Thursday, 14 July 2011

Jewish and christan Hijab style

I am writing this post (part two of two parts) to illustrate WHAT was revealed to the Jewish and Christian women in terms of hijab, so that we as Muslims can better understand what things we were commanded to do in addition to differentiate ourselves from the practices of the Jews (which the Qu'ran states incurred Allahsubhahu wa ta'ala's wrath) and the Christians (who went astray), صِرَاطَ الَّذِينَ أَنعَمتَ عَلَيهِمْ غَيرِ المَغضُوبِ عَلَيهِمْ وَلاَ الضَّالِّين . Muslims and so-called Muslim scholars need to understand, that just because the majority of Christians and Jews have stopped wearing the hijab THEY are compelled to put on by THEIR deen, doesn't mean that Muslims can leave off the clear recomendations for our hijab in the Qu'ran , many of which the Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa-sallam explained in various ahadith were for modesty, and to clearly differentiate ourselves from the practices of the Jews and the Christians, which were altered to suit mankind's whims in their histories. Ours are not to be. There are many documents of survivng dress that document what Jewish and Christian women wore throughout history, and some surviving practioners of their hijabs. This post is about the fard requirements of Jewish and Christian hijab. InshaAllah you will find it interesting.
Jewish and christan style hijab
Is Covering the Hair a Religious Commandment for Christian Women?There can be only one answer to this: yes, it is! The custom of wearing the veil was maintained in the primitive Churches of God. (1Cor.11:16). We see this in the first letter of Paul to the Corinthians. The women of Corinth beset by modern sensibilities, started coming to church without their heads covered. When Paul heard of their neglect, he wrote and urged them to keep the veil. According to Jerome’s commentary Bible, he finally settled the matter by saying head covering was a custom of the primitive communities of Judea, "the Churches of God" (1 Thess.2-14, 2Thess.1-4), which had received this Tradition from early times (2 Thess. 2:15. 3:6). Simply open the Bible to the First Epistle to the Corinthians, chapter 11. Read verses 3-10.

The meaning of this passage is plain enough. We can make the following syllogisms:
Syllogism 1Praying with an uncovered head is a disgrace
Having a shaved head is the same as praying with an uncovered head
Therefore, having a shaved head is a disgrace
Syllogism 2
If it is a disgrace for a woman to have a shaved head, she should cover her head
It is a disgrace for a woman to have a shaved head - see syllogism 1
Therefore, a woman should cover her head
In other words, the passage means what it says. Have you ever wondered why Catholic nuns dress like they're wearing hijab (Muslim hijabi women, have you ever been mistaken for a nun? I have, more than once). Have you ever wondered why Mary the mother of Jesus (peace be upon them both) is always depicted in Christian art with her hair covered? Did you know that until the 1960s, it was obligatory for Catholic women to cover their heads in church (then they "modernized" the service)?
There are some interesting points that can be made about the Christian directive.
1) The explicit purpose of the Christian woman's headcovering, as stated by Paul, is that it is a sign of man's authority over woman. The explicit purpose of Islamic and Judaic hijab is modesty. Strange how so many Westerners think that the purpose of hijab is a symbol of male authority. Maybe they know that that's what it is in their own religion (Christianity) so they assume that Islam must be the same...!

2) The Christian woman is to cover her head whenever she is praying, whether it be at the church service or just personal prayer at home. This may mean that if she is not praying at home, she is uncovered around male guests who are not related to her; or if she is praying at home, that she is covered around her own husband and family. If any more proof were needed than Paul's own words that the Christian headcovering is not about modesty, this must certainly be it!

Latest Jewish and christan Hijab style
This puts hijab in a whole new perspective, doesn't it! To my non-hijabi Muslim sister who feels that hijab is a sign of oppression for the Muslim female, please do read the above and then read the Q'uran. Believe me, if Allah subhanhu wa ta'ala meant for hijab to be a sign of male authority, the Q'uran would be as unambiguous about it as Paul is in the Bible. Isn't this difference the kind of thing that attracted you to Islam in the first place?
Some Christians will argue that the context of covering is a spiritual one (as Oum Amir tried to in the previous post on Jewish hijab) but that is negated by statements from Paul and ayahs (verses) from Titus. We should "adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things" (Titus 2:10). Christians sometimes hear that verse misinterpreted as meaning that they are to adorn themselves with the doctrine of God. Adorn means "to decorate; to deck or ornament; to set off to advantage" (Webster's Dictionary). It is "the doctrine of God our Saviour" that is to be adorned (decorated or decked), not ones self. Christians are to adorn "the doctrine of God our Saviour" with "good works" (Titus 2:7), and holiness (I Peter 1:15 and II Peter 3:11) in all things:

