It's a rainy Saturday and you have a little spare time to watch a few videos on YouTube. Please check out: The NonMuslim Hijabi. One smart young lady - who is not a Muslim woman - shares her thoughts on her wearing full head covering, and hijab style. She has five videos posted to youtube, and you might find some of her reasoning rather interesting.
Just a few comments, because to provide you with links would be too much. There are so many people and news bureaus reporting on and complaining about the recent scarf that looks like a terrorist sympathizer commercial pull, that you've probably already seen and 
read a few. If not, you can do a search on Dunkin Donuts in the news. Does her scarf really remind you of a khuffiah? (photo of Yassr Arafat, former leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization, from the Electronic Intifada)
... Headcovering was made for women, not women for headcovering. The cover is more for us than it is for God. The cover is there for our encouragement. If you want to cover full time because it makes you happy, then I say, go for it! I honestly believe God gave us the covering as a way to be comforted. If you cover because you want to, then praise God! But if you cover because you feel you have to do it, or if you feel condemned for only doing it part of the time, this is not of God! The last thing He would want is for us to view it as a source of anxiety. The Lord reminds us in Romans 8:1 that there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. In addition, we are told that fear is not from God (1 Timothy 1:7).
I will also share that my uncovered times give me a greater sense of appreciation for my covered times. There are times I'll be with a group of folks just fellowshipping when someone suddenly says, "Hey, why don't we take a moment and pray for Mary, for safe travels?" I will feel naked praying without the cover, but I know God doesn't honor my prayer any less. If it bothers me that much, I will carry a small scarf in my purse for such occasions, but unless I know I will be engaging in a time of planned prayer or worship, I do not worry about covering.
I think it is one of the most beautiful practices that we, as women, can do for God and for ourselves. I have found that it helps me to focus more on the Scriptures when I read them and it helps me to get into a sense of quietness. I love doing it. It blesses my heart!
Danish diplomats to Muslim countries are preparing themselves for another wave of anti-Danish protests after the government announced it would bar judges from wearing headscarves and similar religious or political symbols in courtrooms.
Although the ban will include crucifixes, Jewish skull caps and turbans as well as headscarves, the move is seen as being largely aimed at Muslim judges.
It comes after pressure from the Danish People's Party (DPP), known for its anti-Muslim rhetoric.
Earlier this month, the party produced a widely published poster showing a female judge wearing an all-encompassing burka.
The accompanying text argues that a Muslim headscarf is more than just a feather-light piece of clothing. Rather, it suggests, it is a symbol of submission and tyranny.
The final line of text reads: "Give us Denmark back."
. . .
There have been no similar debates in countries like Sweden, Norway and Finland. British courts accept Muslim headscarves, as well as turbans, in courtrooms.
In France, headscarves and other religious symbols are banned in schools and are unthinkable in courtrooms.
But, so far, the presidency of the Danish parliament, the Folketinget, has said that it will not bar parliamentarians from wearing headscarves when speaking in parliament.
In the Torah - Bamidbar 5.18 – it talks about the Sotah – a woman suspected of adultery – who is made to uncover her hair. The rabbis extrapolated from this that a woman back in the day kept her hair covered as a general rule. Therefore Jewish married women are commanded to cover their hair. The Shulchan Aruch commands a man not to pray or recite blessings if there is a woman in front of him with a “tefach”(4 inches) of skin uncovered that would usually be covered, this applies to hair as well as it is considered part of the body that is normally not seen. I could cite many more sources that say the same or similar. I will point out though, that at the time of all these discussions, it was the societal norm for women of all faiths to cover their heads, not just the Jewish women.Read the full entry at the link above for more thoughts on wigs, covering, law, choice, modesty, standing out in a crowd, respect and etc. Also some thoughts on this in the comments offered to the author.
. . .
There are some modern Rabbis who have ruled that a divorced woman is allowed to uncover her hair if she believes it will help her chances for another shidduch, and some that say she can uncover her hair but only after she moves to a different town. Some say not at all, that she may as well walk around naked. I guess it all depends on who you ask IF you ask. I needed to do what was right for me and my emotional state at that point in time. Maybe one could even argue, that uncovering my hair was showing my grief for the end of my marriage. After all there is no shiva when a marriage has died / failed.
