Hijab Tutorial

EDIT - NOTICE:
The first article mentioned below no longer "exists", but I found that much of it was quoting directly from the Wikipedia article, "Hijab". Please continue on to that entry for the rest of the "tutorial" originally attributed here to "Gandalf's Garden" at blogspot, including photos.

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The hijab or ħijāb (حجاب) is the Arabic term for "cover" (noun), based on the root حجب meaning "to veil, to cover (verb), to screen, to shelter".

Gandalf's Garden at blogspot today gives a basic tutorial on the hijab, including a country by country listing of what may or may not be required in those countries with strong Muslim affiliation. Please read the entire article at the linked title above, including:

In some Arabic-speaking countries and Western countries, the word hijab primarily refers to women's head and body covering, but in Islamic scholarship, hijab is given the wider meaning of modesty, privacy, and morality. The word used in the Qur’an for a headscarf or veil is khimār (خمار). Several scholars have suggested that the phrase “she donned the hijab” was originally used to mean “she became Muhammad’s wife.”

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Also, please read "Hijab: How and why I chose to cover" by Kalimat at wordpress. She begins:

When I was still working it always took people a while to get comfortable around me. I could always detect a sense of uneasiness, not that they were afraid of me as such, but just that they were unsure. Unsure how to be around me, unsure how to speak to me, unsure what I may be like…I was the unknown. As the days went by I would sense this uneasiness slowly fading away. Eventually they were be at a point where they would be comfortable with me. They would realise that under my headcovering and modest clothing was a person, not really all that different to all the other people out there. When they reached the next level of comfort the questions would come - they would always start off about hijab.

For the full story, please click the above link. Non-Muslims might find something in common, if only the growth of a humble attitude and fear of being different from the rest of the world.

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Also see the full explanation of the misuse of hijab by Garden of Lily at wordpress. Lots of reading here.

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And for something a little lighter, I came across an article called, "VCU fashion students design abayas" in the online Houston Chronicle. Wish they'd provided photos.