Blog owner away...

Greetings and blessings, dear followers and readers of this blog. I will be away from the blog for awhile, but should be back to following and posting the news and notes about headcoverings again by late August or September. Please feel free to peruse and comment (I'll get to those comments when I can), both here and on the web pages linked in the title above.

News is always happening and people are always talking about head coverings - all over the world. Funny, just a piece of cloth raising such a ruckus.

Be encouraged!

-LisaM

Identification Despite Headcovering

In the article: "In compromise, biometric database to be split", at Globes.co.il (Israel), I saw a nice concession for photos that are required (along with fingerprints):

"To make matters easier for religious Israelis, women will not be required to remove their head covering for photographs. "

Praying that this will not become another matter of argument in the region.

Covered Female Police Officers

This story just broke, and some folks in the blog world are not happy. Are female officers "2nd class" if they respectfully cover upon entering a mosque (or cathedral, for that matter)? Read the more full story on "uniform hijab" at the (UK) Times. Some bits I hadn't seen in many of the first stories out on this :

"... The £13 headscarves are embroidered with the West Country force's name and logo, and come in two colours — black for police officers and blue for community support officers. A spokeswoman insisted that they were not intended purely to cater for Muslim cultural sensibilities but were multi-faith.

" "They are designed to be used in any place of worship and can be used to cover the head or the shoulders. For example, plain clothes officers could use them to cover their shoulders in a Catholic Church, or they can be used to cover the head in synagogues," she said."

...

"The Metropolitan Police, the largest and most diverse UK force, said that it issued headscarves to its Muslim female officers but not to non-Muslim officers.

" "We have had these scarves for Muslim female officers for some time, but as far as officers going into mosques — if it was appropriate for them to wear a scarf they would do that. But I don't think there are any plans to issue 15,000-odd officers with a headscarf," a Met Police spokeswoman said."

As usual, the comments in any of these news stories or blog entries are replete with ignorant comments about Muslims or Islam, the (name your) government, "sensibilities" and "bending over backward," and even about headcoverings among professed Christians (whom - I need not remind anyone here - should have NO problem covering up in a church of any kind, as head covering is highly "recommended" by the Apostle of Christ Himself, Paul/Saul). So, if you reading these things doesn't make you want to post a corrective comment yourself, as always, keep to reading the articles only.

Simple and Modest Christian Headcovering

I am enjoying reading the writings of "A Simple and Modest Life". Christian ladies, please check out her essays, especially (for us) those on headcovering. Be encouraged!

Head Bands Illustrations

"Craftgossip.com" offers links to this, and other how-to-make articles, for folks interested in making a smaller head scarf/wrap, here: "Tutorial: Ruched bandeau hair wrap" (photo from "allaboutyou")




In other fashion news ~ "How to wear a scarf - headband", from examiner.com. This short article links back to their "Style 101: How to wear a scarf", which includes the links to various types of scarf wearing other than for head wear. For the up to date and trendy. (photo from the webpage linked here)

Head Covering in Gaza

Found in several news outlets and blogs, is the latest news that head covering will be required in certain places, along with other stricter moral codes, in the Gaza region. Reports have already been coming out that women are being compelled to wear head coverings at the beach and that there are "morality police" checking on moral behavior between men and women (are they verifiable reports? is it government sanctioned, or individual "vigilantes" of a sort? is enforcement of morals an evil thing because one man's moral code is more strict (or loose) than another? do the conservative Jewish or Christian populations in this area understand the idea of hair covering as modesty and not just an Islamic injunction? do the Muslim judges who create these laws understand that point?).

Here is what I could find as apparent fact in the Haaretz.com:

"... Gaza's judicial authority, which runs the strip's courts on behalf of Hamas, recently ruled that all female attorneys must wear the traditional Muslim head covering, the hijab, and wear dresses during court appearances. The ruling was condemned by the independent lawyers association.

"Supreme Court chief justice Abdul-Raouf Halabi said yesterday that female lawyers will be required to wear a headscarf and a long, dark colored cloak under their billowing black robes when the court returns from its summer recess in September."

The Huffington Post also reports:

"...The Hamas government formally says it is not imposing Islamic law on the territory's 1.4 million residents. Instead, it says it is simply ensuring that residents behave in line with the territory's own conservative culture.