Q: Can a person read Quran without a cap? What is the ruling 4 men and women?
A: The Ulema have mentioned that among the aadaab or ettiquette of Quran recitation one is to cover the head. So though it is permissible to read Quran with the head open, it is makrooh (disapproved) because this is contrary to respect.
For a woman it is not permissible to recite Quran with the head and hair uncovered. This law will be stricter in the case of woman, as is the case in salah. A man's salaah is makrooh but valid if he does not wear a cap (topi). However, the woman's salaah is not valid at all if she performs salaah without head and hair covered. The same principle will apply to Quran reading.
Women should wear headcoverings all day so as to be prepared to pray
Hair is the covering Paul is referring to
Women should cover their heads in public worship
Paul was speaking only to the Corinthian Church
So.. ladies? Who covers their hair?
If you do, when did you start and what prompted it?
If not, why not?
If only sometimes, when and why?
A WorldNetDaily Exclusive: "Christians targeted in Gaza"
Bombings of churches, Bible store follow Hamas' ascent to power
Posted: May 19, 2008, 10:32 pm Eastern
By Aaron Klein, © 2008 WorldNetDaily
JERUSALEM – A building in Gaza with an Internet cafe that reportedly was bombed is owned by a Palestinian Christian, WND has learned.The media widely reported the target of Sunday's bombing as perceived symbols of Western influence. A search of English-language articles on the attack yielded no results reporting the target was Christian.
The bombing follows scores of other anti-Christian attacks in the Gaza Strip – including one last Friday that targeted a Christian school – since the Hamas terror group was elected to power in 2006.
. . .
Immediately after Hamas' Gaza coup, Abu Saqer told WND in an exclusive interview Christians could continue living safely in the Gaza Strip only if they accepted Islamic law, including a ban on alcohol and on women roaming publicly without proper head coverings. . . .
The Independent, of the UK, reports: "Anti-Semitic violence nears record level"And a people who wear head coverings on a Satuday morning are immediately identifiable as Jewish.
By Emily Dugan, Saturday, 17 May 2008
The number of anti-Semitic attacks in Britain has reached its second-highest level ever, MPs have been told. Figures from a charity show 547 such incidents were recorded last year, of which a record 114 were violent assaults.
. . .
Jon Benjamin, the chief executive of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, said they were "extremely encouraged" by the Government's response. He said anti-Semitism had been a reality in the Jewish community for years in Britain, but there had been further signs it was getting worse.
"We know our community buildings have to be secure, and our schools need security," he said. "The quality of life for Jews here is good, but there are perceptible changes, such as the graffiti this week. People wearing head coverings to synagogue on a Saturday morning can feel somewhat vulnerable."
In Uganda, Makerere University has angered Muslims by banning students wearing head coverings from entering examination rooms. The ban primarily affects Muslim women. New Vision yesterday reported that university officials say they are trying to prevent cheating by preventing students from carrying jackets, scarfs, caps and sweaters into exams. Presumably the directive is intended to prevent those taking exams from hiding unauthorized material. However Muslim students say this is an attack on the Muslim faith. They protested by marching from the university mosque to the main building carrying signs such as one reading: "Accord Islam value, don’t undress our Muslim sisters."~~~~~~
The biggest way our family encounters the sacred is through specific actions (you can call them rituals) associated with the ancient practice of the Eastern Orthodox church. We light incense and candles, we listen to Byzantine chant, we bow and prostrate ourselves before icons–all of these things serve to transform what could be an everyday activity into something outside our selves. By engaging our senses in the act, it propels our entire bodies into a more sacred frame of mind. I love how these things help me get out of my own head and engage our daughter in the prayers and life of the church.
. . .
It’s been pretty easy to integrate these sorts of things into our life. I can’t imagine trying to explain the concept of God or church or prayer to a young child without these tangible helps provided by the Church.But. There’s another one out there. Just for us ladies.
The head covering.
