What Culture do you Wear (Essay Sample)

What Culture do you wear?
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What Culture do you wear?
Clothing varies according to traditions, religion and geographic region. In every culture or tradition there is the idea of appropriate dressing code. For instance in Muslim a person's clothing reflects practical, social, cultural, religious and political considerations. For many years, Muslims generally wore long, flowing garments. Today some Muslims especially men prefer modern clothing to traditional attire. One of the traditional Islamic attire is the hijab.
Hijab is a word is generally used to describe a Muslim woman’s modest dress. It specifically refers to a rectangular or square piece of clothing which is folded and placed over the head and then tied as a scarf. Hijab is generally won by women who are above puberty in the absence of males who are not immediate family members. In broader perspective Hijab portrays the principle of modesty, behavior as well as dressing code for both men and women CITATION Moh02 \l 1033 (Madani, 2002). It refers to complete covering of the whole body apart from face and hands.
Muslims perceive hijab as a symbol of chastity, privacy, morality and modesty, where character is highly emphasized instead of the externals features of a woman. Women wear as it is believed that it was ordained by Allah. The women prefer to be characterized by spiritual beauty rather than physical beauty CITATION Kim12 \l 1033 (Spillman, 2012).Muslim women wear the hijab for the following reasons: They believe that Allah instructed them to wear it as a way of fulfilling the commandment of modesty CITATION Muh07 \l 1033 (Muhammad Ismail, 2007). Some believes that it represents a personal devotion to Allah. Other women wear it as a visible way of expressing their religious identity. Arab women wear hijab to express their cultural identity. Hijab has a political role of representing presence of the Muslim in society. Hijab accentuate women’s beauty thereby drawing more attention to the face away from the body and hair.
Although hijab is embraced by Muslim women, it is not mentioned anywhere in the Quran. The history of hijab can be traced back in ancient Greece. It was introduced in Arabia long before Muhammad and it symbolized status. In Ummah, there was no veiling tradition until 627 C.E., when the "verse of hijab" descended suddenly on the community. However that verse only addressed Mohamed’s wives and not general women. By 627 C.E., when Mohamed became the supremely, powerful leader of an expanding community, some forms of segregation was to be enforced to maintain the unity of his wives. Hijab tradition was borrowed from Syria and Iranian women who used to seclude important women in the society. Hijab solely applied to Muhammad’s wives. Thus during Muhammad’s lifetime all other women apart from his wives did not observe hijab CITATION Far11 \l 1033 (So, 2011). It is hard to determine when hijab was adopted by the other Muslim women though; it is believed that it is long after the death of Muhammad. Muslim women probably wear hijab to emulate Muhammad’s wives. Hijab was not compulsory and it was not widely used even after Muhammad’s death. Later on some male spiritual leaders and scholars in the Islamic faith exercised their political and religious authority to make hijab a compulsory attire to be won by all women confessing Islamic faith CITATION Car11 \l 1033 (Cusack, 2011). They did this to regain power which they had lost during prophet’s equality reforms. Hijab is embraced as a cultural practice and not a religious practice among the Muslim.
Muslims maintains their dressing code even when they migrate to foreign countries. Many countries are against the hijab worn by Muslim women, they argue that it is a symbol of oppression and discrimination. For instance, in recent years, France has banned the wearing of a head scarf in public place. Banning is meant to promote gender equality and peaceful integration. Th...