Feminism in Islam: Women’s rights in religiosity, the role of modest attire and how it has birthed the rise of the Modest Fashion Movement.
Modest Fashion: A realm of conservative yet confident, traditional yet modern, piety yet self-expression.
By Nusaybah Al-Mansur
Introduction
In the religion of Islam, modest fashion has long been practiced as a sign of God-consciousness and religiosity. In the 21st century, though, it has evolved into a movement showcasing confidence and representation.
Spearheaded by the young women of faith in Gen Z, the Modest Fashion Movement has come to elude the stereotypical perceptions, most commonly found in the West, of women who observe Hijab and/or modest attire.
Although this movement is a hot topic in the Western world, it has long been practiced as a distinction of faith, confidence, and in many cases, independence.
To fully understand the concept of modest fashion, why many women feel liberated through disclosing their silhouette, and why they choose to use fashion as a stamp of resistance, you must uncover the hidden truth of what hijab and modest attire have invariably meant to those who have practiced it and how it is tied to women’s rights and independence in the Islamic faith.
Women’s rights in religiosity: not exactly what the media portrays
Women’s rights in religiosity, particularly in the religion of Islam, has often been an argumentative topic, resulting in Muslim women who cover, and many women of modest dress for that matter, being slurred and attacked both verbally and physically.
In this very moment, in the so-called progressive’ country of France, Muslim women are banned from observing outwardly religious clothing, including Hijab, Niqab, and even Abaya in certain settings.
According to a 2023 Al Jazeera article, “French public schools do not permit the wearing of large crosses, Jewish kippas or Islamic headscarves. In 2004, the country banned headscarves in schools, and in 2010, it passed a ban on full face veils in public, angering many in its five million-strong Muslim community.”
Across the Western world, women who choose to cover their bodies are dehumanized and scolded simply for not showing their hair and skin to the outside world.
In November of this year, Dazed issued their winter release, showcasing three Muslim women donned in Hijabs and Abayas from head to toe- one in blue, one in white, and one in red. The women stood side by side as an assembly mimicking the colors on the French flag while the captions read “Togetherness: Resistance in France.”
But, what is anguishing regarding this issue is not the magazine cover, but rather the many hateful responses that flooded the comments section bashing the women simply because of their modest dress code.
In the name of women’s rights and freedoms, men claimed that they should have access to see the skin and shape of these women parallel to pro-choice women who advocated that observing a modest dress code is “oppressive” in this modern age.
Many of these toxic stereotypes that orbit the concepts of Hijab and modest dressing are concretely rooted in a lack of religious understanding and societal licenses.
An example of a lack of religious understanding debuted in the 2021 CMAJ article written by Dr. Bloch and Dr. Rozmovits.
The cover featured two young girls- one Black and one in Hijab- with a headline stating, “Don’t use an instrument of oppression as a symbol of diversity and inclusion.”
Although the article was later retracted, ideologies like this that spread quickly amongst the uneducated are the reason that Muslim women, and many women of modest dress code, are dehumanized and stereotyped.
In an honest opposition, the ruling and actions of women who decide to wear Hijab and modest dress code are deeply rooted in women’s rights.
In fact, in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book, the command for females to observe Hijab and modestly dress upon reaching maturity, believed by Muslims to have been given by God, is explicitly followed by the logic for it, which is to serve as a “protection” from both men who may prey on them and evil eyes.
Furtherly, Hijab and modest dressing, although believed to be obligatory by Muslims, is unlawful in the religion of Islam to be forced upon a woman under any circumstances. Factually, many women who practice Hijab and modestly dress today do it upon their individual choice.
When studied beyond the surface level, it becomes obvious that women’s rights are ensured in the religion of Islam through both freedom of choice and reasoning of principle.
In the words of Yassmin Abdel-Magied, “Islam is the most feminist of religions.”
The role of modest attire: a shield from the objectification of women
At a simple glance at Mainstream American Culture, the objectification of women is obvious. From the movies, music videos and runways, women are consistently sexualized.
This misogynistic culture is promoted not only by men but also by women who seek and invite this behavior through revealing clothes and dirty language.
The unpleasant truth that is unacknowledged by many, is that women in the West have bought into the notion that their beauty is contingent upon the accentuating of their features and exposure of their bodies.
This, without a doubt, is the concept women hold when going to great lengths to alter their natural physique through plastic surgery, breast implants, and Brazilian body surgery (BBL).
The popularity of these practices which are ingrained in Mainstream American Culture grants its followers a sense of egotism and societal licenses that, in their minds, justify their false claims of Muslim women and women who cover.
For Muslim women and all women who choose to conceal rather than reveal, as Hafsa Lodi puts it, modest dressing stands as a shield from the objectification of their bodies.
The concept of Hijab and modest dressing, when studied, is easily justified by a woman’s right to protect herself from men who may lust at her body and sexualize her if she would otherwise choose to expose her silhouette and pronounce her curves, inviting the stares and touches of unwanted men, i.e. men not of close kin.
