"Muslim headscarf meets fashion" magazine

The linked short article hear triumphs the Ala Magazine in Turkey, which proclaims that "Veiled Is Beautiful" in its photos and advertisements geared toward women who choose full modest dress, including head coverings, long skirts and sleeves.  Glamour for modesty seems a contradiction, since the very definitions clash. But it may do something for the education of those who believe that to dress in a non-flesh revealing way must mean the same thing as dressing in a sack.

A short quote from the article:

photo from the article in iafrica

The fashion world now sees a growing demand from conservative Turkish women who are keen to assert themselves.

"There are now much prettier things than before," said Merve Buyuk, a 22-year-old trainee at Ala. "Designers have now understood that we exist. They've started making clothes that are not necessarily black or brown. ... I'm pretty happy with this change."

Ala is hoping to influence conservative women's fashion and cash in on it with advertising revenue.

"With this magazine, we are changing trends. We say that women in headscarves can follow trends. There are more and more products on the market they can access," Aslan said.

More at the link:

iafrica.com | lifestyle | fashion | international fashion | Muslim headscarf meets fashion

hats for all ages by shemakeshats on Etsy

hats for all ages by shemakeshats on Etsy

Must see!  :)  Knitted hats...

More about veiling

"More about veiling"
article in readingeagle.com, Reading, PA, US

Nice short article explaining, again, what veiling means, and wondering why still there is controversy and misunderstanding concerning a woman's headcovering.

Headcovering Barbie

In case you missed it, Barbie, of Mattel Corp., has agreed to shave her head in respect for the many who wrote and asked Mattel to create a friend for Barbie who suffers hair loss. The dolls will be made and shared from the company to hospitals and others who help children who lose hair due to chemotherapy or other medical conditions.  Bratz and Moxie Girlz, the competition, has already agreed to the idea as well. All these dolls will come with various fashionable head coverings as well. 

Internet search "bald barbie" for the numerous articles.  See the initial push at Facebook:  Beautiful and Bald Barbie.

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If you came to this article title looking for a real doll like Barbie that dresses comes with modest clothes and a headcovering, don't forget about the Arab teen doll, Fulla. (Her website comes with good lessons for girls in the learning section too!)

Hijabs and Hoodies

They've been all over the news: you haven't missed it, have you?  A woman killed and left with a note telling her to go home, "you terrorist," when all that was known about her was the fact that she wore hijab.  A young man killed late at night in a quiet neighborhood because, wearing a hoodie, he looked suspicious.

Judged on skin colour?  Religion?  Real behaviour?  And there is that something that they just happened to be wearing on their heads. Coincidence, perhaps. And an indicator to those who go bareheaded that something is "weird" about them, it seems.

Men began walking around head bared to the sun somewhere in the 40s and 50s, and I haven't found a true reason in any article to explain why.  (President Kennedy was following a trend, apparently, not creating one, when he frequently appeared in public hat-less.) But his decision to go bare-headed, and the many women who soon after followed suit in taking off their hats and scarves in public, both in the US and in the Western world, seems to have affected these modern generations who feel that there is something "wrong" with wearing something on their heads. Something suspicious. Are they hiding something in there?

Doctors and parents have to beg to get people to cover up out of doors on sunny days or freezing days, and wilderness experts emphasize in every article how important a hat is to your essentials list.  Those who do wear caps outdoors often wear them bills-backwards, losing any benefit the protective sun shade might offer. Women cut their hair off like men, rather than spend the time it takes to care for and cover to protect their hair in out of doors situations.

I have my guesses as to some of the reasons that hats and other head coverings fell out of fashion for so much of the Western world. Head coverings were status symbols in an era when no one was supposed to be more important than anyone else. In the past it was sort of okay to show off your Easter bonnet, because everyone seemed to enjoy the sport. The better the hat, the higher the rank, so you knew who your superiors were and could treat them accordingly.  But then times changed.  God was declared dead, and therefore all men were no longer "created" equal, but were equal based on the fact that we all came from the same dirt. And more than any time in history, it seemed, people took offense at their elders, their bosses, their parents, the authorities - their men - ... and anyone who attempted to put one person "above" another. Hats and headcoverings symbolized authority, wealth, status... and suffered from our pride. (As do we, when we sunburn or freeze or get ticks from the trees in our hair...).  And from lack of familiarity over the years, came ignorance, and close on its heels: fear.

So hijabs and hoodies, turbans and yamulkas, are now suspect. What are we hiding?

Liking this article: Hoodie, hijab killings rooted in U.S. 'fear industry'

One Million Hijabs For Shaima Alawadi: Women Wear Hijabs In Support Of Slain Iraqi Woman

New Rules in Australia and Chechnya

"New laws that will allow police to force the removal of burqas, helmets, hats and other clothing concealing a person's identity have been passed by the ACT Legislative Assembly.". . .

". . . But women who wear a head covering, such as a burqa, for religious or cultural reasons will be allowed to request that it only be removed in the presence of a female police officer or in a private place in accordance with their beliefs." 

From the article: "ACT Assembly passes laws to force removal of burqa", by Lisa Cox, March 21, 2012

Read more: http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/act-assembly-passes-laws-to-force-removal-of-burqas-20120320-1vi7j.html#ixzz1po9XHZeg

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Meanwhile, in other places the authorities are forcing a wearing of head covering:

From the article: "Chechnya's Islamic revival is becoming less voluntary", by Diana Markosian, Special for USA TODAY

 "Despite the separation of church and state under Russian law, Chechen schools must now promote Islam. There are prayer rooms in just about every school and a strict dress code, forcing all schoolgirls to cover their heads in school. Many are unhappy over the decree." ...

