Editing Hijab (section)

==History==
===Pre-Islamic veiling practices===
{{Further|Veil}}
[[File:Bronze Statuette of a Veiled and Masked Dancer 1.jpg|thumb|upright|Greek bronze statuette of a veiled and masked dancer, 2nd–3rd century BC]]
Veiling did not originate with the advent of Islam. Statuettes depicting veiled priestesses date back as far as 2500 BC.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kahf |first=Mohja |title=The Veil: Women Writers on Its History, Lore, and Politics |publisher=University of California Press |year=2008 |page=27 |chapter=From Her Royal Body the Robe Was Removed: The Blessings of the Veil and the Trauma of Forced Unveilings in the Middle East}}</ref> Elite women in ancient Mesopotamia and in the Byzantine, Greek, and Persian empires wore the veil as a sign of respectability and high status.<ref name="Ahmed 1992 15">{{cite book|last=Ahmed|first=Leila|title=Women and Gender in Islam|year=1992|publisher=Yale University Press|location=New Haven|page=15}}</ref> In ancient Mesopotamia, Assyria had explicit [[sumptuary laws]] detailing which women must veil and which women must not, depending upon the woman's class, rank, and occupation in society.<ref name="Ahmed 1992 15" /> Female slaves and prostitutes were forbidden to veil and faced harsh penalties if they did so.<ref name="El Guindi">{{Cite book|last=El Guindi|first=Fadwa|title=Hijab|publisher=The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World|author2=Sherifa Zahur|year= 2009|doi=10.1093/acref/9780195305135.001.0001|isbn=9780195305135}}</ref> Veiling was thus not only a marker of aristocratic rank, but also served to "differentiate between 'respectable' women and those who were publicly available".<ref name="El Guindi" /><ref name="Ahmed 1992 15" />

Strict seclusion and the veiling of matrons were also customary in ancient Greece. Between 550 and 323 BCE, prior to Christianity, respectable women in classical Greek society were expected to seclude themselves and wear clothing that concealed them from the eyes of strange men.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ahmed|first=Leila|title=Women and Gender in Islam|year=1992|publisher=Yale University Press|location=New Haven|pages=27–28}}</ref> Roman pagan custom included the practice of the head covering worn by the priestesses of [[Vesta (mythology)|Vesta]] ([[Vestal Virgin]]s).<ref name="freund" />
[[File:Temple_of_baal07(js).jpg|thumb|left|upright|Pre-Islamic relief showing veiled women, [[Temple of Bel|Temple of Baal]], Palmyra, Syria, 1st century CE]]
It is not clear whether the Hebrew Bible contains prescriptions with regard to veiling, but rabbinic literature presents it as a question of modesty (''[[tzniut]]'').<ref name="freund">{{cite web|author=Richard Freund|title=The Veiling of Women in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. A Guide to the Exhibition|publisher=University of Hartford|url=http://uhaweb.hartford.edu/greenberg-center/Veiled%20Women%20Catalog.pdf|access-date=22 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160804133139/http://uhaweb.hartford.edu/greenberg-center/Veiled%20Women%20Catalog.pdf|archive-date=4 August 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> Modesty became an important rabbinic virtue in the early Roman period, and it may have been intended to distinguish Jewish women from their non-Jewish counterparts in Babylonian and later in Greco-Roman society.<ref name="freund" /> According to rabbinical precepts, married Jewish women have to cover their hair (cf. ''[[Mitpaḥat]]''). The surviving representations of veiled Jewish women may reflect general Roman customs rather than particular Jewish practices.<ref name="freund" /> According to [[Fadwa El Guindi]], at the inception of Christianity, Jewish women were veiling their heads and faces.<ref name="El Guindi" />
[[File:Chief_Vestal.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Roman statue of a [[Vestal Virgin]]]]
The best-known view on [[Christian headcovering]] is delineated in the [[Bible]] within the passage in [[1 Corinthians 11]]:4–7, which states that "every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head".<ref name="freund" /> The [[early Church Fathers]], including [[Tertullian of Carthage]], [[Clement of Alexandria]], [[Hippolytus of Rome]], [[John Chrysostom]] and [[Augustine of Hippo]] attested in their writings that Christian women should wear a headcovering, while men should pray with their heads uncovered.<ref name="OCIC">{{cite web |title=On Account of the Angels: Why I Cover My Head |url=http://orthodoxinfo.com/praxis/headcoverings.aspx |publisher=Orthodox Christian Information Center |access-date=8 April 2022 |quote=St. John Chrysostom thought that Paul, in admonishing women to wear a covering "because of the angels," meant it "not at the time of prayer only, but also continually, she ought to be covered." Fr. Rhodes agrees: "The veil can be the constant symbol of the true woman of God … a way of life … a testimony of faith and of the salvation of God, not only before men, but angels as well."}}</ref><ref name="SJEOC2019"/> There is archaeological evidence demonstrating that headcovering was observed as an ordinance by women in early Christianity,<ref name="Anderson">{{cite book |last1=Anderson |first1=Cory A. |title=The Ornament of a Spirit: Exploring the Reasons Covering Styles Change |date=2013 |publisher=Ridgeway Publishing |location=[[Stoneboro, Pennsylvania|Stoneboro]]|pages=14–21, 29–30, 85 |language=English}}</ref><ref name="freund" /> and the practice of Christian headcovering continues among female adherents of many [[Christian denomination]]s today, especially among [[Anabaptist Christian]]s, as well as among certain [[Eastern Orthodox Christian]]s, [[Oriental Orthodox Christian]]s and [[Reformed Christian]]s, among others.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Anderson |first1=Cory A. |title=The Ornament of a Spirit: Exploring the Reasons Covering Styles Change |date=2013 |publisher=Ridgeway Publishing |location=[[Stoneboro, Pennsylvania|Stoneboro]]|page=13 |language=English}}</ref><ref name="SJEOC2019">{{cite web |title=The Ultimate Guide to Christian Headcoverings |url=https://www.saintjohnchurch.org/head-coverings-ultimate-guide/ |publisher=Saint John the Evangelist Orthodox Church |access-date=19 August 2021 |date=17 May 2019}}</ref>

