extremes of temperature characterizing the desert environment.

The Privileged and elite class of women in Greece, Persia, and the Mesopotamian empires, wore a veil and it signified the aristocratic status of women. The earliest proven documentation of it is found in the Assyrian law code between 1100-1400 BC. Female slaves and prostitutes were forbidden to wear the veil and headscarves and had to face harsh punishment if they did so. It served to distinguish between respectable women and those who were publicly available.

Christian Byzantine literature expressed rigid norms relating to the veiling of women, which have been influenced by Persian traditions. In Persia Zoroastrian, free women wore full-body coverings and headdresses.

In ancient Greece, between 323-550 BC, upright women were thought to cover themselves from the eyes of strange men.

Roman women, especially married ones, were supposed to cover their faces and head. Women not doing this were considered to be withdrawing from the marriage. It was considered to be a symbol of the husband’s authority over his wife. A veil called Flammeum was worn by the Roman bride to regard the high priestess of Jupiter and which depict a lifelong devotion of a woman to one man. The bridal veil returned to popularity in the UK and its colonies after Queen Victoria wore a veil in her wedding to Prince Albert in 1840.

European women wore sheer veils under certain circumstances such as mourning especially during funerals. Recently till the1970s, in southern Italy, women used to wear veils and caps to show that they are well behaved and modest.

In Judaism, Christianity, and Islam the concept of covering the head is associated with respectability and modesty. Most traditional depictions of the Virgin Mary, the mother of Christ, show her in a veil. Veiling, covering the hair, rather than the face, was a common practice with church-going women until the 1960s. A veil over the hair rather than the face forms part of the headdress of some orders of nuns or religious sisters in Catholicism. After the declaration of Pope Paul’s VI decree Perfectae caritatis on the adaption and renewal of religious life, most monastic orders for nuns retained the veil.

In Judaism, a woman must cover her hair after marriage. It indicates to other men that she is unavailable. The tradition of the bride wearing a veil during the wedding ceremony dates back to biblical times. According to the Torah in Genesis 24:65, Isaac is brought to Rebekah to marry, and Rebekah took her veil and covered herself.

The Qur’an instructs both Muslim men and women to dress modestly. The two terms for veiling that are directly mentioned in the Quran are the jilbab and the khimar. In these references, the veiling is meant to promote modesty by covering the private parts of women. Hanbali and Shafii schools of jurisprudence advocated that covering the hands and face for all adult women is obligatory. Though the Hanafi and Maaliki schools of thought allow the face and hands to remain uncovered. In traditional Islamic law, the debate of clothing falls into the legal category of appropriate Islamic conduct wajib rather than mandatory farz such as praying or fasting. Donning hijab can only be a recommended action, not a required behavior.

In this patriarchal society where women have fewer opportunities for education, face harassment and exploitation at every level, it is better to provide a safe environment for education and jobs, as no country can progress by marginalizing women.