[Sista]

Assalamu Akaykum
To all those interested, I hear there will be an article on Reflections in the Sydney Morning Herald this Saturday inshallah. So keep an eye out
ma3a salemeh

[Mowlana Vector]

Articles of Faith
The Sydney Morning Herald (20 December 2003)


Embracing multiculturalism ... Muslim students from Arkana
College in Kingsgrove where the hijab is generally compulsory
for girls of high school age. (Photo: Ben Rushton)

Embracing multiculturalism ... Muslim students from Arkana College in Kingsgrove where the hijab is generally compulsory for girls of high school age. Photo: Ben Rushton

The Muslim hijab is about to be banned in French schools. So is it a challenge to Australia's secular education system? Linda Morris reports.

When Reflections, Sydney's new magazine for Muslim youth, was launched in September it featured something of a first: a fashion spread of long flowing chiffon dresses with intricate beading, delicate-edged embroidery and a cheeky touch of sparkle.

Entitled "Beyond the Veil", the fashion section - albeit minus real models - was intended to challenge long-standing notions that the hijab and its cloak-like relatives, the abaya, chaddor and burqa, were not items of sexual or religious oppression and could be both flattering and stylish.

Australian Muslim women, says Reflections editor and university student Feda Abdo, are covering up in greater numbers than ever, but the image of Muslim women draped from head to toe in all-enveloping black robes, or girls shrouded in modest veils, is pure stereotype.

"The hijab is more than a simple piece of cloth on your head," says Abdo, who favours the head scarf teamed with jeans. "It's a whole way of behaviour; it's the way you present yourself; it's for modesty. It's so people judge you by your character and personality, not your outward appearance. But it is not about suppressing your own individuality. If you look at my drawers you will see a variety of colours and prints."

The hijab is suffering something of a public relations crisis. France announced this week it wants to ban the Muslim veil in state schools, provoking condemnation from Muslim leaders around the world. If President Jacques Chirac has his way, public schools would also extend the ban to Jewish skullcaps and Christian crosses where they contravene secular principles.

Such bans are not the exclusive preserve of Christian countries; in Muslim but secular Indonesia, the hijab was not incorporated into the official uniform of public schools and government services until the early 1990s. Before that, religious dress could result in expulsion or sacking. IN NSW public schools, students are allowed to express their religious affiliations as part of living in a multicultural, diverse society. Uniform policies are developed at school level but the wearing of headscarves - and the Jewish skullcap, for that matter - has always been permitted under the provisions of the department's anti-racism policy.

Among Sydney's 13 Islamic independent schools, the hijab is generally compulsory for girls of high school age, according to Medenia Abdurahman, secretary of the Australian Council for Islamic Education in Schools and the principal of Arkana College in Kingsgrove. A dress code is not enforced at primary school level.

"I generally believe the minute you force the hijab on children they rebel. Better for them to arrive at their own decisions," says Abdurahman, adding that she felt naked without a hijab to cover her hair.

Des Cahill, Professor of Intercultural Studies at Melbourne's RMIT University, is among those who think the hijab has a place in Australian schools. France, he said, had never embraced a policy of multiculturalism despite its 5 million Muslims, and now threatened to abandon basic principles of religious freedom. "Logically, if you follow the French policy through, Christians are not allowed to wear crosses and Sikhs are not allowed to carry their ceremonial knives.

"The hijab has clearly become a symbol of religious identification, just as the wearing of a religious habit by nuns or a white collar of a priest is a symbol of identification by Catholics."

Nicky Jones, a PhD student at the University of Queensland, says that in France, as in other parts of the world, the Muslim community is divided on the wearing of the hijab, which has emerged as a potent religious symbol.

"There are a number of Muslim women's groups who say, 'Let's get the best of what the French education system has to offer - don't force us into a cultural box', because the paradox is if you wear the hijab, you may be expelled from school.

"Some Muslim women were also grateful that French school prohibitions on religious signs had provided them with a reason not to have to comply with their parents' wishes in relation to the hijab. But then there are others who say it is only an item of clothing which symbolises their respect for their culture, and it's really nothing to be afraid of."

To some extent, she says, Australia began the same debate when, in November last year, the Reverend Fred Nile questioned the general appropriateness of Muslim dress. "I don't think we engaged in it very seriously or for very long."

Syafii Maarif, chief of the 30-million-strong Muhammadiyah, Indonesia's second-largest Muslim organisation, says France's position is not about preserving a secular state: "This is probably because of the fear that Islam sometimes is linked to terrorism."

Even among Islamic scholars, dress requirements for women are hotly disputed. While the Koran refers to Muhammad's wives and their need to cover their private parts and bosom and to wear modest, loose-fitting clothing, there is disagreement as to whether it expressly commands the covering of the face and head.

In Australia, apprehensiveness about the hijab is partly because it is a symbol of modesty and runs counter to the feminist catchcry of sexual liberation.

More flexible attitudes to the role of women in the workplace and at home have been marked by rising hemlines, bra-less tops, teeny-weeny bikinis and expanding bare midriffs. Islam recommends covering up at a time when women are dressing down.

"To me it is very clear in the Koran that women must dress this way, and it's for her own sake, that a woman is so precious. Why should she be revealed to the world?" says Abdo, who considers the hijab the single most controversial issue facing young Muslim women in Australia. "I put it on in year 7 at a school where there were hardly any Muslims and that was a personal choice. I knew it was a command from God. Some teachers were quite shocked because they didn't understand and then there was odd comments from other students, like tea towel head and ninja, but overall I felt a responsibility to explain myself and educate people."

Increasingly, especially since the September 11 atrocities, the head scarf is being taken up by Islamic's younger generation as a proud affirmation of their Islamic identity.

Cahill believes this trend will eventually fade. "In the '50s the concern was that the daughters of Italian women were being required to wear black and that has now passed, and I think the same mechanism will occur, and, if doesn't, who really cares?"
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SEE ALSO
Reflections Magazine: Colours of Islam


FURTHER READING


Hijab Ban Under Fire

An Australian Perspective: Keeping the Faith: the Hijab and Secular Schools In France

Prejudice Is Alive and Well In the Legal Profession

Kool: France Divided As Headscarf Ban Is Set to Bbecome Law

[Wolf]

Smart sister that Feda Abdo...