In the [[Indian subcontinent]], some [[Hindu]] women cover their heads and face with a veil in a practice known as ''[[ghoonghat]]''.<ref name="Gupta2003">{{cite book|last=Gupta|first=Kamala|title=Women In Hindu Social System (1206–1707 A.D.) |year=2003 |publisher=Inter-India Publications|isbn=9788121004145|quote=Hindu ladies covered their head with a kind of veil known as Ghoonghat.}}</ref><ref name="Gupta1987">{{cite book |last1=Gupta |first1=Kamala |title=Social Status of Hindu Women in Northern India, 1206-1707 A.D. |date=1987 |publisher=Inter-India Publications |isbn=978-81-210-0179-3 |page=131 |quote=The Hindu ladies covered their heads with a kind of veil known as ''ghoonghat''.}}</ref>

Intermixing of populations resulted in a convergence of the cultural practices of Greek, Persian, and Mesopotamian empires and the Semitic peoples of the Middle East.<ref name="El Guindi" /> Veiling and seclusion of women appear to have established themselves among Jews and Christians before spreading to urban Arabs of the upper classes and eventually among the urban masses.<ref name="El Guindi" /> In the rural areas it was common to cover the hair, but not the face.<ref name="El Guindi" />

According to Leila Ahmed, the rigid norms pertaining to veiling and seclusion of women found in Christian Byzantine literature had been influenced by ancient Persian traditions, and there is evidence to suggest that they differed significantly from actual practice.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ahmed|first=Leila|title=Women and Gender in Islam|year=1992|publisher=Yale University Press|location=New Haven|pages=26–28}}</ref> Leila Ahmed argues that "Whatever the cultural source or sources, a fierce misogyny was a distinct ingredient of Mediterranean and eventually Christian thought in the centuries immediately preceding the rise of Islam."<ref name="Ahmed 1992 35">{{cite book|last=Ahmed|first=Leila|title=Women and Gender in Islam|year=1992|publisher=Yale University Press|location=New Haven|page=35}}</ref>