" . . . The process of Islamization was voluntary in the beginning. Women who wore a headscarf were rewarded with a prize. Now all women and girls, regardless of their religion, must observe Islamic dress code by wearing a head covering, long sleeves, and skirts below the knee in public schools and government buildings. Those who refuse become targets."

Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/story/2012-03-21/chechnya-islamic-revival/53693048/1

Submission and Glory

I was doing a little study on women in the New Testament, and came across this study in Bible.org.  One line stood out to me as something that many readers of this blog may appreciate or understand, and I present just a short part of the discussion here.  See if you can find the line about the veil and its purpose, and why it makes so much sense in the larger picture of submission to the Creator God.

"In the case of our Lord we should see that His submission and humiliation was God’s way of blessing and bringing glory to Himself (Phil. 2:8-11). We should also understand that the submission of the Son to the Father did not in any way imply inferiority on the part of the Son to the Father. Both the Son and the Father are equally God. The Son is no less God because He submitted Himself to the will of the Father and sought to glorify Him. The submission of the Son to the Father was a functional submission, necessary for the unified activity of the Godhead."

"Such is the case with the woman’s submission to the husband. It does not imply in any way inferiority on the part of the woman to the man. The wife’s submission to her husband is her indication of her submission to God (Eph. 5:22). As the Son veiled His glory in the incarnation, so the wife is to veil her glory (1 Cor. 11:2-16) in order to bring glory to her husband. The woman is not to take positions of leadership in the church because God has chosen men to reflect leadership over the church, and since the church is the bride of Christ of which Christ is the Head, so the man is to exercise headship over his bride, his wife."

from: "The New Testament Church—The Role of Women Study" By: Bob Deffinbaugh

FiFA To Test Hijabs For Female Muslim Players

I meant to post this on my blog as soon as it happened Saturday: FIFA has consented and women who want to wear a piece of cloth on their head while they play football.... can!

FiFA To Test Hijabs For Female Muslim Players

If you choose to read comments on this article, or any article about this, be prepared for the equation that allowing the hijab on a football (soccer) field = male oppression.  In a round about way, if women are only wearing hijab because they are being forced to (in which case they are probably being forced to stay at home as well), then indeed we are talking male oppression.

Other comments, and even the posting of this particular article in the religion section of the paper rather than the sports section, make the wearing of hijab to be a purely religious statement, forcing the rest (or West) of the world to bow to Muslim antiquated traditions, and their so-called "takeover".  Interestingly, many Muslim men and women don't even agree on how much coverage hijab means, and most of the women just want to play a sport with other while dressing modestly, according to their understanding of what modesty means.

One comment that I read pointed out that if it were Christian women wanting to play in a headcovering, the responses would be quite different.  And to a certain extent they would.  For one thing, shock that "Christian" women would actually choose to wear a headcovering, when the law of Christ says that Christians can pretty much do whatever they want (no, I don't believe this, but that is the prevailing sentiment, don't you think?). Christian women, and Jewish women, who do choose to cover, don't in general make a big deal out of getting involved in sports or appearing in court or other places, I suppose, and so don't make the news about their own personal choice to cover their hair or head in public.

Here's the thing: these women want to play football, and they want to wear modest clothes while they do it. What is the big deal? Fear of the unknown.

Many people still don't understand the choice to cover up out of modesty and in deference to a creator God.  They don't understand that Islam is as divided and multifaceted as the other of the "big three" Abrahamic faiths (that is, those who admit to believing in One God, the God of Abraham), and so any claims as to what these girls, or their husbands or fathers believe, is pure guesswork on the part of the ignorant.

The same goes for many of us girls who choose to cover: people who don't understand merely accuse, and falsely.  Why is such a little thing - dressing modestly, putting something on our heads as we pray - such a big deal? Because of what it seems to represent? Oppression, slavery, hate, religious intolerance? Or because of what it really does represent? - Respect for "a Higher Power" who created us and knows what's best for us; and a respect for other people by downplaying ourselves?

Headcoverings: Pride and/or Modesty

"Kippah-Wearing Student Told to Prove Religion"

The principal at Northwood High School told Patch that “students are asked for verification when their religious headwear is not traditional headwear that we are accustomed to seeing.” 

By Esther French, Feb. 1, 2012, in the WheatonPatch (Maryland, US)

Though not a deep or philosophical article on head coverings, it touches us all, because the situation could happen to anyone.  Others cannot see our hearts, and can only guess from our outward appearance or behaviour as to whether we really are who we appear to be, or claim to be by wearing our head coverings.

I found this quote by the student's rabbit something to step back and re-read:  “The kippah demonstrates a sense of pride in who we are and a modesty in humbling one’s self before God.” 

Do our head coverings demonstrate a sense of pride as well as a sense of modesty?  I suppose in a way they all really do.  Even though for the most part, those who cover out of a sense of modesty would rather not bring attention to ourselves (which is the opposite of modesty or humbleness), we must be strong enough to do something which others will see, whether they understand fully why we wear a head covering or not.  We have to take "pride" or at least confidence in that which we have faith to do.  Confidence is faith - it is our belief in action.  It is a hard paradox to understand and to live, but nonetheless, when we do something which shows modesty, or demonstrates humbleness - we are not living a double life or acting hypocritically.  We're actually just doing what everyone else espects, really:  we're being on the outside the same as what we claim to be.

For more thoughts on living our inner selves outwardly, see: "Media have field day with Tebow’s public displays of piety," written by the Rev. Mark S. Bollwinkel, Wednesday, 01 February 201, in the Los Altos (California) Town Crier.