Times Changing for Saudi Headcovering?

Read Forbes Now: Saudi Woman's Protest Is A Lesson For The West. http://google.com/newsstand/s/CBIwjM2A-TA

Beauty Pageant Hijab

Head covering Muslim in Minnesota beauty pageant.

Because modesty is beautiful.

http://jezebel.com/halima-aden-is-first-contestant-to-wear-hijab-in-miss-m-1789410217

Beautiful Head Wraps

NaturallyCurly.com has posted some beautiful head wrap photos from National Head Wrap day, November 20.
http://www.naturallycurly.com/curlreading/beauty-style/20-magical-photos-that-will-make-you-want-to-wear-a-head-wrap/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=FB_RSS

US State Law?

State of Georgia, USA, to ban head covering?
http://huff.to/2f25VQN

Cancer Cap Covers to Crochet

These crochet caps are adorable

http://www.craftsy.com/pattern/crocheting/accessory/chemo-hat-crochet-pattern/200594?_ct=cucruh-xecu-sedjydkyjo-emd-sbysa&_ctp=1%2CPID%3A200594

An American Hijabi in the Rio Olymmpics

Most in the head covering world who follow the current Olympics probably have noticed this lovely athlete who just won an Olympic medal while wearing a head covering. As an American citizen. You go, girl!

Ibtihaj Mohammad - the first US athlete to compete at the Olympics wearing a hijab has won a bronze medal. 

Muhammad competed with Dagmara Wozniak, Mariel Zagunis and Monica Aksamit to defeat the Italian team 45-30.

photo from www.usfencing.org

For more information on Ibtihaj Mohammad, see her bio at usfencing.org

Other head covering athletes competing in the Rio 2016 Olympic games:

Zahra Nemati - competing in Archery for Iran, in both the Olympics and the Paralympics

Along with fellow country-women, Leila Rajabi (athletics), Mahsa Javar (rowing), Kimia Alizadeh Zenoorin (taikwondo), Najmeh Khedmati (shooting), Elaheh Ahmadi (shooting), Mahlagha Jambozorg (shooting), Goinoush Sebghatollahi (shooting), and Neda Shahsavari (table tennis)

Also see this article in the Washington Post:
"Muslim female athletes find sport so essential they compete while covered"

Headcovering Morality Police?

Men in Iran are wearing hijabs in solidarity with their wives who are forced to cover their hair

Click here to read the whole article in the Independent 

"The campaign against enforced hijab in Iran has seen women defying morality police in public and even shaving their hair. Now men are also joining the fight."

by Heather Saul, in the Independent (UK), Thursday 28 July 2016

From the article:

Wearing a headscarf is strictly enforced by so-called 'morality police' in Iran and has been since the Islamic Revolution in 1979. Women who do not wear a hijab or are deemed to be wearing 'bad hijab' by having some of their hair showing face punishments ranging from fines to imprisonment.   

State-funded adverts appearing on billboards in Iran present those who do not cover their hair as spoiled and dishonourable. Women are also told that by not complying, they are putting themselves at risk of unwanted sexual advances from men.  

But women are leading protests against enforced hijab across the country and some have resorted to shaving their hair in order to appear in public without wearing a veil.  

Over the last week, a number of men have appeared in photos wearing a hijab with their wife or female relative next to them who have their hair uncovered. 

The images come in response to a call by Masih Alinejad, an Iranian activist and journalist living in New York, who is urging men to support her campaign against enforced hijab. 

Photo and more information found at https://www.facebook.com/StealthyFreedom/

Headcovering is a choice.

Another Handy Use for Headcoverings

Or, Men in Sikh Turbans Save Lives

Image of Super Sikh comic acquired from super-sikh.myshopify.com/

(Read the full stories by clicking the linked titles)

Today:

Farmer uses turban to save drowning teenage girl - Kamloops, Canada

"We were trying to look around for branches, and he just sprung to action, took off his turban right away, threw it in the water and pulled her to shore."

But wait, there's more! 

May 2015:  Man uses turban to help boy hit by car - New Zealand

'I saw a child down on the ground and a lady was holding him. His head was bleeding, so I unveiled my turban and put it under his head,' he said.

'I wasn't thinking about the turban. I was thinking about the accident and I just thought, "He needs something on his head because he's bleeding". That's my job - to help.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3084923/The-touching-moment-Sikh-man-breaks-strict-religious-protocol-removes-turban-help-save-life-five-year-old-boy-seriously-injured-hit-car.html#ixzz4CyM4yeUJ


September 2015: Men use turbans to save 4 men from drowning - India

Two heroic Sikh men have broken religious protocol by removing their turbans to help save four men from drowning.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3254377/Sikh-man-breaks-protocol-using-turban-save-drowning-youths.html#ixzz4CyNC3JnR 


June 2016: Man uses turban as a rope to save dog - Punjab, India

With the help of some bystanders, he managed to climb down the banks of the canal by holding one of his turban, which he used as a rope.

NOTE: Among the Sikhs, the Dastaar is an article of faith that represents honour, self-respect, courage, spirituality, and piety. Sikh men and women wear the turban partly to cover their long, uncut hair (kesh). Normally turbans are only removed in the most intimate of circumstances, when bathing the head, or washing the hair.

