Page 316 - Bigotry: The Dark Danger

Bigotry:
The Dark Danger

choice. Yet when they have to, it is essential for Muslim women

to show that they are Muslims and chaste if they are to avoid
unwelcome consequences. The jilbab worn by Muslim women in
such environments is just such a measure.

This is of course something a woman will decide on for herself.
The democratic and modern societies today generally do not meet
this description of "unsafe places." Therefore, women in Western
societies do not generally feel the need to cover themselves up; that

being said, there may also be people in such societies that do indeed
pose a threat to women. So if a woman does not
think she is safe she may well choose to
cover herself up, even in a Western soci-

ety, because the essential condition
mentioned in the verse is to prevent
Muslim woman from being mis-
judged and oppressed according to
the way she dresses.

If she so wishes, a woman can say,
"The practice of head-covering does
appear in the Qur'an and I can see it in
verse 59 of Surat al-Ahzab," and
choose to cover her head. She may
prefer the headscarf to covering the
whole body and interpret covering up
in that way. However, it is untrue to say
that this is what verse 31 of Surat al-
Ahzab commands because the Qur'an
says nothing about the headscarf.

314