Veiling in Egypt as a Political and Social Phenomenon
By: J.A. Williams
From: Islam and Development, 1970
Exercises: J. Geffen
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1.
Since the eleventh century the women of Egypt have been noted to have strong
characters. First Muslim geographers and travelers, then European travelers and
oriental writers observed with consternation or with approval that Muslim Egyptian
women were more fearless than women in other Muslim countries, more likely to
scold and use strong language, more likely to dominate their husbands and their
families, even more likely to demand sexual gratification, despite the obvious
difficulties put in their way by their society. In this century, Egyptian women were the
first in the Arab world to call for putting aside the veil (in the 1920s), for admission to
universities (in the 1930s). In the face of their determined and expert insistence, most
occupational and professional restraints on women have since been removed.
2.
The social gains of Egyptian women have been impressive. Egyptian women are
not only doctors and professors, but also engineers, architects, managers of
companies, deans of university faculties, and cabinet ministers. They receive equal
pay for equal work, find redress when they complain of male discrimination at their
jobs, and many of them choose to retain their maiden names after marriage.
3.
The cause of tahrir-al-mara (women’s liberation) was already well launched
among upper-class women by the time of the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, and it
spread to the middle and lower classes of women, especially in the cities, during the
Nasserist period, from 1953 to 1967. Women took a more public role in a society
dedicated to modernization, and many of them laid aside traditional dress. This tended
to be especially true among the youth, on the campuses of the universities, and in
business and professional sectors.
4.
During this period it became rare to see a veil and common to see Egyptian
imitations of contemporary “Western” costume. Nowhere else in the Arab world,
except perhaps in Lebanon, did Muslim women seem less to present the traditional
image of swathed, mysterious beings from a second, private world only just
impinging on the public world of men. Women who continued to go out with black
milaya cloaking their forms or drawn over their heads were likely to be women “too
old to adjust,” or if not, were regarded pityingly or patronizingly as simple provincials
with quaint, disappearing manners. It scarcely occurred to anyone to claim that such
women were “better Muslims” for dressing in outmoded clothing. Women in
international dress were not regarded as “less Muslim” than others, providing it
showed modesty and restraint. Such women were often seen to be pious and observant
in such matters as prayer, fasting, pilgrimage and reading of scripture; the quality of
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their commitment to God was not judged on whether or not they wore traditional
dress.
5.
The facts I have set out so far are generally known, and they do not prepare one
for the dramatic change in women’s appearance that is apparent to any visitor to
Egypt today. Observable in the streets and in public places are numbers of women in
costumes rather similar to those of Catholic nuns before Vatican II. This costume is
not traditional, but in its specific form it is new, and it is intended to satisfy the strict
requirement of the Islamic Law on the veiling of women written in the books of Fiqh.
6.
Since the new costumes arose in response to an interpretation of the Shariah, the
Law, they are referred to in modern Egypt as al-ziyy al-shari: “lawful dress.” The
women who adopt such dress come from the middle class, exactly those who until
recently followed the drive for modernization, and they include numbers of university
students and graduates. Many women students in the national universities make an
effort to persuade their classmates to adopt ziyy shari, and it even appears in the
American University in Cairo, which, as a private institution charging tuition, is
usually regarded as a bastion of upper-class and cosmopolitan pretensions.
7.
Both the name of the costume and the declarations of the women who adopt it
make the claim that this is a religious gesture, that it conforms more to the religious
law of Islam than any other available costume. Now, it can be argued that an orthodox
Muslim woman could with just as great propriety wear a simple dress of modern type,
with long sleeves, black stockings, and a nylon scarf tied over her hair. Yet
increasingly, such simple and modest modern attire is seen as no longer good enough:
the women who appear in ziyy shari claim to be more observant of the Law than other
women. To this extent, then, we may perhaps label this fundamentalist behavior. A
fundamentalist in Islam, as in Christianity and perhaps in other religious traditions as
well, sees him/herself as trying to right a wrong turn in history; as sitting in judgment
of his/her society, and critical of the way it appears to be going. In a developing
country like Egypt, this could easily become a reaction against modernization in
general and a force for violent revolution.
8.
