HIJAB “modest covering of a Muslim woman”

Do all Muslim women over the world dress the same?

A simulation created by Anne Osborn

In the modern Muslim world there is a debate as to how much “freedom” Muslim women should be given. At the center of this debate is hijab. According to the dictionary “hijab is the modern word for the practice of dressing modestly, which all practicing Muslims past the age of puberty are instructed to do in their holy book, the Qur’an.”

Debate over hijab:

Where the idea came from:

"O Prophet, tell your wives and daughters and the believing women to draw their outer garments around them (when they go out or are among men). That is better in order that they may be known (to be Muslims) and not annoyed..." (Qur'an 33:59)

Hijab is never quite the same. Click on a country to see what a Muslim woman could be wearing there. Are there differences?

LEFT: Shopping in Saudi Arabia offers a glimpse of the strict cultural codes that govern the entire society. Here, a Saudi woman passes mannequins in the Kindom Center in Riyadh that are legal because they have no heads. RIGHT: Because Saudi men and women are only permitted to work together in hospitals, all the sales people in Kingdom Center's mixed floors are male foreign workers, such as this man helping two Saudi women who are shopping for a watch.

Saudi Arabia

Turkey

This woman looks professional but still has her head covered.

A woman in Mauritania making a necklace.

Mauritania

Somalia

Afghanistan

Some women are more traditional than others, not even allowing their face to show.