If wearing a veil is part of the muslim religion why have i never seen a muslim woman wear one apart from tv?

Question

I live in a massive muslim area and i have never even in all my time in this town seen a woman in a veil yet i see muslim/asian women every day.

Who's behind the hype?

Answer 1

Good question!

It depends on what school of thought the people living in your area belong to. i.e. they may be more immersed in their culture of origin (i.e. Pakistan) and that could have more influence with them than their actual religion.

Case in point is my sister in law - she is a British Pakistani muslim and never covered her hair until she started getting a lot more interested in her religion. It was totally HER choice to start wearing a hijab. None of her sisters or her mother wears it - and at first they were really a bit annoyed about it.

She did move very much out of her working class Pakistani culture and was surrounded by degree educated muslim professional women who were serious about their religion and wanted to show that they read, understood and respected what the holy Koran says about women needing to cover their hair, so that their most attractive feature is kept away from the eyes of men.

My sis in law is absolutely stunning and she said she has always felt much more liberated since she started covering her hair up. She says its like the kind of men she wants to hang out with are more interested in her personality than her looks.

Personally I think that THIS is whats behind the hype as your question asks; its a mix of people being scared of the whole terrorist threat, and a bunch of racists and intolerant liberals having a go at muslim women. Racist and intolerant idiots like Jack Straw clearly can't cope with the fact that muslim women want to hide themselves from his eyes. And some so-called feminists can't stand the thought that so many muslim women are NOT oppressed and have actually chosen THEMSELVES to cover up more.

As for the women in your area - there just isn't that type of culture or trend going on there. Still muslims though and I am sure they respect the rights of their sisters to dress in a more modest way.

Answer 2

When you say 'veil' do you mean the face covering? Most Muslim women do not cover their face so not covering the face is considered the norm and doing only that would not and is not considered disgraceful. There are probably as many women who do not even cover their head as do cover their head and most people don't consider this disgraceful either just sad. We would prefer that our sisters in Islam cover the way Allah instructed His servants. We wish this for our sisters because we wish paradise for them.

Answer 3

Hijab (scarf) is a requirement for Muslim women to wear, but veil is optional. Maybe that's why you don't see many of the women wearing veil.

Answer 4

I too live in massive muslim area & spotting one without veil is a rarity.
Where abouts are you?

Answer 5

Are you sure you aren't still dreaming?? =)
Maybe these women aren't Muslims...they could be Arabic but not muslim!! I've also seen a mulsim not wearing a veil, but the others did!!

Peace
God is LOVE

Answer 6

as far as i am aware, the vale was introduced around the 10th century by persian leaders in response to the greater freedoms that islam had offered women. a little too much freedom. their policies of the time were concerned with keeping women in their place and the vale was introduced to, as they put it, 'preserve her modesty', as per the quoran.

some women nowadays do choose to use the vale to 'preserve their modesty', i suppose feeling relieved of the burden of being judged by appearance and being seen as a sex object but the overwhelming majority dont see it as anything more than a throwback to times of oppression.

Answer 7

What area is that then you could be living in a sikh or hindu area because u white and black people think all asians are the same.

Answer 8

jay, whats up man, 3 qouestions about viels, are u thinking of marrying a muslim woman who coves up, how wicked will that be, she will only be urs u know what that means no cheating we see alot of those now a days but not with muslim women because they respect there man, well you will have to think about converting. think about it mate

Answer 9

Many American Muslims have no idea why they do what they do. True Muslims are not as common on US soil as many Americans would try to have you believe.

Answer 10

Jay me old mukka have you been walking around with your eyes shut they are everywhere they even drive cars wearing the veil and i live in oldham manchester england are you in this country