When a woman chooses to put on a distinctive shari costume or the veil in a
modernizing Muslim country, there is always some personal choice operating: she is
making a personal statement, usually connected with her faith. It does not illuminate
her choice for us if we simply ascribe it to a worldwide wave of Islamic
fundamentalism. On the other hand, if we can understand what is going through her
mind and in what climate her choice operates, we may possibly get some useful
insight about a worldwide wave of Islamic fundamentalism.
9.
The Shariah and the Fiqh have been in existence for hundreds of years. Why are
Eygptian women, who once led other Muslim women in a desire for “liberation,”
choosing this time to demonstrate in this conspicuous way an affirmation of shari
norms of dress?
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10. Egypt is a distinct country. It is necessary to insist on this. However much they
may share with their Arab neighbors, Egyptians are aware that in some final sense,
they are themselves: a special people with a special land and country. They may
sympathize keenly with other Arabs, but they will not be ruled by them, and they are
well aware that in many past periods Egypt has ruled or led her neighbors. If women
in modern Egypt decide to adopt a new shari costume, it is for reasons to be found in
Egyptian realities, not in a fashion originating elsewhere, or because women in Iran or
Tunisia have done something similar.
11. Some of the problems of modern Egypt play an important role in the decision of
women to adopt shari dress. In the last quarter of a century, the population of Egypt
has more than doubled. Cairo has grown from a city of about two million to a city of
nearly nine million. It is a city bursting at the seams, beset with traffic problems,
public transportation problems, housing shortages, with a telephone system that
scarcely functions any longer, with an infrastructure inadequate for the demands that
are being made upon it. It is in fact a showpiece of all the social problems that beset a
primary city in the third world.
12. To an unhealthy degree, new industries have been located near the major cities
in order to take advantage of the infrastructure that was already there. They have also
brought industrial pollution. Social problems have naturally proliferated, and although
these may seem mild to Americans because actual crimes of violence are rare, crime
occurs frequently enough to make Egyptians wonder what they are coming to and to
make them fear the future. People do not have as much time as formerly to be
courteous, to visit neighbors, relatives, and friends, and are often too short of money
or of space to offer much hospitality to friends when they come to visit. Egyptians
complain of the greed that besets modern society, of the decline in morality, of wild
behavior among the young, and of corruption in high places.
13. The constitution of Egypt states that Islam is “the official religion” of the State.
Why, many people ask, is Islamic Law, the Shariah, not being implemented? Why
does the State allow nightclubs to flourish where alcohol, gambling, and prostitution
are easily available to those with money? They are not satisfied with the answer that
such things have often happened in officially Muslim states before.
14. I recall a student of mine in Cairo who appeared one day in class wearing shari
costume. I congratulated her on her new dress, and she volunteered that she was now
very happy and had a real sense of peace with herself. She said that she had often not
known really who she was before, had felt “pulled this way and that,” to “act like
other girls.” Now, she felt, she had taken her stand; she knew who she was – a
Muslim woman. Also, she said, young men would not mistake her for an easy mark;
they could see what sort of girl she was. Thus she had solved some sort of personal
identity crisis, and she had protected herself against the attentions of the persistent
men who annoy women on the streets and in the crowded trams and buses of Cairo.
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Indeed, protection against unwelcome attentions is often advanced by women as a
reason for adopting shari costume.
15. As I became interested in the question of why women adopt shari dress in
modern Egypt, it became ever clearer that women who did felt that they were “solving
problems.” Even those who tended to defend it on fundamentalist grounds (“I am a
Muslim woman; this is what my faith demands of me”) responded somewhat
differently when they were asked what had conditioned this response to a demand
that, after all, Islam has appeared to make for a long time, and which has not always
been so clearly heard. I began to ask Egyptian friends and colleagues to ask women in
their own circle of acquaintances how they came to put on shari dress.
16. A significant answer commonly given was: “I did it to reject current behavior
by young people and contemporary society.” Other answers were: “I began to look for
something to do after the 1967 War. This seemed to me to be the right thing. When I
saw some other women putting on shari dress, I decided that that was what I wanted
to do, too.” “Up until 1967, I accepted the way our country was going. I thought
Gamal Abd al-Nasir would lead us all to progress. Then the war showed that we had
been lied to; nothing was the way it had been represented. I started to question
everything we were told. I wanted to do something and to find my own way. I prayed
more; and I tried to see what was expected of me as a Muslim woman. Then I put on
shari dress.”
