A Cartoon about Muslim Women and Shari'ah of Hijab
Powerful and Meaningful
This is just a Cartoon in the Social Media but very meaningful and beautifully focusses at a commonly made distortion in the Shari'ah female dress code. The headscarf, fancy and colorful is very often presented and regarded as the center piece of "hijab". By itself and standing alone, it is frequently labelled as "hijab". The cartoon very artistically highlights the underlying mockery and travesty of this approach.
There is another angle to this approach i.e. insisting on the headscarf as "the hijab" and regarding it as compulsory for all practicing Muslims. It is sinful not to do so. I admire the sisters who are practicing this in Twenty First Century America. It needs a strength of Character to do this. I am sure it gives them a "positive" feeling that they are doing their duty to their religion. I would request them to realise and acknowledge -- no, not to accept -- the other side of the coin. To the Muslims who do not accept this interpretation of Shari'ah (and of course the non-Muslims) the practice of framing the face by our sisters-in-Islam produces a "negative" feeling. It depicts Muslim women and Islam as anachronistic and reactionary. It presents a striking resemblance to the head cover that the Catholic Nuns adopted two millennium ago. The media is quick to embrace this. Whenever discussing Islam and Muslims, a few Muslim sisters with the headscarves or Men with white caps and long beards form the background. Let me make it clear. Those who believe in the scarf have a full right to be proud of it. Those who do not subscribe to it, similarly have a right to feel uneasy and disturbed by it.
