The veil in their minds and on our heads
The author of the article, the veil in their minds and on our heads, discusses issues surrounding Islam’s tradition of veiling. For the past two centuries, Muslim women, and chiefly Middle Eastern and North African women, have been among the most enduring topics of discussion in western media. It can be claimed without any doubt that the question of the veil and the oppression of Muslim women were the most frequent issues on which people participated in discussions. The article draws on historical accounts, on the authors collected data on young Muslim women in Canada and on her personal experience as a non-veiled Muslim woman of Iranian origin, to argue that the veil from the nineteenth century onwards symbolized the inadequacy of Islamic societies for the West, and remains a potent symbol for both Western and Muslim communities.
The Islamic ‘veil’ has been the focus of several controversies. Within the background of Europe and North America, public discussions on ‘veiling’ frequently invoke stereotypical images that equate Islamic ‘veil’ with ‘gendered exploitation,’ political and/or religious bigotry, ‘others the inability to be a ‘good people and the irreconcilable disparity between ‘modern West’ and ‘Islam.’ In particular, ‘face-veils’ were also rejected on the grounds of perceived privacy, health and privacy concerns, or the wearer’s simple identity. (Hoodfar) In other similar contexts, some styles of veiling are seen as traditional as a cultural norm and are to be expected socially. In countries like Iran, specific types of veils are enforced by the law, especially in the public areas, and some political leaders associated veiling to stereotype decency, respectability, dignity, and being a responsible citizen. Therefore indicates that the present decision by women not to wear veils is an indication of indecency, immorality, undignified, non-Islamic, anti-society norms, and many others.
The veil is seen as a protective and identity-forming piece of clothing in the Islamic culture. Although its importance of veiling has been stagnant and unchanging for Westerners, the functions of the veil and social significance of the Muslim cultures have varied enormously, especially during times of rapid social change. In this case, veiling is, therefore, a lived experience full of controversies and meanings. While it has been a tool used by women as a social structure to liberate themselves from the patriarchal chains, it is also a way of governing and managing women’s lives. Like most other women in the world, Muslim women are also social actors who recruit, alter, and bring change to social institutions to their creative end.
Consequently, the stereotypical colonial depiction of the marginalized veiled Muslim woman frequently contrasts with the reality of veiling experienced by women. Though the situation of Iranian women, as in most other societies, is far from ideal or even sensible, the lack of involvement or appreciation of Muslim women activists’ contributions to European and North American researchers and feminist activists is exceptional. The lack of regard is an indication of the persistence of orientalist and colonial attitudes towards Muslim cultures in a context in which the Islamic regime’s “excesses” towards women continue to make headlines and the subject of Muslim women and religious revival in the Muslim world continue to be of broad interest.
Continuing misunderstandings and factual inaccuracies about the veil and veiled women have several implications not only for Muslim women but also for Western women. Mainly the image made by people of exotic Muslim women proceeds to be a technique through which dominant Western cultures reestablish and reinforce their superiority beliefs. The continuation of colonial and imperialist responses to their lifestyles has meant that Muslim nations and institutions must continuously struggle to defend their political and cultural values. This position makes it more difficult for many Muslim women who share the dissatisfaction of their culture and society to challenge the uses and benefits of the veil in their own cultures. Also, Muslim women’s negative images are continually presented as a reaffirmation of their relative good fortune to European and North American women, and an assumed cautioning to limit their “inordinate” demands for true equality. All too often, however, modern feminists participate unquestioningly in the influential hetero normative strategy to other ethnicities and do not see how much involvement consequently serves patriarchy
What could be equivalent of veiling to the women from the western countries is how they are perceived. The condition of poor Southern analphabet peasant women is consciously or unconsciously compared to the encounters of Western societies’ upper-middle-class women. In the absence of sufficient contextualization of non-western cultures, many scholars conclude that what is ideal for Western middle-class women will be suitable for all other women. Unlike in the past, when veiling was used for different reasons, today, women use veils to showcase their identification as Muslim women who are proud of their backgrounds (Hoodfar). According to Islamic tenets, policies have been imposed on discrimination against women in many parts of the world, and more efforts to protect oppressed women are made every day. Today being a Muslim is not affirmed by the fact that a woman is wearing a veil or not, but their beliefs and values are what identifies them. The Islamic religion allows women today to choose whether or not they will wear veils as a way of self-protection and especially for Muslim women living in western countries.