===Later pre-modern history===
During the [[history of slavery in the Muslim world]], it is known that female slaves did show themselves unveiled. Slave women were visually identified by their way of dress. While Islamic law dictated that a free Muslim woman should veil herself entirely, except for her face and hands, in order to hide her [[awrah]] (intimate parts) and avoid sexual harassment, the awrah of slave women were defined differently, and she was only to cover between her navel and her knee.<ref>Anchassi, O. (2021). Status Distinctions and Sartorial Difference: Slavery, Sexual Ethics, and the Social Logic of Veiling in Islamic Law. Islamic Law and Society, 28(3), 125-155. https://doi.org/10.1163/15685195-bja10008</ref> 
This difference became even more prominent during [[slavery in the Abbasid Caliphate|the Abbasid Caliphate]], when free Muslim women, in particular those of the upper classes, were subjected to even more sex segregation and [[harem]] seclusion, in contrast to the [[qiyan]] slave artists, who performed unveiled in male company.<ref>Caswell, F. M. (2011). The Slave Girls of Baghdad: The Qiyan in the Early Abbasid Era. Storbritannien: I.B.Tauris. 6-7</ref>

The practice of veiling was borrowed from the elites of the Byzantine and Persian empires, where it was a symbol of respectability and high social status, during the [[Early Muslim conquests|Arab conquests]] of those empires.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Hijab|editor=John L. Esposito|encyclopedia=The Oxford Dictionary of Islam|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|year=2014|doi=10.1093/acref/9780195125580.001.0001|isbn=9780195125580|url=https://archive.org/details/oxforddictionary00bada}}</ref> Reza Aslan argues that "The veil was neither compulsory nor widely adopted until generations after Muhammad's death, when a large body of male scriptural and legal scholars began using their religious and political authority to regain the dominance they had lost in society as a result of the Prophet's egalitarian reforms".<ref name="Aslan 2005 66" />

Because Islam identified with the monotheistic religions of the conquered empires, the practice was adopted as an appropriate expression of Qur'anic ideals regarding modesty and piety.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ahmed|first=Leila|title=Women and Gender in Islam|year=1992|publisher=Yale University Press|location=New Haven|page=36}}</ref> Veiling gradually spread to upper-class Arab women, and eventually it became widespread among Muslim women in cities throughout the Middle East. Veiling of Arab Muslim women became especially pervasive under Ottoman rule as a mark of rank and exclusive lifestyle, and Istanbul of the 17th century witnessed differentiated dress styles that reflected geographical and occupational identities.<ref name="El Guindi" /> Women in rural areas were much slower to adopt veiling because the garments interfered with their work in the fields.<ref>{{cite book|last=Esposito|first=John|title=Islam: The Straight Path|url=https://archive.org/details/islam00john|url-access=registration|year=1991|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=[https://archive.org/details/islam00john/page/99 99]|isbn=978-0-19-506225-0|edition=3}}</ref> Since wearing a veil was impractical for working women, "a veiled woman silently announced that her husband was rich enough to keep her idle."<ref>Bloom (2002), p.47</ref>

By the 19th century, upper-class urban Muslim and Christian women in Egypt wore a garment which included a head cover and a ''burqa'' ([[muslin]] cloth that covered the lower nose and the mouth).<ref name="El Guindi" /> The name of this garment, ''harabah'', derives from early Christian and Judaic religious vocabulary, which may indicate the origins of the garment itself.<ref name="El Guindi" /> Up to the first half of the twentieth century, rural women in the Maghreb and Egypt put on a form of ''niqab'' when they visited urban areas, "as a sign of civilization".<ref>{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=be7sCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA276|page=276|title=Religion in Public Spaces: A European Perspective|editor1=Silvio Ferrari |editor2=Sabrina Pastorelli|publisher=Routledge|year=2016|author=Sara Silverstri|chapter=Comparing Burqa Debates in Europe|isbn=9781317067542}}</ref>

