In modern usage, hijab generally refers to variety of head coverings conventionally worn by many Muslim women. Similar to the mitpaḥat/tichel or snood worn by religious married Jewish women, certain headcoverings worn by some Christian women, such as the hanging veil, apostolnik and kapp, and the dupatta favored by many Hindu and Sikh women, the hijab comes in various forms. Often, it specifically describes a scarf that is wrapped around the head, covering the hair, neck, and ears while leaving the face visible. The use of the hijab has grown globally since the 1970s, with many Muslims viewing it as a symbol of modesty and faith; it is also worn as a form of adornment. There is consensus among Islamic religious scholars that covering the head is either required or preferred. In practice, most Muslim women choose to wear it.
Ali Shariati Mazinani was an Iranian revolutionary and sociologist who focused on the sociology of religion. He is held as one of the most influential Iranian intellectuals of the 20th century, and has been called the "ideologue of the Islamic Revolution", although his ideas did not end up forming the basis of the Islamic Republic.
A burqa or a burka is an enveloping outer garment worn by some Muslim women which fully covers the body and the face. Also known as a chadaree or chaadar in Afghanistan, or a paranja in Central Asia, the Arab version of the burqa is called the boshiya and is usually black. The term burqa is sometimes conflated with the niqāb even though, in more precise usage, the niqab is a face veil that leaves the eyes uncovered, while a burqa covers the entire body from the top of the head to the ground, with a mesh screen which only allows the wearer to see in front of her.
Islamic fundamentalism has been defined as a revivalist and reform movement of Muslims who aim to return to the founding scriptures of Islam. The term has been used interchangeably with similar terms such as Islamism, Islamic revivalism, Qutbism, Islamic activism, and has been criticized as pejorative.
Fatema Mernissi was a Moroccan feminist writer and sociologist.
Pardah or purdah is a religious and social practice of gender partition prevalent among some Muslim and Hindu communities. It takes two forms: social partition of the sexes and the requirement that women cover their bodies so as to cover their skin and conceal their form. A woman who practices purdah can be referred to as pardanashin or purdahnishan. The term purdah is also used in English as a metaphor to describe practices such as the pre-election period of sensitivity occurring in the weeks leading up to a general election or referendum.
Qasim Amin was an Egyptian jurist, Islamic Modernist and one of the founders of the Egyptian national movement and Cairo University. Qasim Amin has been historically viewed as one of the Arab world's "first feminists", although he joined the discourse on women's rights quite late in its development, and his "feminism" has been the subject of scholarly controversy. Amin was a philosopher, a reformer, and a judge, besides being a member of Egypt's aristocratic class, and a central figure in the Nahda movement. His advocacy of greater rights for women catalyzed debate over women's issues in the Arab world. He criticized veiling, seclusion, early marriage, and lack of education of Muslim women. More recent scholarship has argued that he internalized a colonialist discourse on women's issues in the Islamic world, regarded Egyptian women as objects serving to achieve national aspirations, and in practice advocated reforms that diminished the legal rights of women in marriage contracts.
Geraldine Brooks is an Australian American journalist and novelist whose 2005 novel March won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
In Islamic law (sharia), marriage is a legal and social contract between two individuals. Marriage is an act of Islam and is strongly recommended. Polygyny is permitted in Islam under some conditions, but polyandry is forbidden.
The intimate parts of the human body must, according to Islam, be covered by clothing. Most of modern Islamic scholars agree that the 'awrah of a man is the area between the navel and the knees, and the 'awrah of a woman is the entire body except the face, hand; exposing the 'awrah of the body is against Islamic law.
Islamic feminism is a form of feminism concerned with the role of women in Islam. It aims for the full equality of all Muslims, regardless of gender, in public and private life. Islamic feminists advocate for women's rights, gender equality, and social justice grounded in an Islamic framework. Although rooted in Islam, the movement's pioneers have also utilized secular, Western, or otherwise non-Muslim feminist discourses, and have recognized the role of Islamic feminism as part of an integrated global feminist movement.
Gender roles in Islam are based on scriptures, cultural traditions, and jurisprudence.
Phyllis Chesler is an American writer, psychotherapist, and professor emerita of psychology and women's studies at the College of Staten Island (CUNY). She is a renowned second-wave feminist psychologist and the author of 18 books, including the best-sellers Women and Madness (1972), With Child: A Diary of Motherhood (1979), and An American Bride in Kabul: A Memoir (2013). Chesler has written extensively about topics such as gender, mental illness, divorce and child custody, surrogacy, second-wave feminism, pornography, prostitution, incest, and violence against women.
Leila Ahmed is an Egyptian-American scholar of women's studies and religion. In 1992 she published her book Women and Gender in Islam, which is regarded as a pioneering historical analysis of the position of women in Arab Muslim societies. She became the first professor of women's studies in religion at Harvard Divinity School in 1999, and has held the Victor S. Thomas Professor of Divinity chair since 2003. She was later awarded the Victor S. Thomas Research Professor of Divinity in 2020.
Parvin Darabi is an Iranian-born American activist, writer and defender of women’s rights.
Various styles of head coverings, most notably the khimar, hijab, chador, niqab, paranja, yashmak, tudong, shayla, safseri, carşaf, haik, dupatta, boshiya and burqa, are worn by Muslim women around the world, where the practice varies from mandatory to optional or restricted in different majority Muslim and non-Muslim countries.
In a predominantly Muslim society, as many as 90% of women in Egypt have adopted a form of veiling. A majority of Egyptian women cover at least their hair with the hijab. A hijab refers to a head covering that is worn by Muslim women. Although the phenomenon of wearing the niqāb, a veil which covers the face is not as common, the niqab in Egypt has become more prevalent. While a few women in Egypt wear a black niqab along with a billowing black abaya as seen in countries such as Saudi Arabia, many choose to wear different colors of the niqab or manipulate the hijab to cover their face. Regardless, the growing trend of munaqqabat, or women who wear the niqab, has alarmed the authorities. They have begun to see this dress as a security threat, because it hides the face, and because it is perceived as a political statement, a rejection of the state in favor of a strict Islamic system.
9 Parts of Desire is a play written by Heather Raffo.
Rana Kabbani is a British Syrian cultural historian, writer and broadcaster who lives in London. Most famous for her works Imperial Fictions: Europe's Myths of the Orient (1994) and Letter to Christendom (1989), she has also edited and translated works in Arabic and English. She has written for Spare Rib, the International Herald Tribune, The New Statesman, The Guardian, British Vogue, The Independent, Al Quds al Arabi, and Islamica. She has made and contributed to many television and radio programmes for the BBC, on subjects such as literature, music, minority rights, Islamic culture, food, feminism, women's rights, painting, and British politics. She has spoken out against Islamophobia, defining its historic roots in colonialism. Her famous relatives include Abu Khalil Qabbani, her uncle Nizar Qabbani, her father Sabah Qabbani, and her daughter Yasmine Seale whose father is Patrick Seale.
Fashion in Iran has a cultural and economic impact on the county of Iran. During the Pahlavi era around the mid-1930s, Western fashion was introduced to the country and greatly influenced women's style. After the Iranian Revolution in 1978–1979, the hijab has become compulsory, which impacted the creation of clothing style.