This further goes to justify a woman’s decision to choose to expose her silhouette, curves and skin to a man whom she feels comfortable gazing at and/or touching her, such as her husband, and men whom she has ensured her safety and their lack of lusty looks, such as her father, brother, son, etc.
Coincidentally (the author says chuckling), in the religion of Islam, a woman’s husband, father, brother and son in addition to her uncle, brothers son, sisters son, women, elderly and children are the exact categories of people for whom Hijab and modest dressing are not needed when in front of, as mentioned in the Holy Quran.
When observed from this angle, it becomes clear that a woman’s choice to cover her body through modest dressing acts as a protection for her from both men who seek to harm her and illicit sexual relations that she would desire to refrain from, as in the case of Muslim and religious women.
Why is the concept, then, of women who choose to cover their hair and bodies so unapprehended in the Western world? Why are Muslim women, like me, dehumanized simply for seeing our bodies as worthy of protection and preciousness?
The birth of the Modest Fashion Movement: breaking the notion of being oppressed
Halima Aden. Mariah Idrissi. Rawdah Mohamed. Ikram Abdi Omar. Shahira Yusuf. Amina Adan. Ugbad Abdi. Feriel Moulai. Kadija Diawara. Asha Mohamud. Maria Alia.
The list goes on. All women of faith who have broken down barriers rocking Hijab and modest attire in Mainstream Fashion and on runways.
It is safe to say that Muslim women have acted on the importance for women of modest dress code to see themselves represented in the Mainstream Fashion Industry.
Halima Aden, a Somali-American model who was the first woman to wear a Hijab in the Miss Minnesota USA 2016 pageant and the first model to wear a Burkini on the cover of Sports Illustrated, shared the importance of having Muslim models and models of modest dress code in the Mainstream Fashion Industry.
“Growing up, I never saw anyone who looked like me represented positively in mainstream media. It’s important that young Muslim women everywhere see someone like me in these spaces to know that they too can be there,” Aden said in a Who What Wear article. “For me, I never knew a hijab-wearing Muslim woman could be a model because I never saw one before.”
By using social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram, Muslim women have been able to share their sense of style, some still traditional, and some a modest take on Western clothing, to billions of people across the world.
Now, Muslim women of the modern age have created their own sector, the Modest Fashion Industry, representing the millions of Muslim and modest women who could not find themselves and their needs widespread, or even noticed, in Western society.
By showcasing confidence and style while still dressing modestly, the Western world has begun to embrace modest fashion little by little, with high-end brands like Gucci and Dior regularly showcasing high necklines and maxi-length dresses on their runways.
In fact, according to the 2020/21 State of the Global Islamic Economy Report, modest fashion is projected to be a US $402 billion industry by 2024, by increasingly being consumed by more than just Muslim and religious women.
The Modest Fashion Movement has proven itself to be bigger than just style and clothing. Rather, it is about using fashion and the Mainstream Fashion Industry to educate the world that more clothing does not mean less freedom, and that Muslim women are, and have long been, quintessentially modest and free.
Citation of URLs
Al Jazeera. (2023, August 28). France to ban wearing abaya dress in schools: Minister. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/8/27/france-to-ban-wearing-abaya-dress-in-schools-minister#:~:text=In%202004%2C%20the%20country%20banned,interview%20with%20TV%20channel%20TF1
Ataii, T. (2023, November 29). The young women resisting France’s Abaya Ban. Dazed. https://www.dazeddigital.com/life-culture/article/61451/1/dazed-abaya-france-cover-schoolgirls-and-sportswomen-resisting-ban
Emil, S. (2021, December 20). Don’t use an instrument of oppression as a symbol of diversity and inclusion. CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l’Association medicale canadienne. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8687514/
Surah An-Nur — 31. Quran.com. (n.d.). https://quran.com/en/an-nur/31
Guardian News and Media. (2017, February 21). Yassmin Abdel-Magied said nothing wrong. she should not have to face this venom | joumanah el matrah. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/feb/21/yassmin-abdel-magied-said-nothing-wrong-she-should-not-have-to-face-this-venom
Lodi, H. (n.d.). Modesty: A fashion paradox : Uncovering the causes, controversies and key players behind the global trend to conceal, rather than reveal. Google Books. https://books.google.com/books/about/Modesty.html?id=UswZzAEACAAJ
Halima Aden is the first Muslim model to wear a hijab in SI swimsuit … (n.d.). https://swimsuit.si.com/swimnews/halima-aden-si-swimsuit-2019-model-kenya
Fox-Suliaman, J. (2020, March 26). Talking style, representation, and refugees on screen with Halima Aden. Who What Wear. https://www.whowhatwear.com/halima-aden-interview/slide2
Gateway, S. (n.d.). Salaam Gateway — Global Islamic Economy Gateway. https://salaamgateway.com/
