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Egyptians and head covering by women

Reader comment on item: Ten Percent of Muslims Call for Niqabs or Burqas
in response to reader comment: Different attitude of Hijabis

Submitted by dhimmi no more (United States), Jan 13, 2014 at 07:41

NC wrote

Living in Egypt or Turkey you can say if the girl is devout or a not, serious or a flirt - by looking not just at hijab but the whole personal attitude.

In the case of Egypt the claim that wearing el-Higab reduces the chances of sexual assaults or that it renders thw women to become pious and therfore respected was proven to be not true as even el-Muhagabat (those that wear this silly head cover) were also subjects of sexual assaults following the 2011 Egyptian revolution

The history of the Higab in modern Egypt is very interesting. Egyptian women more among el-Falaheen wear the very Egyptian Tarha but this really has nothing to do with Islam as Coptic women also wear the Tarha

Now in early 20th century women (and I include here Muslim as well as Coptic and Jewish women) used to wear el-Niqab which was an import in Egypt via the backward Turks and it was no more than a fashion statment

And believe it or not Cairo was a bastion of fashion and just a few steps behind Paris

Now around 1924 Hoda Shaarawi هدى شعراوي http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huda_Shaarawi who was a femenist and who regarded that wearing any face or head cover by women as a sign of submission to men and this is why she took off her Niqab in public and from that moment on women en masse stopped using el-Niqab and el-Hegab but in rural areas women continued to wear the very Egyptian Tarha and the Niqab was not in fashion any longer

Even the women in the family of Hasan el-Bana the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood did not wear any form of head cover and this indeed stresses the fact that there is no correlation between being pious and covering of one's head by women

Now we move forward to the 1970's and 1980's and many Egyptians moved for work to places like Saudi Arabia and came back with very Wahhabi ideas including salafism and more conservative forms of Islam and they brought with them el-Higab and el-Niqab

The spread of using el-Higab in Egypt now is no more than a fashion statement and it can disappear over night as it did in 1924

You see the more it changes the more it stays the same

Submitting....

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Reader comments (24) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
Religion Based Attire [22 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
Mark DFeb 26, 2014 02:15213435
3In the case of Egypt only 1% of Muslims prefer the no hijab [28 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
dhimmi no moreJan 15, 2014 07:53212676
Cultural mixture? [49 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
VadimJan 15, 2014 01:38212672
Niqab a cultural thing ? [30 words]Shawarma NewsJan 23, 2014 08:45212672
Lost (to lose) in Terms [27 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
Amin RiazJan 14, 2014 23:31212670
1the hairy questions [231 words]mythJan 14, 2014 18:13212667
2It does not make sense [69 words]dhimmi no moreJan 13, 2014 15:37212649
1Different attitude of Hijabis [136 words]Nazim CairoJan 12, 2014 17:10212626
4Egyptians and head covering by women [386 words]dhimmi no moreJan 13, 2014 07:41212626
5Would be interested in finding how many would go for number 7-Paris Protesters [103 words]Michael Hanni MorcosJan 11, 2014 22:59212607
1Were those polled men and/or women? [21 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
DavidJan 11, 2014 22:40212605
Key for chart? [22 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
LindaKJan 11, 2014 22:01212597
Who says? [21 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
WallyJan 11, 2014 19:17212593
Values [49 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
Sam hillardJan 11, 2014 19:07212592
1Only 10% want it?...It's settled then! [179 words]M.D. ANTHONYJan 11, 2014 19:03212591
A lack of clarity [188 words]Amin RiazJan 14, 2014 23:43212591
3What lack of clarity? [550 words]dhimmi no moreJan 18, 2014 11:40212591
Verbs that do not conjugate [130 words]Amin RiazJan 19, 2014 15:47212591
1The Syriac Qur'an! Evidence? Read and enjoy [525 words]dhimmi no moreFeb 1, 2014 09:23212591
1All answers are in Pg99 of Al Mawrid Pg426 of Hans Wher [117 words]Amin RiazFeb 4, 2014 10:43212591
2Syriac in the Qur'an again [568 words]dhimmi no moreFeb 6, 2014 15:05212591
Where to look for answers... [194 words]Amin RiazFeb 6, 2014 18:57212591
2More Syriac in the Qur'an and the Bism in al-Basmala is revisited and it is a big time disaster [1167 words]dhimmi no moreFeb 7, 2014 13:10212591
4Where are the moderate Islamics? [81 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
Doug MayfieldJan 11, 2014 18:34212589

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