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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Hijab, The Muslim Womens Dress,Islamic or Cultural? Why Hijab? One of the many questions that I have been asked is why does Islam make hijab mandatory for women? Islam has introduced hijab as part of the decency and modesty in interaction between members of the opposite sex.

Verse 59 of chapter 33 quoted previously gives a very good reason; it says, “ This is more appropriate so that they may be known [as Muslim women] and thus not be harassed [or molested]. ” Men, whether they confess it or not, are slaves of lust and desire. • Hijab protects women from such men; it symbolizes that she has been sanctified to one man only and is off-limit to all others.

●Hijab contributes to the stability and preservation of marriage and family by eliminating the chances of extramarital affairs. • Finally, it compels men to focus on the real personality of the woman and de-emphasizes her physical beauty. It puts the woman in control of strangers’ reaction to her.

Commenting on the attire of women in North Africa and South East Asia, Germaine Greer, one of the pioneers of the women’s liberation movement, wrote: “Women who wear cortes or huipiles or saris or jellabas or salwar kameez or any other ample garments can swell and diminish inside them without embarrassment or discomfort. Women with shawls and veils can breastfeed anywhere without calling attention to themselves, while baby is protected from dust and flies.

📌In most non-Western societies, the dress and ornaments of women celebrate the mothering function. Ours deny it.”[^1] Note that she also specifically mentions the salwar, kameez and jellabas that are used by Muslim women in the East. Feminists and the Western media often portray the hijab as a symbol of oppression and slavery of women.

This sexist angle of viewing the hijab reflects the influence of Western feminists who are subconsciously reacting to the Judea-Christian concept of veil –– “the symbol of woman’s subjection to her husband”.[^2] To look at one’s own religious or cultural history and then to pass a judgment against another religion is, on the milder side, an intellectual miscalculation, and, on the harsher side, outright cultural imperialism!

My father made an interesting observation in an article that when the Europeans penetrated the interior of Africa a century ago, they found some tribes who went about naked. They forced the tribes to wear clothes as mark of civilization.

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