Key Concepts, Background, and Ideas

Politics of the ‘Veil’

Arab

Muslim

Middle East

Veil

Defining Terms

Orientalism: The Harem

Islamic Dress Code for Women Defined

Islamic Dress Code for Women Defined

Hijab

Islamic Dress Code for Women Defined

Hijab

The practice observed by some Muslim women of wearing concealing clothing (esp. headgear), or (in early use) living in seclusion; the religious code which governs this.

Khimar

Islamic Dress Code for Women Defined

Khimar

A head covering or veil worn in public by some Muslim women, spec. one of a type covering the head, neck, and shoulders.

Islamic Dress Code for Women Defined

Chador

Islamic Dress Code for Women Defined

Chador

Originally: a cloth spread over a Muslim tomb. Later: a large piece of material worn as a long shawl or cloak by Muslim women, and sometimes by Hindu or other women, esp. in South Asia and Iran; hence chador shawl. Also: any of various similar garments worn by men in South Asia.

Islamic Dress Code for Women Defined

Abaya

Islamic Dress Code for Women Defined

Abaya

Dress that covers the whole body.

Islamic Dress Code for Women Defined

Niqab

Islamic Dress Code for Women Defined

Niqab

A veil worn by some Muslim women, covering all of the face and having two holes for the eyes.

Islamic Dress Code for Women Defined

Burqa

Islamic Dress Code for Women Defined

Burqa

A long enveloping garment worn in public places by Muslim women to screen them from the view of men and strangers.

Islamic Dress Code for Women Defined

Islamic Dress Code for Women Defined

Islamic Dress Code for Women Defined

Islamic Dress Code for Women Defined

History of the Veil

History of the Veil

History of the Veil

Sura 24:31

“That they [feminine gender] should not display their beauty and ornaments except what [must ordinarily] appear thereof; that they should draw their khimar [headveil] over their bosoms and not display their beauty except to their husbands, their fathers, their husbands’ fathers, their sons, or their women, or the slaves whom their right hands possess, or male servants free of physical needs, or underage children.”

Sura 4:23

“Prohibited to you [male gender] are your mothers, daughters, sisters; father’s sisters, mother’s sisters; brother’s daughters, sister’s daughters; “suckling” mothers, suckling sisters; your wives’ mothers; your step-daughters under your guardianship, born of your wives, wives of your biological sons.”

Western Feminism1st Wave

Western Feminism2nd Wave

Western Feminism3rd Wave

Middle Eastern Feminism:Internal Resistance

Middle Eastern Feminism:Anti Western Resistance

Middle Eastern Feminism:Both

Middle Eastern Feminism:Both

Middle Eastern Feminism:Both

Most of the definitions were taken directly from the Oxford English Dictionary Online.

The drawn pictures were borrowed from the BBC.

Fadwa El Guindi, Veil: Modesty, Privacy, and Resistance

Nawar Al-Hassan Golley, “Reading Arab Women’s Autobiographies: Shahrazad Tells Her Story”

references