Radio Interview with Headcovering Singer

How New Age singer Snatam Kaur surprised Oprah for her birthday http://bit.ly/1thQURX Shared via the CBC Radio Android App

"Her voice has been described as that of an angel.  

"For Snatam Kaur, singing is a kind of prayer. She's known internationally for her sublime sacred chant, an ancient practise known as kirtan."

Headcovering conversation starts at 20:15, in which she describes her turban as like a crown.

Royal Ascot Hats! Gallery

It's a horse race but Royal Ascot is all about the hats http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/photos/it-s-a-horse-race-but-royal-ascot-is-all-about-the-hats-1.3638914 Shared via the CBC News Android App

Headcoverings Online

I have been so very lax in keeping up with my study and share blog on those headcoverings.

However, others are quite busy. Please visit and study through the articles and videos posted by The Headcovering Movement.

Always, give diligence to learning.

American Soldier - Sikh Headcovering

Times are changing. Read THIS, from The Sikh Coalition.

From the article:

"In addition to bringing legal action in Captain Singh’s case, the Sikh Coalition, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, and McDermott Will & Emery filed another federal court lawsuit on March 29th, which demands that the Army accommodate three Sikhs’ articles of faith, including turbans, unshorn hair and beards, so that each can begin Basic Combat Training with their respective units in May 2016. The lawsuit was filed after the U.S. Department of Defense ignored a demand letter that was sent on March 23rd, and failed to provide decisions on their pending requests for accommodations. That litigation remains ongoing.

“Captain Singh’s case is a painful study in the onerous hurdles for observant Sikh Americans who want to serve their country,” said McDermott Will & Emery partner, Amandeep Sidhu. “With this historic accommodation, we hope that the U.S. military will finally move past protracted, case-by-case religious accommodations and recognize that the time for permanent policy change is now.”

Selfishness in Head Coverings

The difference between a ball cap and long hair coiled up in a turban for spiritual reasons : I don't think he gets it.

"Red Deer man refuses to remove Oilers cap for driver's licence photo"
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/red-deer-drivers-license-photo-fight-1.3485399
Shared via the CBC News Android App

On the Wearing of Hats

Just read this. From Offbeat Modest Dress,a shared article "On the Necessity of Wearing a Hat".

https://offbeatkrysiadress.wordpress.com/2010/10/08/feminist-suzanne-brogger-on-the-necessity-of-wearing-a-hat/

Those Men's Headcoverings - The Turban

"Waris Ahluwalia, Sikh actor and designer, barred from flight over turban dispute "

http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/waris-ahluwalia-flight-mexico-1.3439017
Shared via the CBC News Android App



Why do Sikh men wear turbans? According to Sikhnet.com,

The turban is our Guru's gift to us. It is how we crown ourselves as the Singhs and Kaurs who sit on the throne of commitment to our own higher consciousness. For men and women alike, this projective identity conveys royalty, grace, and uniqueness. It is a signal to others that we live in the image of Infinity and are dedicated to serving all. The turban doesn't represent anything except complete commitment. When you choose to stand out by tying your turban, you stand fearlessly as one single person standing out from six billion people. It is a most outstanding act.

So many responded to this article by the CBC with thoughts similar to: "It's just a hat!" "When you're here, dress like us!" "What? Are you above the rules because you're a celebrity?" "Why do we people bend the rules for foolishness?" - These responses don't even concede the point that there are many reasons and very deep ones for wearing the turban, for Sikh men and women. Further in the Sikhnet.com article, you find it really isn't as simple as taking off a ball cap:

The 10th Sikh Master, Guru Gobind Singh, taught his Sikhs to take the next step: Put a turban on the head covering the coiled, uncut hair. The pressure of the multiple wraps keeps the 26 bones of the skull in place. There are pressure points on the forehead that keep you calm and relaxed. Turbans cover the temples, which protects you from mental or psychic negativity of other people. The pressure of the turban also changes the pattern of blood flow to the brain. (These are all reasons that women should also wear turbans.) When you tie up your hair and wrap the turban around it, all the parts of your skull are pulled together and supported. You feel clarity and readiness for the day and for what may come to you from the Unknown.God is the Unknown. He is mastery as well as mystery. Living with an awareness of your God within you and the God outside of you (God in all) is an attitude. Covering your head is an action with the attitude that there is something greater than you know. Your willingness to stand under that greatness of God is expressed by taking the highest, most visible part of you and declaring it as a place that belongs to the Creator. Covering your head is also a declaration of humility, of your surrender to God. 

Pressure points, mental and psychic negativity of others, blood flow to the brain, the hair tied up and the turban wrapped around it, clarity, awareness, humbleness, a declaration of devotion ... not as simple as a ball cap that proclaims you're on some team or other.

Sikhcoalition.org puts it this way:

The dastaar, as the Sikh turban is known, is an article of faith that has been made mandatory by the founders of Sikhism. It is not to be regarded as mere cultural paraphernalia. When a Sikh man or woman dons a turban, the turban ceases to be just a piece of cloth and becomes one and the same with the Sikh's head.
The turban as well as the other articles of faith worn by Sikhs have an immense spiritual as well as temporal significance. The symbolisms of wearing a turban are many from it being regarded as a symbol of sovereignty, dedication, self-respect, courage and piety, but the reason all practicing Sikhs wear the turban is just one - out of love and obedience to the wishes of the founders of their faith. 

Think about it.