Halah Al-Nasir

Four representatives from different political backgrounds suggested that the French Parliament issue four new laws banning Muslim students from wearing hijab in government schools. That means the hijab issue in France is back in the news after the first Muslim student was expelled from school 10 years ago because she wore hijab.

An American citizen, Sultanna Freeman, is raising the issue in America in her legal battle against officials from the state of Florida because the state refuses to give her a driver’s license unless she reveals her face for the photograph. She committed herself to wearing hijab after converting to Islam.

After I read these stories, I began to think of this piece of cloth — only centimeters long — which covers the head. Or to be more specifically, covers the hair. Why is this piece of cloth causing so many arguments and problems?

Many believe that because of this cloth, Muslims are experiencing racism in France and America. My thoughts go beyond that to the difference between women wearing hijab and women not wearing hijab. Which one is better: Hijab, which should represent modesty, good manners and giving a good example to others, or not wearing hijab with all its indications of recklessness in character and sense?

The question that should have been answered is what did American and European societies achieve when their women started wearing bikinis and immodest clothing apart from an increase in the rate of crimes, rape and the increasing number of illegitimate children.

It is not fair that Western societies respect women who desire to wear indecent clothes under the name of respecting human rights and withhold respect for women who chose to wear hijab. People look at nuns who wear similar clothes with respect. How could they accept these clothes for nuns and not for Muslim women?

It is certain that many Westerners who fight hijab are not fighting because it is a piece of cloth that covers the hair but because it is an Islamic symbol that many Muslim women would like to hold on to. That will enrage those who hate Islam. Islam is a religion for all and it is not restricted to certain people or certain areas. Islam preserved the rights of people who believe in other religions and guaranteed their rights to practice their religious tradition.

It is obvious from statistics and from what we see when we travel to the outside world that women who wear modest clothes are more respected and there is less chance that men will harass them. The magic effect of the piece of cloth is reflected in the psychology of men and the way they deal with them. Hijab has been linked to abstinence and honesty in all three monotheistic religions which agreed on its importance, and I think the reason why ancient Western civilizations flourished was because they held to traditions they got from their books. Many women who wear hijab in Islamic and Western countries have proven that hijab is not a barrier to women’s interacting with society. Women were never kept from working in any field or social activities. It even reached a level where Muslim women who wear hijab participated in sports, including football, as happened in the Islamic sports tournament.

The goal of hijab in Islam is to protect and preserve women. It is to respect their femininity. That is the difference between hijab and nuns’ clothes or other religious garments in other religions. This is what many Westerners who fight hijab in the West cannot understand. It is easy for women not to wear immodest clothes as is seen in the fashion and media worlds.

How can a woman who does not respect the privacy of her own body become a mother who will educate future generations? Removing hijab from a woman, whether she is Muslim or not, Arab or Westerner, diminishes her dignity and the symbol of virtue that a woman was brought up on and on which she will bring up her own children.