Abaya and Hijab – Mutliperspective Conversations from people around the world

Enjoy!  I’m learning so much already. Her clarification is a must read for everyone.

Dear all,
Cheers for the responses. Yes we should bridge those cultural gaps which are keeping us apart and the best way to do it is to stop hearing from the media and start hearing from the individuals. That’s what I decided to do long before and when I did I developed a better understanding of the western culture, thanks to many great friends I had in the UK. Grace you are doing an awesome job in bringing us together.

Jen B.
Thanks for the remark. Please feel free to use the post in your class. Bear in mind however that Saudi is a different context than Afghanistan, completely different cultures, economic and political systems. To me it might sound like putting together china and Greece in one context. In all cases I would truly love to contribute in whatever research your doing- Good luck.

Chris,
When you ask “would Saudi women prefer not to wear the Abaya?” you are not talking (just like the case with the US media) about the women of the capital city Riyadh are you? The ladies consistently showing on CNN and FOX news covered from head to toes and walking behind their men in a mall do barely represent one culture among many in saudi (Riyadh is the most conservative spot in Saudi, one of the most conservative internationally). Thus, when we say “Saudi women” we should take into consideration other parts of Saudi Arabia Jeddah and the eastern province as well as the southern regions of the country; those regions have multicultural population and more liberal views toward life and religion.

To answer your question objectively I would say that generally women here feel that they are being treated unfairly by both the society and the international media as well. Being an activist in this field I would say that Saudi women are unhappy with the fact that Abaya is being forced as law that one could be criminalized and punished if violating. However what frustrates women more is to be labeled by the international media basing on one region which Riyadh. Similar model would be referring to the people of Arizona as the “US population” when Arizona is just representing one culturally conservative state among many others.
But yea Saudi women would like if the Abaya was a choice a woman could make according to her own belief and not someone else’s.

Now as for “Are there groups actively trying to overthrow these archaic mores?”. Well yes, there are many unofficial groups of Saudi female academics, businesswomen and journalists who are trying to reach the saudi official to bring some change. Now more than ever I can feel some changing in the air coming.

As for Grace, thanks for the remarks, just a little clarification; the Quran never specified a certain area of the body to be covered. It was referred to as “cover some of their bodies” without defining how much that “some” is. It’s totally subjective. It’s the prophet Mohammed who said once “woman, as they get adult, should not show much of her body except for this and this” he pointed to his face and hands.. He never criminalized it; it was more of an opinion or a suggestion. It is well explained in another interesting story which I would like to share here. It is when the Prophet Mohammed was once walking with one of his fellow mates in a market (markets were mixed places unlike in “modern” Saudi where they are mostly gender sections- another contradiction between the real Islam and human interpretation of it). So while they were walking, a beautiful woman walked by, the prophet’s mate looked at her she was not covering and she was beautiful.. So as the guy
was looking at her the Prophet turned his mate’s face to the other side indicating “do not stare!”.. he never arrested the woman never comment on her not even a single word although he would definitely have loved if she was wearing some decent clothes; at the end of the day it was a choice she had to make and that is the moral of the story.

In modern Saudi the lady would be arrested and sentenced to 1 year jail and 200 lashes for such a thing! It is interesting how far we have gone against the “real” teachings of Islam!