If you’re interested in the most turned to article about this in American Orthodoxy go here. If you think I’m crazy and spitting in the face of feminists everywhere, please feel free to leave a comment and I’ll post your opinion. That’s fair.
I still don’t know where I stand on this one so I’m open to both sides but the topic seems to keep coming up.
I read this article in Slate a couple of nights ago about how some Muslim women decide to put on and take off their head coverings, called hijabs. I know we’re not Muslim, but it was an interesting perspective because part of my hesitation has always been that once I start covering my head during the liturgy or prayers–it’s for good. And I’m young and impetuous.
So that’s one part of it. But on the other hand, I’m all about acknowledging that church isn’t just something to do on Sunday mornings to build business contacts and make sure our daughter learns morals. I believe we are worshiping a holy God and that we engage in something radically different than the secular world outside the church doors. If wearing a scarf over my head helps to enhance that differentiation for me (and someday my little girl) then perhaps I just need to get over myself.
. . .
A law which prohibits Muslim women teachers from wearing headscarves in a German state's public schools also forbids Catholic nuns from wearing their veils in regular classrooms, judges said Wednesday.
The administrative tribunal of Baden-Wuerttemberg state set out the position in a detailed written judgment, two months after ruling verbally that a woman convert to Islam, aged 58 at the time, could not teach in her scarf.
The teacher converted to Islam in 1984 and began wearing a headscarf during class in 1995. The southwestern state has a law that bans "exterior expressions of religious confession."
The so-called "headscarf debate" is a long-raging one in Germany, home to more than 3 million Muslims, most of Turkish origin. Many consider the headscarf a form of oppression against women and say immigrants who want to live here harmoniously must accept certain Western values and play by German rules.
Others say forbidding it amounts to discriminating against Islam and that Germans should learn to accept other cultures and traditions.
. . .
The country as a whole has been split on the issue of scarves and education, with some states tolerating teachers in scarves and others sacking them if they refuse to teach bare-headed.
The judges in the city of Mannheim interpreted the ban on religious dress as applying to all religions, whether to nuns and monks in habits or to male Jewish teachers wearing the kippah.
The law expressly exempts Catholic religious who teach Catholic doctrine classes in public schools, and the judges said three nuns in the state who teach other subjects had personal exemptions that would not apply to any other sisters in the future.
In this modern church age, covering one's head is often seen as an outdated practice reserved only for the extremely orthodox or downright legalistic Christian. A majority of today's Christians, both men and women alike, feel that the practice of headcovering is "not for today." Approximately three months ago, I began covering my head. I reached a point where the idea that headcovering was "a social custom for that particular time" did not hold any water for me. I am fully convinced that the practice of headcovering described in 1 Corinthians 11 is indeed for today, and I hope to describe why I have grown to love this practice and the way it has turbo-charged my love for God and His Word.
Get the basics first and then acquire whatever else you will need. Barefoot is appropriate for nearly every period. A cloak is unnecessary if your shows are in warm weather. Do not neglect head coverings, which can be as simple as a wimple or a hood but which can go far to conveying a sense of historical clothing because, with a few exceptions, head coverings were required in most cultures.[emphasis mine - isn't this interesting?]
On the first of May this year, I wore a kippah, the traditional Jewish headcovering, to school. This was meant to be something unusual; to say that I never wear a kippah to class would be a grave understatement, and in fact I actually take pride and joy in the fact that I haven't had to put one on while inside of a classroom for something in the area of nine years now. It's generally known among people in my class that I'm genetically and even sometimes culturally Jewish, but nobody I know would mistake me for a religious Jew, and in fact a certain percentage of my classmates have heard rumours that I worship some sort of odd pagan deity. In any case, I put it on when I left my apartment in the morning around eight thirty, assuming that no one would comment on it until at least nine, when class started. My expectations were exceeded; I'd walked less than halfway to the hospital when I bumped into someone walking to the same lecture, who immediately noticed the kippah and became pleasantly confused. He asked why I was wearing it; I answered that I wore one every day. He saw through it, but it took him one lovely moment when he wasn't sure. I explained that I was wearing it for April Fools Day, and to forestall his next question, because if you pull your April Fools jape on the first of April, everyone sees it coming. No one else commented on it the rest of the day, in part because it was a small kippah and not too noticable, in part because most people seeing it simply assume I had a reason and didn't ask, and in part because most people don't look at me that closely. Or maybe in the minds of my classmates, when someone comes to class every day with a two-inch wide smiley-face amulet, you don't get too curious if he shows up one day and the strangest thing he's wearing is a kippah. True to the holiday, I took it off at the strike of noon.Photo above from "Jessy Judaica Toronto" - Knitted Kippahs
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".