Jewish and christan Hijab style
Being "holy in all manner of conversation" includes what one says, what ones does, AND how one looks because appearence is the first of all communications! In Christianity each person should serve faithfully in the role that God has assigned. Men should be men, women should be women, Jesus' congregations should be Jesus' kind of congregations (as Muslims are not to resemble the non-muslims). Men should look like men, women should look like women, Christians should look like Christians "as unto the Lord." Ironically, during the crusades, Christian clothing and nun's habits were evolved to look more like a Muslim woman's, as they adopted our way of wearing the khimar, so that it covers the chest, though Christian women were only comanded to cover the hair.
Scripture sacred to the Christians presents several reasons for wearing the veil. Paul tells us in his first letter to the Corinthians (11: 1-16) that Christian women must cover their heads because it is a Sacred Tradition commanded by God Himself and entrusted to Paul: "The things I am writing to you are the Lord’s commandments" (1Cor. 14:37). 
Christian women also were told to be ready with their bridal veils, waiting for the return of the Messiah and the promised wedding(Apoc.22:17), following the example of Mary/Meryem, who never appeared before the eyes of men but properly veiled.
Some Christians argue that hair is a woman's veil because Paul says in Corinthians: ...Judge for yourselves; is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? Does not nature itself teach you that for a man to wear long hair is degrading to him, but if a woman has long hair, it is her pride? For her hair is given to her for a covering...that a woman's hair is to be her veil, and that this verse simply prohibits a woman from cutting her hair and states that she must grow it out long. Note: any Christians who do not believe in wearing the veil, must thus believe that cutting the hair any shorter than the shoulder blades is prohibited or else they completely reject their scripture rather than plainly misinterpret it which I feel is the case, backed up by early Christian art, or Roman art portraying "Christian" dress---the dress of the followers of Isa alahi wa salaam. Paul is not prohibiting hair styles here. To focus on hair styles is to miss the point. Paul is simply asking a few rhetorical questions based on popular culture. In most cultures women have longer hair then men, and when they do, it usually looks better. He's saying that when a woman has long hair it usually looks beautiful, and when a man has long hair (which something associated in scriptures with the Nazarenes), it usually looks a little odd. In some cultures, long hair is considered a sign of femininity. So if a man has long hair, it looks feminine in those cultures, and that is "degrading" to him. What Paul is doing here is he's appealing to nature. He's saying; "Look, even mother nature teaches us the same lesson. She gives women long hair as a covering and it looks good and proper on them." Then he concludes with this interesting verse... ...If any one is disposed to be contentious, we recognize no other practice, nor do the churches of God. Some Bible versions have mistranslated this verse to say "we recognize no such practice, nor do the churches of God." This mistranslation is often used to negate the previous first half of the chapter. In other words, those who abuse such mistranslations say that Paul spent half a chapter, explaining a deep theological principle pertaining to a custom he applauds the Corinthians for keeping, only to say in this last verse that they really don't need to keep it. Such interpretations are silliness. The proper translation is rendered here as "we recognize no other practice." Here Paul is telling the Corinthians not to get too contentious over the chapel veil custom, because he's not going to burden them with anything else beyond that. He's not going to tell men and women how to dress. He's not going to tell them what kind of a veil they should wear, or how they should wear it like Pharises did---this Isa alahi wa salaam railed against! He's simply saying that this is the custom as it is practiced in the "churches of God" and they recognize no other practice beyond this. That a woman has to cover her hair, especially for prayer. He says it is a shame for a woman to be shaved bald (because it was a cultural statement that shaved women were shamed and women with long hair beautiful), and the woman that does not veil her hair, should be shaved bald (he is not commanding this but using another example from popular culture where women were shaved bald to be publically humiliated for indecent and immoral behaviour), i.e. he is saying it should be seen by the Christian women, that not veiling the hair is as much a shame as being bald so they should continue the practice of covering/veiling their hair.
HOW DO WE KNOW THAT HAIR ITSELF IS NOT THE COVERING?
As Muslims well know with translations of the Qu'ran, translations are a tricky lot, and with English versions of the Bible, we are dealing with a translation or a translation of a translation of what might have been something similiar to what came after Isa alahi wa salaam. Corinthians 11:6,7 used the word "veil". This is the only place in the New Testament that this Greek word is used. Therefore it is important that we don’t lean too heavily on one person’s definition for the word. There are four different Greek words used here in 1 Corinthians 11 in referring to covering the head. In addition there are a number of other Greek words used throughout the New Testament that mean to cover or to veil. The four Greek words used in this passage are:

1. Covered (verse 4) – #2596 κατά kata
2. Covered ( verses 6,7) – #2619 κατακαλύπτω katakaluptō
3. Covering (verse 15) – #4018 περιβόλαιον peribolaion
4. Uncovered (verses 5,13)– #177 ακατακάλυπτος akatakaluptos
It is important to note that in commanding a woman to cover her head, the verse did not use one of two other Greek words that are used in the New Testament that clearly mean to cover the face.
Veil - #2571 κάλυμα kaluma a cover, that is, veil: - vail. Strong's Greek Dictionary. This word is used in 2 Corinthians 3:13 “And not as Moses, which put a veil over his face, that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished:”
If God would have intended Christian women to cover their face, He would have made it clear by using one of these other words. It WAS a Jewish practice for married Jewish women of a certain social status to fully veil themselves, but not a Biblicial or Judaic commandment for women of either peoples. Another indicator (from this history and archeology student's veiw) that God is not (nor was Paul) requiring women to cover their face is that pictures of the early church show women with veils that do not cover the face.
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