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To some women, the law is clear and acceptable and they abide by it. To some, especially the women activists, the law has “issues”, writes Yusuf Muziransa
Popularly, hijab means “head cover and modest dress for women” among Muslims, which most Islamic legal systems define as covering everything except the face, feet and hands in public.
“Say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty ; that they should not display their beauty and ornaments except what must ordinarily appear thereof. “ (Quran: 24.31) This verse is one of the Quranic verses that order women to dress in hijab. A hijab therefore is a must-wear to Muslim women.
Pamela Acaye, a women activist, television presenter, writer and student at the Islamic University in Kampala, says the law has hidden intentions. To Pamela, as a women activist, the whole idea of dressing in a hijab has a motive against women.
As a student at an Islamic institute, Pamela has studied and internalised the Islamic dress and keenly observed and discussed with her fellow students how they feel about the dress. When asked how she feels about the women who dress in hijab, she says most women are forced to dress this way; not out of their will.
“Do you mean women dressing in hijab, or students forced to wear them in school?” I ask. “The Islamic dress code enshrined in the Quran becomes unrealistic in today’s world.
For starters, it takes away the basic right especially of women in making conscious decisions that they can account for independently. Of course it is meant to separate women from society. Otherwise, the same demand to conceal the body would apply to both men and women.”
Pamela comments on the Quranic verse (Surah al-Ahzab: 59) that staes: “And say to the faithful women to lower their gazes… and to extend their head coverings to cover their bosoms, and not to display their beauty except to their husbands, or their fathers, or their husband’s fathers...” saying schools of thought and common consensus symbolise this gesture of lowering gazes to shame, and disappointment.
“The question is, what attributes of shame and disappointment did the prophet tag onto the woman to forcefully bear throughout her life, and why?” she asks. “And as for guarding their private parts; what is a private part and is it only the woman with private parts?
And in not displaying their beauty except what is apparent of it; why should beauty not be displayed? The dictionary definition of liberty is “the power of choosing, thinking and acting for oneself”… where then is that liberty when a dress code is forced on a woman?” Acaye argues.
The late and well-known scholar Sheikh Muhammad Nasiruddeen al-Albaani said the hijab should be loose enough so as not to describe the body. It should be free from perfume and incense and ostentation so as not to attract attention.
It should not resemble the clothes of men or non-Muslim women. It should not be a garment of fame or vanity. To Pamela, while an outer garment such as a cloak, jilbab, or abaya is deemed mandatory by some scholars, al-Albaani and others concluded that alternative styles of loose, unadorned garments can achieve the same degree of coverage and modesty required in Islam. “So, let’s not pretend religion for true religion liberates humanity,” Acaye counters.
However, unlike Pamela, to some students at the Islamic University, a hijab will always be their best attire. Some strongly object to arguments like Pamela’s, while some who support the hijab are Christians.
Kate Agut, a Christian, says the dress reserves morality. “If we were given freedom of dress at this university, we would affect male students’ concentration in class,” she said. She also says that for the time she has been at the university, she has learnt that the hijab also preserves culture.
Kate says that as a Christian who did not grow up wearing the hijab, her only problem with it is when it is hot, the dress really makes her uncomfortable.
Fauzia Kafuma is a Moslem but she was brought up by a Christian auntie.
She began putting on the hijab about six years ago while in her S.4, and says it has made her look decent. “While in town, men can’t disturb you like they would if you wore a miniskirt,” she says.
For Zuraika Biwenbwaaku, the hijab is the most convenient dress for her and she says ever since she started dressing in hijabs, her name changed.
“People call me Hajat, and while boarding a taxi, unlike other women dressed in other outfits, I am given respect.
On a sit where they would squeeze like four people we sit only three because the Hajat must be comfortable. People also have a feeling that most of the people who wear hijabs are married so they fear to disturb you thinking that you are married,” she adds.
Therefore Muslims wear the hijab because it’s a directive from God. The debate about women and the hijab is not only in Uganda but the world at large; women activists around the world are debating against the dress, claiming that it oppresses women.
Monitor Online