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.”
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.
Sikhs, who wear turbans according to the mandates of their faith, believe they are victims of religious profiling."It is pretty clear to me as a Sikh that I am being subjected to unreasonable procedures that do not apply to other US citizens," said Kuljot Singh, a Sikh passenger.
To avoid that treatment at SFO, Sikh travellers are choosing to fly through alternative airports in Oakland or San Jose.
In October 2007, the TSA implemented a policy giving screeners discretion to decide when to additionally search passengers with head coverings that could be deemed "bulky". The move mirrored other emerging security policies that take a host of variable factors - including facial expressions and ticket status - into account when deciding on subjecting a passenger to secondary screening.
SFO is the only airport that chose to interpret the revision as a mandatory turban screening policy, thus creating a disproportionate and unwarranted focus on Sikh passengers, the press release said.
"The TSA policy being applied at SFO is not keeping any American safe," said Amardeep Singh, executive director of the Sikh Coalition.
"Targeting all turban-wearing Sikhs is profiling - a strategy that has been proven to be ineffective for law enforcement. And singling out all Sikhs in such a public way sends the very harmful message to Americans that Sikhs are somehow suspect because of their religious garb."
- Mangalorean.com, "Sikhs allege religious profiling, shun San Francisco airport"
Faulkner County volunteers are planning another community "sew-in" to be held at the First Church of the Nazarene, Highway 65 North, in Greenbrier, May 15, from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m.The workshop is open to all interested in sewing, cutting, pinning, ironing and packaging colorful kerchief-like head coverings. Known as "care caps," they are for free distribution to balding chemotherapy patients in Arkansas and across the nation. Over 8,200 women and children with cancer have been reached by this project.
Please read the entire article at the linked title.
Here at [name removed] we have been able to implement many of our traditional practices - unfortunately, the women with their heads covered is not one of them. I have a wife and 4 daughters, and, although I have encouraged the custom, - it has never caught on.
Occasionally, someone will visit that has arrived recently from Ukraine, have their head covered, and invariably conform to what the other women are doing. Too bad....
If you come to pray with us, I would encourage you not to give in.
When I read something in Scripture, I do not excuse myself from doing it because it's not "culturally relevant" for today, and to that end, I am sure some people would call me legalistsic.
However, that, even in the secular sense, is not what legalism is. Legalism is not listening to "the Spirit." Which I certainly try my hardest to do.
Nor do I believe that salvation comes through works (i.e. the wearing of a covering, being a keeper at home, homeschooling my child rather than sending them to a pagan public school, etc.), but rather, that works are evidence of salvation. When we love the Lord, we obey His commands out of love. But by no means do I believe I am going to heaven because I wear a head covering or keep my home. My trust (and everyone's) and hope for Paradise is evidenced by obedience.
Well, goodness. Who would have thought I would be considering a headcovering for church? As I mentioned before, if you had told me this five years ago, I would have laughed. Even a year ago, I would have responded with a clueless, "huh?" But I forgot to mention that yesterday, while attending the Latin Low Mass, I decided to wear a headcovering.
And you know what? It felt perfectly right and true.
what about the biblical commandments to cover? (Cor 11:1-16, 1Thess 2:15, 3:6)The bottom line seems to be this: "Technically, yes, head coverings are mandatory. However, for the sake of economy, they are often (too often) dispensed with."
In summary, the reasons St. Paul advises women to cover their heads in church are:
1. Our Lord commanded it;
2. it is a visible sign of an invisible order established by God;
3. The angels at Mass are offended if women don't use it;
4. it is a ceremonial vestment;
5. it is our heritage.
http://www.tldm.org/news6/veils.htm
