to the ideals of pluralism and civil liberties in defense of their
visibility and difference. However, when Queen Rania of Jordan
appeared via satellite, there was a murmur in the audience and some of
the Muslim women said that the Queen should be covered. Is it possible
that Muslims think it is acceptable to use civil liberties to practice
their truth, but if given the power to decide, they will coerce others
to wear and do what Muslims want? These kinds of questions are far
more pressing. We have to create internal debates about liberties,
democracy and the need for various efforts of interpretation within
the Muslim communities. Such debates should replace the non-issues of
dress codes and small edict matters in mainstream Muslim communities.
We can no longer afford to have the scarf as the core of the debateon
Islam, nor as the symbol by which the level of a Muslim woman's piety
or commitment to Islam is measured. We can no longer afford to have
every opportunity and discussion aboutIslam turn into a conversation
on dressing, nor can we afford as Muslim women, in our communities, to
be judged and awarded degrees and ranks of religiosity according to
the level ofthe dress code we abide by. The darker the color the
better, the bigger the garment the more pious. The race of ranking
morallyhigh through fabric has no end ina path where the Taliban model
seems to be the only logical conclusion. It makes more sense to judge
women on matters relating to the basic tenets of Islam: regular
prayer, fasting, paying alms. But even such things were not acceptable
to the Prophet as criteria for assessing aperson. When one of his
companions praised another companion, the Prophet said to him it was
not enough to see him going up and down in prayer at the Mosque. The
Prophet asked him: Have you traveled with him? Have you seen him
angry? Have you dealt with him in matters of money?
When people are not noble enough to resort to the Prophetic method of
assessing a person, I try to bring them back to the basic
requirements, without getting lost in juristic and historical details,
by citing the story of the Bedouin man who came to the Prophet and
asked him what makes a good Muslim. The Prophet then listed for him
the five tenets of Islam, while the Bedouin was saying, at each tenet,
he would do it, but would not do more, nor less. After the Bedouin
left, the Prophet said, "The Bedouin will succeed if he is truthful."
Interestingly, an African American woman in the "after show" segment
asked precisely about this, how the list of the basic commands and
prohibitions of Islam, which the show presented at the beginning, did
not deal with the scarf, and I guess for her,did not reflect the level
of Muslims'obsession with it. But it is not enough to have such
questions thrown at us from others. Muslim women need to start
thinking for themselves and learn the difference between a command and
what a social practice open todifferent interpretations.
The challenge, however, is that most Muslim women are not equipped to
stand up and providean alternative juristic view of the matter, and
the scholars who do are not willing to discuss it in public out of
concerns of inflaming Muslim sensitivities about an issue which they,
and rightly so, believe is not a pressingone. Even those who are brave
enough to dissent like Jamal Al-Banna face rejection and opposition
from mainstream Muslims, despite being a scholar whose views are
rooted within traditional Islam.
The centrality of the scarf reduces Islam to a piece of garment and
places Muslims perpetually on the defensive explanatory panel.
De-centralizing and de-romanticizing the scarf, I am afraid, is fast
becoming increasingly urgent and necessary. The recent fatwas are
revealing. The scholars would not ask Muslim women or men, to
compromise easily in something they believed to be a core command of
Islam. The events of the last week have, it seems, started to urge us
to rethink our priorities and what defines being Muslim. This is in
itself a big step.
However, for the moment, until those who are politically and
juristically mature and sophisticated want to discuss thismatter
openly without getting bogged down by the many implications and
problems it will raise, we will remain hostage to the centrality of
the scarf. And until something is done, we will be stuck with the rosy
and romanticized views of the sweet Muslim ladies on Oprah's show and
forever caught up in the centrality of the scarf.
For eternity the question will not be for us, Muslims, why our
youngmen are turning themselves and others into bombs, or why we do
not have democracy in Muslim societies, or whether American foreign
policy is based on principles of equality and liberty for all. The
question will be, it seems, for a long time: To veil or not to veil.
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