Islamic Culture: An Exploration of Hijab in Contemporary Society

This essay examines the significance of the hijab in modern Islamic society. It begins by defining Islam and the cultural importance of the hijab, a headscarf worn by Muslim women. The discussion explores the historical context of the hijab, its role in differentiating women from men and its use as a symbol of class. The essay then addresses contemporary debates surrounding the hijab, including arguments about forced veiling versus religious identity and the hijab as a symbol of modesty and empowerment. It highlights the views of modern Muslim women, the evolution of hijab styles, and the efforts of organizations like the Muslim Reform Movement. The essay concludes by summarizing the key points and emphasizing the hijab's continued importance in modern Islamic culture, despite facing criticisms and modifications.

Running head: ISLAMIC CULTURE
Islamic Culture
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

1ISLAMIC CULTURE
Hijab in Modern Islamic Society
Introduction
Islam is the religion of the Muslims and is considered to be the second largest religion
after Christianity that the world believes in. the Islamic culture and the religion believes in
monotheism and the Muslims followers of Islam worship their single God , “Allah”. In literal
sense the religion of Islam means submitting one’s life to the will of the Almighty. The
Islamic Civilisation was responsible for the origin of Islam in the 7th century CE, in Mecca
and Medina, which in the modern day world is the Saudi Arabia. Hijab has been an age old
tradition of Islam for Muslim women. However, the hijab in modern Islamic society has been
putting up a big question mark for the rights of women and their expressionism.
Discussion
Hijab is the headscarf that is worn by the Muslims and the individuals who follow the
religion of Islam (Fayyaz and Kamal 2014). Hijab is the virtual sixth tenet or the sixth pillar
of Islam and wearing the hijab is considered to be the customs of the Muslims. It plays a very
important and significant role in their religion. The Hijab had been adopted by the Muslims
originally as an opposition to the West colonizers. According to Gould (2014), the Islamic
believers used to wear the veil as a symbol of national assertion during the nationalist
movements when the British colonizes encouraged them to match the tradition of the
European women by removing the veil. The holy book of Islam does not clearly refer to the
tradition of veil as a mandatory custom but there is indeed the reference of the Prophet
Mohammed’s wife who used to wear a veil to cover her head (Gould 2014). Thus the custom
of veil had been applicable to all the Muslim women. In the very beginning and as well as in
the modern day, the tradition of hijab is the means of differentiation of the women from the

2ISLAMIC CULTURE
men. Moreover in the earlier times, the Hijab had been a representation of the class in the
Islamic society. The women which had been rich and belonged to the aristocratic class could
afford to wear a veil. On the other hand the women who had to work in the fields either had
to modify their headscarf or did not even wear at all.
As per the discussion of Woldesemait (2013), in the present times, the tradition of
Hijab is followed strictly by those Muslims who migrate to the European nations and the
United States. They try to safeguard their religious identity and feel proud of their customs,
where the religion of Islam is not respected much. There are critics in the modern day society
who argue that the women who wear the hijab or cover themselves behind the veil are usually
forced to cover their heads and bodies. However, according to Peng (2016), this is not true
and the Muslims argue this belief. According to them the tradition of Hijab is something that
represents their identity and is a symbol of their religious identity. Moreover Fayyaz and
Kamal (2014) discusses that the modern society debates that the veil is just for the women
and it is a means of covering and preventing to expose the feminine beauty. However, the
feminists as well as the critics also provide a justification to this. Removing clothes or
uncovering the body is not something that supports women liberation. Attracting the male
gaze is not something that encourages female liberation (Woldesemait 2013). The Muslim
women who are the real believers of Islam and the religion of monotheism, they support the
wearing of hijab even today (Zaidi 2015). For some women the hijab helps them to remain
safe in this modern day, and is a veil of convenience since it reduces them to be victims of
false comments and harassment in the public. According to Kamal (2014), the hijab has
transformed itself from being just a tradition of modesty to a stylized one. The Muslim
women in today’s times wear different colours of scarfs as their veil and there are modified
versions of wearing the hijab. Moreover, the modern Islamic society tries to spread the
ideology of the Muslims, and encourages the idea of the hijab. The Muslim Reform

3ISLAMIC CULTURE
Movement comprises of different leaders from all over the world who promotes and supports
the right of the Muslim women of covering their head with the veil. It has also come a long
way to just being a tradition of the Muslims to be a symbol of respect and dignity (Zaidi
2015).
Kamal (2014) states that the Somali- American congressman Ilhan Omar who is an
example of a women in the Government who still wears the headscarf and fights for the cause
of Hijab. Moreover, there is another example, of an athlete in Olympics Ibtihaj Muhammad
who continues the tradition of Hijab even in this modern Islamic Society. Moreover, Nazma
Khan, the Bangladeshi American women, effectively started the concepts of “World Hijab
Day”, in the year 2013 (Peng 2016). In accordance to this, it has been seen that the staff
members of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, have taken legal steps against the
companies of the United States who have prevented their women employees from wearing
hijabs in their organisations (Nomani and Arafa 2015).
Conclusion
Thus from the above discussion it can be concluded that Islam is a religion that the
Muslims follow and have faith in the individuals who follow the Islamic culture and the
tradition, effectively follows the tenets on the religion long with its beliefs. Along with the
five tenets of the Islam, Hijab is considered to be the sixth pillar which included that the
women should be covering their head with a veil. Although the modern day Islamic society
faces a lot of criticisms, the tradition of wearing a hijab has not moved from its original place.
Although there has been modifications of the custom.

4ISLAMIC CULTURE
References
Woldesemait, M., 2013. Unfolding the Modern Hijab: From the colonial veil to pious
fashion.
Gould, R., 2014. Hijab as commodity form: Veiling, unveiling, and misveiling in
contemporary Iran. Feminist Theory, 15(3), pp.221-240.
Fayyaz, W. and Kamal, A., 2014. Practicing Hijab (veil): A Source of Autonomy and Self-
esteem for Modern Muslim Women. Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences
(Pakistan), 22(1).
Zaidi, T., 2015. Hijab, an imperative for dignified social existence. International Journal of
Society and Humanities, 6 (1), pp.123-132.
Kamal, R., 2014. Islamic dress and fashion in the United States. The Oxford Handbook of
American Islam, pp.426-438.
Nomani, A. and Arafa, H. (2015). As Muslim women, we actually ask you not to wear the
hijab in the name of interfaith solidarity. [online] The Washington Post. Available at:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2015/12/21/as-muslim-women-we-
actually-ask-you-not-to-wear-the-hijab-in-the-name-of-interfaith-solidarity/ [Accessed 27
Dec. 2019].
Peng, L.H., 2016, May. Modern hijab style in Indonesia as an expression of cultural identity
and communication. In 2016 International Conference on Applied System Innovation
(ICASI) (pp. 1-4). IEEE.

5ISLAMIC CULTURE