Hijab bans. Hijab freedom.
While the EU advocates for equality, civil rights, and freedom, for more than a decade France, drawing in other countries, has been promoting laws against the hijab, the headscarf worn by Muslim women. Eight countries in Europe banned the burqa, which is the headscarf covering the face entirely, and recently, in summer 2021, the EU top court also promoted a law that allows businesses to ban the hijab in workplaces.
But why should we care about such a topic? And where does all the chaos surrounding this topic originate from? We’re going to try to briefly answer these questions, through an interview with Dina Shabsough, a Jordanian student who can give us a deeper insight in this matter.
The Hijab in Islam
From being perceived as a threat to a symbol of extremism or lack of freedom, a heated discussion arose around the role of the hijab and what it represents. The matter is actually pretty simple: it’s a piece of clothing worn by Muslim women as part of their religion and individuality. It doesn’t mean that women are forced to wear it, even if in some cases it may happen, it is part of their religion, their culture, their personality.
Talking about religion in a westernised environment often seems like bringing up a topic which disappeared ages ago, connected to an “ignorant, medieval and barbaric” society. For this reason, it is difficult for many of us to even grasp the complexity and, as a result, the beauty of a comprehensive and universal religion such as Islam. Since we may associate everything connected to religion as outdated, Islam portrays itself as a lifestyle, a way of living, far from any extremism or violence, and more as a religion of respect, moderation, and balance. This is how Islam is lived in a country such as Jordan, where the essence of the religion is respected in every way. Obviously other examples, such as Saudi Arabia or Afghanistan, give us another perspective on the topic. However, just because something has been misunderstood and spoiled by people, it doesn’t always mean that the core of the idea is wrong.
A personal experience
Concerning her decision to wear the hijab, Dina explains “You’re free to choose what to do and here in Jordan a lot of people choose not to wear it and that’s totally fine” she goes on saying “It makes me happy that I can represent my belief and religion in something simple that surely doesn’t harm anyone in any way!”. Pride, joy: this is how women who wear the hijab should feel, as if you are representing in your clothes who you are and what you stand for. If that is not the case, if women don’t feel this way wearing it, they just shouldn’t. In the end, according to Islam, no one can judge your decisions apart from God. Is it a controversial topic? For sure. Many people have different opinions on this aspect. In the Quran we read that women have to wear it just as nuns in the Catholic church, since in the end, everyone must choose their own path in their life. This is why Jordan is a good example of an open country, where the freedom of choice is granted.
Apart from the religious debate, which is not really our concern, the issue of banning the hijab from universities, sports, etc isn’t related to religion itself, it is, however, a limitation of freedom. And for a country as France that brags about being built on the concept of liberté, it sounds pretty ironical. “It’s always okay to do speeches about freedom and women wearing what they want, but when it comes to hijab it’s a red flag. Since we are in 21st century, we have reached and overcome many issues. Now, everyone should be able to wear whatever they want without being afraid of going out and being judged or touched or forced to take something off” Dina says.
Knowledge is acceptance
The European Union is one of the global players that cares the most about the respect of individuality and freedom, yet, nonetheless it sounds like it is only applicable to those fields we as Europeans care about. We should be the ones to show openness and acceptance because, after all, the hijab really isn’t a threat for us, and if we can accept it on the high-fashion runways, we should be able to accept it in our daily life.
As it often happens, the hijab isn’t a problem per se, but it may become one if freedom of choice is not respected. However, banning something to try to pursue freedom isn’t maybe the best way to pursue freedom itself. And in a world and a Europe, where we still show signs of backward behaviours, as we are witnessing in Ukraine, where black people have been facing racism in order to flee the country, we should perhaps try to overcome our prejudices and limitations to embrace and accept what can seem different from us, but actually isn’t so far as we perceive it.
