Marino Miranda Noriega

The Muslim veil and its historical context.

Words. 731.
The Muslim veil used by women was become a central political issue in both
the Islamic world and in the West. The enormous coverage that the western
media has given to this subject generalized the opinion that Islam is an
oppressive religion towards women, simplifying the complex reality of an
historical practice. In the other hand on the Muslim world the veil has become a
symbol against the colonization and the violent process of modernization that
many countries have suffered especially in the last century. On this discussion
the religious freedom of women and their right to decide whether to use or not
to use the veil is set aside. In this sense, having a better understanding of the
process that led to this political status of the veil, may help to reconcile the
women condition as agents that can make decisions over their bodyagainst
the patriarchal structure of both the Muslim world and the West and over their
religion against the colonialist and racist structures that affect as well their
freedom as women.
The veil on Islamic history has been a changing practice that has had different
meaning through out history. On the Quran there is not a specific verse that
states the obligation of women to use the veil. Although Muhammads hives
practiced veiling and seclusion, other women in the early Islamic community
didnt follow these practices. Although it is not known why this practice
generalized to many Muslim women, Ahmed points out that the Muslim
conquest of areas in which veiling was commonplace among the upper classes,
the influx of wealth, the resultant raised status of Arabs, and Muhammads
hives being taken as models probably combined to bring about their [seclusion
and veiling] general adoption

This practice then extended in contexts such as the Ottoman Empire or the
Safavids reign as a symbol of status among the Muslim ruling class. It was not
until the 19th century with the arrival of European colonialism that Muslims
1 Ahmed, Leila, Women and the rise of Islam, In Women and Gender in Islam,
Yale University Press, 1992, pp.56

have justified it [the veil] in the name of Islam, and not by reference to cultural
practice2
Having said this we can realize that the contemporary view of the veil in
political terms has a lot to do with the process of colonization that has marked
Islamic history since the end of the 19th century.
The colonialist process did not only meant a political and economical
domination, but also had enormous concrescences on the way that westerners
view them self in world history. The colonialist expansion had a cultural
justification. This was based in the representation westerners have of the
Islamic world, synthesized in the notion the Orient as a place that is behind
the West in the process of civilization, therefore European colonialism was
seen as a civilizing endeavor.
The veil was very much marked by the invention of this representation, and in
the arguments of the feminist movement rising in the Europe of that time were
used to prove the barbaric, exotic and underdeveloped nature of the oriental
society.
This was also the context in witch veil took a political significance within the
Muslim anti colonialist movement. For instance, the extreme veil enforcement
in Iran had a deep anti colonialist connotation. The reason for this is that during
the Shahs regime the use of the veil was prohibited in the context of a number
of policies to promote a pro western modernization of Iranian society. This had
a profound impact on Muslim women every day life, limiting their possibility in
many public activities because in a way they felt naked. So, after the green
revolution the enforcement of the veil had a deep cultural meaning, because it
meant a distanciation with the Shahs pro western attitudes.
The colonialist process on the Islamic world has continued in our contemporary
society, as well as the notion that the veil symbolizes the oppression of Muslim
women. This orientalist approach has generalized with the help of massive
media. In this context and with the increasing migration of Muslim women into
western

countries, they have been subject to many forms of racist

2 Hoodfar, Homa, The veil in their minds and On our heads: the Persitence of
colonial Images on the Muslim world, on
http://www.umass.edu/wost/syllabi/spring06/hoodfar.pdf, February 12th 2015
18:46, pp.6

discrimination. More over, feminist movements have adopted a very colonialist

and racist approach to Muslim women, putting them in a very complex
situation in which, they have to bear not only with racist and patriarchal
discrimination, but also with these feminist allegations.