If you live in Muscat and spend a considerable amount of time in shopping malls, chances are you've spotted a rather large number of women in fashionable abayas wearing the black face veil with a slit for the eyes.
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It's safe to say that almost every one of those women is from the south of Oman. The veil, more commonly referred to as simply 'the burqa', is almost exclusively Dhofari. The south of Oman has traditionally been more gender-segregated and conservative than any of the other regions. Women in Dhofar start wearing the burqa from the age of about 18.
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During my years at a public girls' high school in Salalah, most of my classmates were already wearing it. When I first started college, I was one of a handful of females on campus who did not wear it.
All the hundreds of other females at my university were hidden behind veils. The only time I ever saw my colleagues' faces was in the prayer hall.
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In 2005 while I was still at college, the government enforced a burqa ban in all institutions of higher education in the country. Naturally, the ban hit Salalah like a tsunami. Tribal meetings were held non-stop for weeks on end while furious families tried to decide what to do. Locals staged demonstrations and wrote long letters to various ministers, but to no avail. Many young women dropped out of college because their families couldn't handle the so-called 'shame' of having their daughters' faces exposed to the world for the first time.
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For months Dhofar suffered what can only be referred to as severe social unrest. Slowly but surely, the young women got used to having an identity on campus. They became more confident and started carrying themselves differently. Some of them even stopped wearing the veil outside campus. The changes were fascinating to watch. Today, most young women in Dhofar don't think twice about uncovering their faces at college or at their offices.
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The past couple of years or so have also witnessed hundreds of young women obtaining their drivers' licences and heading out onto the road without a face veil. Things are changing, but the general consensus down south continues to be that a woman's reputation and identity should be concealed and 'protected' whenever possible. The burqa is a symbol reflecting that mentality.
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The one and only time I wore a burqa was about ten years ago when I was forced to go wedding crashing with my cousins. You may lower your raised eyebrow while I explain. Dhofari wedding crashers, otherwise known as ‘mutafarrigat’ are women whose greatest pleasure is putting on their burqas and slipping in to strangers’ weddings anonymously to view the bride and guests without being recognised. I refer to them as simply 'Dhofari paparazzi'. Many families line up chairs along the walls of the wedding ballrooms especially for these women.
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As much as I respect freedom of choice, I am sorry to say that the face veil is not something I would wish upon anyone. Covering a woman's face is not something I associate with my religion. If a woman makes the decision to wear the burqa, then it is entirely her choice - if it really is her choice. From my experience, I can assure you that no young woman wants to wear it nowadays.Once you've become empowered and discovered what it's like to have a public identity, there's no going back. The tradition of the burqa is dying slowly in Dhofar, but it couldn't go away soon enough.
I agree with some points as I have witnessed from Dhofar that the niqab (proper word---burka is not) is totally out of tribal trad... because of how women wear it. It is okay to wear heavy perfume out of the home but you wear a veil? No way in Islam even if you believe in covering your face. That is simply not how Islamic veiling works.
ReplyDeleteIn the West, we COnvert girls tend to wear it purely out of personal conviction that it is part of the religion. Not a must, but something good for us nonetheless, if we are able to manage it.
But I disagree it is only Dhofari ladies that wear it in Oman. If you ever happen to go to Lulu in Barka or HomeSense in Sohar, ect... none of the women in niqab are Dhofari. How they wear the veil is also different. It isn't to hide their identities as husband's will call their wives' name across the room. The woman being who she is and out in public isn't shameful. The niqab is worn because the woman likes it or believes it is part of her religion. Most non-Dhofari women who wear it don't do so out of culture but do it because they believe it is something beneficial or required in their religion.
All the women in Barka and my village who wear it (my village there are only 4 Omani women who choose to and their families try to make them NOT) do it out of religious reasons. The Qu'ran has a verse talking to the Prophet's wives saying their covering (either being screened totally behind walls or wearing a face covering going out) is purer for human hearts. Some women when reading that verse, myself included, tend to reason, if it was something pure for their hearts, it is also pure for my own.
That stands to reason, if the woman is choosing to wear the veil to be very modest, and not use it to stand out, or make her eyes look nicer ect.... that is for being purer in the eyes of God/Allah.
Also, some sayings from the time of the Prophet explain that the jilbab [Muslim woman's outer dress] occasionally covered the face and some women reason that since jilbab is clearly something outlined as a must in the Qu'ran that niqab could be a must as well. I personally disgaree with this, but I also don't have enough evidence in the world to disclude their point of veiw entirely enough to say it is not part of the religion at all.
I also disagree on your last point. Just working, having a public identity, alone aren't what empowers one. It is the choice. If you wear niqab and don't have a public identity, that you probably are just wearing it for culture. Many young girls grew up with jobs and being known in the public eye and still end up choosing to wear niqab and be in the public despite the public making that next to impossible for them, myself included.
I took niqab off to work. Because of the stupid law that made it illegal (though I agree it is good for the girls whose families and husbands forced them I guess). But when I leave work and head to city center? I put it back on. It is my choice and I am not old;). And I am not Dhofari;). And my SIL is not Dhofari and no one but us 2 in the whole tribe wear niqab, and both our husbands tell us to take it off occasionally.
It is all about the choice and why we wear it. If a girl has to wear it to make it so "she doesn't exist" the whole point of the religious or even modesty quotient of veiling is lost.
Dhofaris women losing their identity
ReplyDeleteI started wearing the burqa when I was 15 >.<
ReplyDeletehmmm. women should have the right to choose how they want to dress, and i find it bizarre that any government would pass a law dictating how a person should dress, just like in france banning a face veil or in iran enforcing the hijab. ridiculous. men can go on the street in their underwear - no problem, hang out in your wizar and flannel!
ReplyDeletewhat state is the planet in when adults need laws to dictate their dress code?!?! and not to hide nudity but forced to expose things they dont want to expose!
I dont wear a burqa or a hijab, but that is my choice, and everyone should be able to choose how they want to dress, even my two year old choses what she wants to wear every morning.
in awe of pursuing a career and identity ur trying to modify the modesty practices of islam what is most astonishing is that ur from an islamic nation.either ur not liking ur own culture or frustated with ur lifestyle .ur just trying to be an odd woman out try to discover the good reasons behind hijab
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