===Modern history===
[[File:Moslema in style (8093610616).jpg|thumb|left|upright|A model displaying a fashionable hijab at "Moslema In Style Fashion Show" in [[Kuala Lumpur]], Malaysia]]
Western clothing largely dominated fashion in Muslim countries in the 1960s and 1970s.<ref>{{cite book |title=A Quiet Revolution: The Veil's Resurgence, from the Middle East to America |author=Leila Ahmed |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.albawaba.com/slideshow/retro-mini-fashion-middle-east--514288 |title=Retro Middle East: The rise and fall of the miniskirt |website=albawaba.com |date=18 August 2013 |access-date=23 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161024022834/http://www.albawaba.com/slideshow/retro-mini-fashion-middle-east--514288 |archive-date=24 October 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref> For example, in [[fashion in Pakistan|Pakistan]], Afghanistan and Iran, some women wore short skirts, flower printed [[hippie]] dresses, or flared trousers.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.dawn.com/news/1223761 |title=Bhutto's Pakistan |date=4 December 2015 |access-date=23 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161019191043/http://www.dawn.com/news/1223761 |archive-date=19 October 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref> This changed following the military dictatorship in Pakistan, and [[Iranian revolution]] of 1979, when traditional conservative attire including the [[abaya]], jilbab and niqab made a comeback.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.shughal.com/16-images-of-pakistans-swinging-1970s/ |title=Pakistan's swinging 70s |access-date=23 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161009213528/http://www.shughal.com/16-images-of-pakistans-swinging-1970s/ |archive-date=9 October 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.businessinsider.com/iran-before-the-revolution-in-photos-2015-4|title=25 photos show what Iran looked like before the 1979 revolution turned the nation into an Islamic republic|first=Jeremy Bender, Melia|last=Robinson|website=Business Insider}}</ref> There were demonstrations in Iran in March 1979 after the hijab law, decreeing that women in Iran would have to wear scarves to leave the house, was brought in.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/sep/03/hengameh-golestans-best-photograph-iranian-women-rebel-against-the-1979-hijab-law |title=theguardian.com, 3 September 2015, accessed 23 October 2016 |website=[[The Guardian]] |date=3 September 2015 |access-date=23 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190107103504/https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/sep/03/hengameh-golestans-best-photograph-iranian-women-rebel-against-the-1979-hijab-law |archive-date=7 January 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref> However, this phenomenon did not happen in all countries with a significant Muslim population; in Turkey there has been a decline on women wearing the hijab in recent years,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://en.qantara.de/content/women-in-turkey-the-headscarf-is-slipping?page=0%2C1|title = Women in Turkey: The headscarf is slipping - Qantara.de| date=20 February 2019 }}</ref> although under Erdoğan Turkey is becoming more conservative and Islamic, as Turkey repeals the [[Headscarf controversy in Turkey#Banning of headscarves|1982 headscarf ban in public sector]],<ref>''[https://www.mevzuat.gov.tr/mevzuat?MevzuatNo=85105&MevzuatTur=3&MevzuatTertip=5 KAMU KURUM VE KURULUŞLARINDA ÇALIŞAN PERSONELİN KILIK VE KIYAFETİNE DAİR YÖNETMELİK]'' ("THE REGULATION ON THE DRESS AND ATTIRE OF PERSONNEL WORKING IN PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS AND ORGANIZATIONS") dated 16 July 1982.</ref> and the founding of new fashion companies catering to women who want to dress more conservatively.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/aljazeeraworld/2015/05/cover-story-150505121122072.html|title=Cover Story|website=www.aljazeera.com|access-date=11 April 2020}}</ref>

Egyptian leader President [[Gamal Abdel Nasser]] claimed that, in 1953, he was told by the leader of the [[Muslim Brotherhood]] organization that they wanted to enforce the wearing of the hijab, to which Nasser responded, "Sir, I know you have a daughter in college, and she doesn't wear a headscarf or anything! Why don't you make her wear the headscarf? So you can't make one girl, your own daughter, wear it, and yet you want me to go and make ten million women wear it?"<ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-07-23 |title=How Abdel Nasser described Muslim Brotherhood |url=https://www.egypttoday.com/Article/1/54557/How-Abdel-Nasser-described-Muslim-Brotherhood |access-date=2023-11-29 |website=EgyptToday}}</ref>

