05-14-2004, 04:15 PM
Quote:<i>Originally posted by Hazam'sBro </i><b>I still don't understand why women that follow the ways of Islam have to wear a head scarf. It puzzles me. </b>The covering of the head issue is not actually as set in stone as some would argue. There are entire communities of Muslims who only require headcoverings during prayer and religious gatherings (and often will require men to cover their heads under the same circumstances). Mustali Muslims are an example of this.The contention centers around the fact that the Qur'an says for women to "cover their bosoms," but it tells them to cover their bosoms using a "khimr", a word traditionally regarded as referring to headdress (though it can also in just mean "cloth"). For this reason, it seems to me that the idea of a headscarf mandate is valid -- but there is no specific command which says to women "Cover your head."
A great number of my problems with modern Islam is that both Muslims and Westerners try to push this idea of Islam as totally defined -- a concept concerning which there can be no debate and no doubt. In Western circles, this often takes a persecutory bent -- that Muslim culture is base and primitive, and the only way to help or deal with Muslims rationally is to make them abandon their Islamic values and to accept Western ones, which are of course liberating and progressive.
In Muslim circles it has the effect of stifling critical introspection of Muslim culture. The irony is that the oral traditions which most Muslims build the larger part of their daily practice on were proscribed by the Prophet himself (according to other oral traditions), and it is recorded also that the first few collections were destroyed or ignored by the early caliphs specifically because the Prophet ordered that only the Qur'an was to be followed and recorded, not his daily routines.
I think it is prudent to be highly suspect of anyone who claims a full knowledge of exactly how Islam should be practiced, without admitting room for debate.