Wajip wanita muslimah memakai niqab اatau purdah adalah pendapat sebahagian para ulama. Sementara jumhur (majoriti) ulama berpendapat muka wanita tidak termasuk di dalam auratnya. Wanita yang memakai purdah berpegang dengan pendapat golongan ulama yang mewajibkannya. [Full Article]
Martini Devlin has published an article titled 'If Muslim men like the veil so much, let them wear it'. Martini suggested that men also should be covered up to show gender equality to today society.
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While westerners always argue that Muslim women who cover up are deprived from human rights and not treated equally, but many muslim women don't think so. Muslim women are willing, happy and proud to wear the hijab.
Anyway, ask men to wear to veil is a good suggestion to let them experience the feeling of cover up. It is not an Islam teaching to ask men to be covered up, but it is good for men to experience someting they like but never try before. Women can do it, there is no reason why men cannot do it.
Shaikha Ahmad, a 26-year-old housewife from the UAE, says her face veil does not restrict her from being an active part of society in the UAE. She has a degree in Arabic and Islamic studies. "I took up the niqab at 18 out of choice.
"People who judge the face veil hardly ever see it from the perspective of those who wear it,"
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Mona Al Merri, Chairperson of the Board of Directors at the Dubai Women's Establishment, said that although she did not believe the face veil to be religiously obligatory, she said it was a personal choice for women, which is not restrictive. "A woman's face is not forbidden to be shown. The niqab was imposed because of traditions and extremist fatwas," she said.
Statements made by Cherie Blair about the face veil were made out of lack of awareness of Islamic culture but responsibility to protect Islam's image rests on Muslims, said prominent Emirati women.
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Read More:
Cherie Blair: my doubts about the Muslim veil - Telegraph.co.uk (2007-11-02)
Cherie Blair has questioned whether the full-face veil restricted Muslim women from being "people in their own right". The wife of the former Prime Minister said full veils, such as the niqab or burqa, could prevent a woman from expressing her personality.
Wearing niqab or burqa in public places has created a lot of controversy in western countries. The following are the news on banning niqab or burqa in public places.
Feds want Muslim headwear banned from airports
THE Federal Government believes wearing Islamic scarves should be banned at Australian airports, senior government sources have revealed. Under the radical security proposal, even the most inoffensive Muslim scarf, the hijab, which covers a woman's hair and neck, would be banned, along with several other types.
An interesting article explaining why some scholars insists that Niqab is mandatory.
[Read article]
The Dutch government has said it intends to ban the wearing of Muslim niqabs in public, justifying the move on security grounds.Rita Verdonk, the Dutch minister for immigration, said on Friday that legislation to impose the ban would be drafted shortly. Niqabs are already illegal to wear on public transport or in schools.
Continue reading: http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/31FC41DA-9441-4D37-98B3-4956A62BEF78.htm
Their own mothers did not wear the veil but in the post 9/11 era, many young Muslim women in Europe see covering themselves as an act not of self-erasure but of power and freedom. But how do others in the West feel about this sign of radical Islamic identity: does it raise uncomfortable questions for all of us?
Here is a story of Rahmanara Chowdhury who is a bright, affable woman with a charming laugh and an approachable manner. She is a part-time teacher who teaches teenagers 'interpersonal skills, teamwork, personal development' while dressed in an outfit that conceals her whole body and face, except for the eyes. I found this interesting article in Observer
(AFP) 21 October 2006 HELWAN, Egypt - Egyptian students whose faces are completely hidden behind the veil have been banished from the residence halls at Helwan University under threat of expulsion in what could be called the battle of the veil. ‘They say nothing to indecent girls, but we -- the daughters of Islam -- are being hounded,' protests 21-year-old student Iman Ahmed. Only her eyes are showing through the slit in her black face veil, called a niqab. Even though the vast majority of female Muslim students already wear the headscarf, known as a hijab, those who chose the more radical cover up of the face veil were told to take it off or quit the student digs.
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A Muslim teaching assistant who was suspended for refusing to remove her veil during lessons has been awarded £1,100 for "injury to her feelings".
Aishah Azmi, 24, lost her claims that she was discriminated against because of her religious beliefs and that she had suffered harassment.
But an employment tribunal ruled that she had been victimised through the environment created as a result of her stance. Read more.
