Does banning Muslim girls from wearing hijab help the Western societies? Is there any way to resolve this clash?

Hijab faces secular system that is now being globalized. Secularism seeks to remove religion from all elements of governments in public policy. It says that all religions are important; you follow whichever you want but don’t use it as a symbol or don’t symbolize it in public or schools etc. But this global culture finds in front of it the Islamic culture.

Islamic culture requires that the woman covers herself, and this is a part of the religion. Yes, some Muslim’s may be relaxed and don’t practice it properly in different parts of the world. But as a whole, the Muslim nation recognized that this principle of modesty is a part and parcel of religion. So it will stand an opposition to the culture which calls to nudity or liberation, particularly in the case of females.

The clash does not have to be if the global culture accepts the cultural differences, and accepts the right of people to practice their religion as it has been prescribed.  This is the right of Islamic system, and of those involved in this system to practice it.

Therefore, those who are currently raising such a claim against hijab have to wake up to the realities, accept it and embrace it as a part of the cultural diversity of human beings - then there will be no problem. In fact, those countries that see it as a challenge to the system that Muslim school girls wear scarf, actually want them to conform and be absorbed by the home culture - that is their goal. In fact banning the head scarf will not achieve that goal. It will actually be defeated because many Muslim families will choose to take their children out of the state school and put them into Muslim schools where their values will be reinforced, and where, as the societies see it, fundamentalism will thrive.  So actually these countries are shooting themselves in their feet. The goal that they intend will not be achieved by the method that they are applying.

Hijab, though is a symbol of an awakening to Islam, it is among the practices of Muslim’s. It is not a religious symbol in and of itself. Though it has a symbolic value but itself, it is not a religious symbol. Hijab is an act of worship and religious obligation, and as such, Muslims as well as non-Muslims need to understand it in this context. Having understood it, the problems which we are facing today in Muslim world as well as non-Muslim world can be resolved quite easily. Islam is not confrontational and it is not a violent religion. It does not seek to impose its way on people; it is a religion that strives in times of peace. It spreads most rapidly when there are no tensions, when there are no conflicts. We can consider the spread of Islam in Indonesia where there are two hundred million Muslims, but not a single Muslim soldier was sent there. It is the largest Muslim country that became a Muslim country from trade; Muslim traders from western-south eastern Arabia, Oman, Yemen travelled there and did trade.

Therefore, in summary, Islam is a complete way of life and hijab is a part and parcel of that way of life. Hijab is not imposed and it is not oppression. It is a means of worship to God by females, as they worship God by wearing it. And it is also practically in the society a means of identifying themselves and a means of protecting themselves from harm. It also protects the society from the harm which comes from exposure. Therefore, hijab protects the female and the society as a whole.

Hijab is not only a physical garment to wear but it is also a state of mind and state of emotion where the female wears the garb to worship God. She maintains all of the requirements of that garb; maintains all of the dealings in the society whether outside their homes or within their homes, whether among males or even among females. Among females too there are some requirements of dress, though it may be a little relaxed but not relaxed to zero. There are still some requirements of clothing for Muslim female even in the presence of other Muslim females.

Similarly hijab is not only restricted to female, it is also part and parcel of male dress. There are hijab requirements of modesty of covering and maintaining a keel in the society concerning sexuality and sensuality that it is kept under control. Though today from the western perspective when one thinks of the veil and hijab, the image that comes in many people’s mind is that of the thousand one nights, the women belly dancer. These are some of the images people can draw. Of course, these are stories, entertainment, novel, and fiction. Yes, there may be elements of truth in them, but the whole truth is that the veil or hijab is the element or instrument of worship in Islam and not one to heighten the sensuality but in fact, it lowers it in the society. This is the purpose why Islam prescribed it.