"Most women already wear the headscarf, and life in the Mediterranean strip comes to a complete standstill on Fridays as men gather for communal prayers in mosques.

"Subhiya Juma, a female lawyer, said the judge's decision would affect only 10 or so lawyers – since the vast majority of the 150 registered female lawyers already cover their hair.

"Juma, who does not wear a headscarf, said the point wasn't the number of women, but that freedoms were being eroded."

I also came across a very interesting and heart touching blog called "Walking Through Gaza with Alice Walker". (Please understand, if you choose to read the full article, that the poet/author is on the side of anti-war and anti-terrorism, not anti-Jew or even anti-Israeli, as far as I can tell.) In the reading, the writer makes these short observations on the subject of the head covering:

"... But before we talk about hatred I want to know about headscarves. What’s the deal about wearing the scarf? Why do so many women wear it? I am told something I’d never considered: in desert countries most of one’s hydration is lost at the back of the neck, which can quickly lead to heat stroke, so a headscarf that wraps around the neck is essential to block this loss. The top of the head is covered because if a woman is living a traditional life and is outside a lot, the sun beats down on it. This causes headache, dizziness, nausea, stroke, and other health problems. In Gaza, one of the women pointed out, there were many women who did not wear scarves, primarily because they worked in offices. This was true of the women in whose home we were sheltered. They seemed to own a lot of scarves that they draped about themselves casually, just as my friends and I might do in the United States.

"Because I had shaved my head a week or so before going to Gaza, I understood exactly the importance of the headscarf. Without a covering on my head I could not bear the sun for more than a few minutes. And, indeed, one of the first gifts I received from an anonymous Palestinian woman was a thick black and red embroidered scarf, which I wore everywhere, gratefully.

"Our host told us a story about the uglier side of the headscarf business: On the first day of bombing she was working downstairs in the basement and wasn’t aware that her apartment building was next to one that was being shelled. When the policemen came to clear her building, and she stepped out of the elevator, one of them, a political and religious conservative, was taken aback at the sight of her bare head. So much so that instead of instantly helping her to a shelter, he called a colleague to come and witness her attire. Or lack thereof. He was angry with her, for not wearing a headscarf, though Israeli rockets were tearing into buildings all around them. And what could we do but sigh along with her, as she related this experience with appropriate shrugs and grimaces of exasperation. Backwardness is backwardness, wherever it occurs, and explains lack of progressive movement in afflicted societies, whether under siege or not."

Head covering sign of respect

"Head covering sign of respect"

"Female police officers in Avon and Somerset will be issued with head coverings to be used in places of worship to improve Muslim relations.

"Female officers will wear uniform-issue head coverings when they are on duty and entering places of worship.

"The head coverings were produced after the force worked with the Mosque Initiative and the Aklima Initiative."

What do you think?

Discussion of Jewish Head Covering

"On The Fringe" writes: "My informal survey re kippot-wearing by women."

I am not familiar with many of the terms and arguments concerning the different forms of and reasons for head covering among followers of the Jewish traditions, so discussions like these are interesting. As always, if you have any insight or comments, please feel free to add them below.

Follow up - Georgia Court Rules Headcoverings OK

From WSBradio: "Ga. Courts to Allow Religious Head Coverings"
By Jay Black; July 25, 2009

(WSB Radio) The Judicial Standards Council has voted in favor of new policy to balance security concerns with a person's right to practice religion in a public place.

The decision comes seven months after a Douglas County woman was ordered in contempt of court after she refused to remove her head scarf while she accompanied her nephew to court. Lisa Valentine tells Channel 2 Action News, who is Muslim, wears her head covering for religious reasons.

. . .

The story made national headlines and attracted attention from several civil rights groups.

The new policy, which takes effect immediately, requires a search of a person wearing a head covering for medical or religious reasons. The individual can have the inspection performed by a same-sex officer conducted in a private area. The person is then allowed to put his or her head covering back on following the investigation.

Stories covering this are all over the internet. Some articles place the word "Muslim" in the title, as the description of the allowed headcoverings, but please note, this ruling applies to all religious reasoning as well as those covering for health reasons.