Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Muslim Dress Used as Expression of Freedom

At Georgetown, we’re all accustomed to the diversity of foreign students we see throughout the campus community. Whenever I attend a class in the Intercultural Center, I always enjoy listening to the conversations in Arabic bouncing around the hallways. Having traveled in the Middle East, and simply being a girl who’s fond of clothes, I’m also interested to see what the girls are wearing. There are a fair number wearing the hijab – a traditional Muslim head-covering for women – each with her own style; some wear designer labels and towering heels while others opt for a simpler, more modest look. There’s certainly no quintessential style to pinpoint. It’s interesting to see what these girls choose to wear when they are temporarily removed from their own cultural setting.

This is why I was so intrigued when I saw a few girls wearing niqabs – traditional Muslim veils that cover everything but the eyes – last week. There they were, two girls (or women, I guess, hard to tell) sitting in front of More Uncommon Grounds chatting after class. Neither had coffee, but my mind immediately jumped to the scene in “Sex and the City 2” in which a niqab-wearing socialite lifts her veil for every solitary French fry she eats.

The issue of the niqab always sets off an internal debate for me. On the one hand, I want anyone visiting the United States to see how we manage to have such diversity in our country without major problems. I want visitors to understand how we accept cultural traditions and I want them feel welcomed regardless of societal differences. On the other hand, I cringe when I look at a girl and see nothing more than her eyes. Passing through a souk in the West Bank and spotting women in the niqab, I was always reminded of ghosts floating through the crowd. How does anyone know the person who is under that veil? How do they express themselves?

So I’ll say it: I don’t like the niqab. The thought of having to wear one makes me incredibly sad. But that’s my point: These women don’t have to wear it. Here they are, surrounded by secular Western culture, with no traditional pressure to cover one’s face, and yet they do. Compared to most female students, they don’t have to conform to exactly the most conservative interpretation of Islam to be seen as modest. Plus, many Muslim students coming from areas where the tradition of covering one’s face is practiced choose to forgo the niqab throughout their studies here.

So what does it mean when these women choose to wear the niqab? From a Western perspective, we may see the niqab as a sign of oppression. However, when women are allowed the freedom to choose how they want to present themselves, the choice of wearing the niqab can’t be misconstrued: These women are affirming their moral beliefs through their clothing.

The strength of any action lies in the fact that the individual chooses, with his or her own free will, to act in that way. France’s “burqa ban,” which makes it illegal for any woman to cover her face by niqab or burqa, doesn’t strengthen its democracy. Banning the niqab is the same as the Taliban forcing the burqa on its women or the Ayatollah making the hijab mandatory after the Islamic Revolution; regardless of the intentions of these laws, the result only disempowers women and their ability to represent their own beliefs and values.

The action of wearing the niqab is a way for these women to assert their free will – and with strength, at that. It is what living here in the United States is all about. I may not be fond of seeing the niqab, but I respect a woman’s choice to wear one. In a country where women have the freedom to make this choice, I can consider myself proud.

Elise Garofalo is a junior in the College. She can be reached at [email protected]. TIN CAN TELEPHONE appears every other Friday.

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