17. Another woman said, “Once we thought that Western society had all the
answers for successful, fruitful living. If we followed the lead of the West, we would
have progress. Now we see that this isn’t true; they (the West) are sick societies; even
their material prosperity is breaking down. America is full of crime and promiscuity.
Russia is worse. Who wants to be like that? We have to remember God. Look how
God has blessed Saudi Arabia. That is because they have tried to follow the Law. And
America, with its loose society, is all problems.”
18. What can one gather from all of this? Certainly that no one single reason for
adopting shari costume is given, but that circumstances conjoin to move women to do
it. Urban alienation, fear of the future, desire to protect the family, turning to God in
problems that appear insoluble, and a desire for authenticity in a rapidly changing
society all appear to play a role in the decision of women. Therefore, ziyy-shari in
modern Egypt is not simply part of a fundamentalist revival of Islamic rigor, or of a
reaction against modern civilization, but one way in which women in this society are
trying to deal with real problems: a rational response to an intolerable situation.
Article provided by The Open University
Veiling in Egypt / 5
Answer in your own words. Recent developments in the Arab and Islamic
world must be borne in mind.
Answer the question below in English.
1.
What makes the characteristics of Egyptian women – paragraph 1 – so unusual
in the present political and social background in the Muslim world?
Answer: _________________________________________________________
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Answer the question below in English.
2.
In what very obvious sense – paragraphs 1-2 – can the conditions of Egyptian
women be said to have regressed? (Inferential)
Answer: _________________________________________________________
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Answer the question below in Hebrew.
3.
In what sense – paragraphs 3-4 – can Egyptian women look back longingly
upon the Nasserist régime during the period 1953-1967? Substantiate your
answer.
Answer: _________________________________________________________
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Answer the question below in English.
4.
What makes the appearance of traditionally clad Egyptian female students at the
American University in Cairo – paragraph 6 – all the more symptomatic of
current trends?
Answer: _________________________________________________________
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Answer the question below in Hebrew.
5.
Is it really accidental that so many young Egyptian women have changed their
attitudes in the period following 1967?
Answer: _________________________________________________________
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Veiling in Egypt / 6
Answer the question below in Hebrew.
6.
How – paragraph 7 – could the revival of fundamentalism – apparently an arch
conservative development – turn into a revolutionary force?
Answer: _________________________________________________________
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Answer the question below in English.
7.
What particular economic and social developments – paragraphs 11-12 – may
have led a good many Egyptian women to their decision to adopt a more
conservative way of life? (Inferential)
Answer: _________________________________________________________
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Answer the question below in Hebrew.
8.
What does paragraph 14 suggest about the reason that may make young
Egyptian girls adopt a more conservative way of life?
Answer: _________________________________________________________
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Answer the question below in Hebrew.
9.
To what does the author trace the new-found susceptibility of apparently
modern Egyptian girls to rigorous Islamic demands – paragraphs 16-18? (Partly
inferential)
Answer: _________________________________________________________
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Answer the question below in English.
10. Provide the information that would suggest – paragraphs 16-18 – how traumatic
Egyptian society must have found the outcome of the Six Day War in 1967?
Answer: _________________________________________________________
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Veiling in Egypt / 7
Answer the question below in Hebrew.
11. To what other factors other than those mentioned in paragraph 17 might a
sceptic attribute the blessings God has showered upon Saudi Arabia?
(Inferential)
Answer: _________________________________________________________
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Answer the question below in Hebrew.
12. a) What developments in our country might be seen as remotely resembling the
phenomena dealt with in this article?
Answer: _________________________________________________________
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b) What would you attribute it to? A general quest for spiritual comfort, or
perhaps a reaction to developments one might find intolerable?
Answer: _________________________________________________________
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N.B. Some of the questions you have been asked to answer will necessarily force the
student to refer to information not stated in the article; however, we believe
them to be within the frame of reference of the average Israeli student.