The late-twentieth century saw a resurgence of the hijab in Egypt after a long period of decline as a result of westernization. Already in the mid-1970s some college aged Muslim men and women began a movement meant to reunite and rededicate themselves to the Islamic faith.<ref name="oxfordislamicstudies.com">{{cite web|last1=El Guindi|first1=Fadwa|last2=Zuhur|first2=Sherifa|title=Ḥijāb|url=http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t236/e0306|publisher=The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World|access-date=11 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141024173453/http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t236/e0306|archive-date=24 October 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Bullock 2000 22–53">{{cite journal |last=Bullock|first=Katherine|title=Challenging Medial Representations of the Veil|journal=The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences|year=2000|volume=17|issue=3|pages=22–53|doi=10.35632/ajis.v17i3.2045}}</ref> This movement was named the [[Islamic revival|Sahwah]],<ref>{{cite web|last=Elsaie |first=Adel |title=Dr. |url=http://www.usislam.org/islamicyouth/islamic_youth_Campaign.htm |publisher=United States of Islam |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121224004547/http://www.usislam.org/islamicyouth/islamic_youth_Campaign.htm |archive-date=24 December 2012 }}</ref> or awakening, and sparked a period of heightened religiosity that began to be reflected in the dress code.<ref name="oxfordislamicstudies.com" />
The uniform adopted by the young female pioneers of this movement was named al-Islāmī (Islamic dress) and was made up of an "al-jilbāb—an unfitted, long-sleeved, ankle-length gown in austere solid colors and thick opaque fabric—and al-khimār, a head cover resembling a nun's [[wimple]] that covers the hair low to the forehead, comes under the chin to conceal the neck, and falls down over the chest and back".<ref name="oxfordislamicstudies.com" /> In addition to the basic garments that were mostly universal within the movement, additional measures of modesty could be taken depending on how conservative the followers wished to be. Some women choose to also utilize a face covering (niqāb) that leaves only eye slits for sight, as well as both gloves and socks in order to reveal no visible skin.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Aziz |first=Rookhsana |date=2011-01-01 |title=Hijab – the Islamic dress code: its historical development, evidence from sacred sources and views of selected Muslim scholars |url=https://www.academia.edu/79841919 |journal=University of South Africa}}</ref>

Soon this movement expanded outside of the youth realm and became a more widespread Muslim practice. Women viewed this way of dress as a way to both publicly announce their religious beliefs as well as a way to simultaneously reject Western influences of dress and culture that were prevalent at the time. Despite many criticisms of the practice of hijab being oppressive and detrimental to women's equality,<ref name="Bullock 2000 22–53" /> many Muslim women view the way of dress to be a positive thing. It is seen as a way to avoid harassment and unwanted sexual advances in public and works to desexualize women in the public sphere in order to instead allow them to enjoy equal rights of complete legal, economic, and political status. This modesty was not only demonstrated by their chosen way of dress but also by their serious demeanor which worked to show their dedication to modesty and Islamic beliefs.<ref name="oxfordislamicstudies.com" />
[[File:Medalists_at_the_Women%27s_57_kg_Taekwandoo.jpg|thumb|[[Taekwondo]] medalists from Spain, Britain, Iran and Egypt at Rio Olympics, 2016<ref>{{cite news|author=Patrick Johnston|title=Kimia Alizadeh Zenoorin Becomes The First Iranian Woman To Win An Olympic Medal|publisher=Reuters/Huffington Post|date=19 August 2016|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/kimia-alizadeh-zenoorin-iran-woman-olympic-medal_us_57b7631de4b0b51733a37c08|access-date=22 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160822194223/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/kimia-alizadeh-zenoorin-iran-woman-olympic-medal_us_57b7631de4b0b51733a37c08|archive-date=22 August 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>]]
Controversy erupted over the practice. Many people, both men and women from backgrounds of both Islamic and non-Islamic faith questioned the hijab and what it stood for in terms of [[Women's rights in Iran|women and their rights]]. There was questioning of whether in practice the hijab was truly a female choice or if women were being coerced or pressured into wearing it.<ref name="oxfordislamicstudies.com" />

As the awakening movement gained momentum, its goals matured and shifted from promoting modesty towards more of a political stance in terms of retaining support for [[Pan-Islamism]] and a symbolic rejection of Western culture and norms. Today the hijab means many different things for different people. For Islamic women who choose to wear the hijab it allows them to retain their modesty, morals and freedom of choice.<ref name="Bullock 2000 22–53" />

After the [[September 11 attacks]], the discussion and discourse on the hijab in Western nations intensified as Islamic traditions and theology came under greater scrutiny, with Hijabis facing extensive discrimination.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Muslim 'Veil' Post-9/11: Rethinking Women's Rights and Leadership |url=https://scholarship.libraries.rutgers.edu/esploro/outputs/journalArticle/The-Muslim-Veil-Post-911-Rethinking-Womens/991031549959304646 |access-date=2025-01-06 |website=Rutgers University / Institute for Social Policy and Understanding}}</ref> According to the Harvard University Pluralism Project: "Some Muslim women cover their head only during prayer in the mosque; other Muslim women wear the hijab; still others may cover their head with a turban or a loosely draped scarf."<ref>{{cite web | url=https://pluralism.org/women-in-islam | title=Women in Islam }}</ref>