Assignment 2
A mythology or belief system often involves the divine beings or powers of society, offers a justification for the religion and rituals of society, and represents how people in daily life relate to each other (Kluckhohn). The myths of creation or origin describe how the universe came to be in its current form and sometimes place the cultural community that tells the story as the first people or the real people. Such sacred stories concern where people and their worldly things come from, why they are here, and where they go. The subjective of alexander was that his world is objective, universal, factual, logical, and scientific, and thus the subjective is emotional. It a belief people carry, a myth that tells us why we are the way we are, alexander believed you only live only once while on the other hand, Yogi believed there are many lives (https://www.ted.com/talks/devdutt_pattanaik_east_vs_west_the_myths_that_mystify). Both of their beliefs shaped their world and actions. Understanding globalization in the world today is important because the demand for the industrial revolution is very high and diverse, and if it is not controlled, it will crash. One was to look at cultures around the world, it’s all about understanding the mythology, and one is going to see how they’re behaving and doing business. Understanding Hindu culture will help in business because it helps understand that one does not need to be a professional to succeed in business. Therefore, one should understand that when they meet a new person, they live in a subjective world.
Assignment 3
The occupation I identified in this section was medical professionals, either doctors or nurses in abortion clinics. Abortion being a highly controversial topic of debate, it is also considered a great sin by most religions. In the contemporary world, people have justified the reasons o why one might need to have an abortion, some of which are medical, but most religions do not condone these reasons. In some countries, abortion is legally right. Still, as a spiritual person who is a doctor, that would be a violation of what they believe in and according to their religious teachings. In this case, if I were to choose an occupation that teaching to hunt no one but to protect all, I would become a monk. Monk dedicates their whole lives to the service of a spiritual being, and they do this in the service of others. I would be able to teach Buddhist beliefs and values and harm none. According to Buddhist culture, my life as a monk will be fully dedicated to serving other people in my community.
Assignment 4
Mathieu Ricard, a Buddhist turned into a monk, says that to be happy, we must train our minds in the habit of wellbeing to generate a sense of fulfillment and serenity. Happiness, not something that radiates from outside because one can feel great pleasure and still be suffering from inside. According to the Buddhist view, wellbeing is a state that pervades and underlies all emotional states and sorrows that can come in a person’s way. Often people look from outside in their journey of looking for happiness; they assume that it’s the conditions around them that will give them happiness and how well they can fix what is wrong in their lives. One can have everything in the condition they are living in and be completely unhappy from within, and thus happiness is not found from outside sources. If inner conditions are more reliable, then they experience happiness (https://www.ted.com/talks/matthieu_ricard_the_habits_of_happiness?language=en). Although external conditions are auxiliary help in achieving happiness, the mind is the serenity tool to achieve true happiness. Taking care of our inner self, according to the Buddhist view, is the best way to train our minds into achieving true happiness.
Assignment 5
Confucianism is also described rather than a religion, as a theory of social and ethical philosophy. Confucianism built on an archaic pagan establishment to create the social values, organizations, and spiritual ideals of traditional Chinese culture. According to Confucius claims, Kung Fuzi was not the pioneer of the theory, nor were his teachings original bit it was believed that he was a creative transmitter of past wisdom(Tzu). Fuzi created a code of morals that were based on humanity, love, and ethics. The philosophies of Confucius emphasized the idea of harmony and order. These ideas state that people should live in harmony with one another and with nature. A relationship between the government and the system of humans was created to achieve this idea. Although Confucian believed in virtues that reflected on inner spirit and sincerity, I do not see it an s religion but rather a way of life. It is a guideline to how people should co-exist with one another to achieve fullness. Like most religions, Confucian did not have a divine being they looked up to as their god but taught how to achieve harmony (Tzu).
Work Cited
Hoodfar, Homa. “The veil in their minds and on our heads: The persistence of colonial images of Muslim women.” Resources for Feminist Research 22.3/4 (1992): 5
https://www.ted.com/talks/devdutt_pattanaik_east_vs_west_the_myths_that_mystify
https://www.ted.com/talks/matthieu_ricard_the_habits_of_happiness?language=en
Kluckhohn, Clyde. “Myths and rituals: A general theory.” Harvard Theological Review 35.1 (1942): 45-79.
Tzu, Chuang. “Confucianism.” (1966).