Phenomenology in Islam (Essay Sample)

Why Women in Islam Cover Their Hair and Whether the Use of Hijab Makes People Focus on the Inner Beauty
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Why Women in Islam Cover Their Hair and Whether the Use of Hijab Makes People Focus on the Inner Beauty
Hijab is a gendered way of dressing in Islam characterized by a traditional covering of the hair and neck worn by Muslim women. Hijab is one of the prominent characteristics of Islam religion and symbolizes the Islamic tradition related to modest dressing. Hijab represents part of modesty that is a distinctive quality of Islam described by Prophet Muhammad. In reality, the major focus of Hijab is to shift the focus of men away from women’s physical appearance and instead direct attention on their personality and character. This paper discusses why women in Islam cover their hair and whether Hijab makes people focus on inner beauty.
Clothes are utilized as the representation of the community that a person belongs to. Different communities possess different ideas regarding the manner in which women should dress and behave. The cultural norms dictate the different modes of dressing. In essence, the cultural norms greatly influence the feelings of women related to their attractiveness. For instance, the characteristic patriarchal perspectives and capitalist interests of the American culture dictate the acceptable fashion for women such as long and exposed hair as well as tight clothes (Droogsma, 2007). Therefore, in such cultures, the use of Hijab would not be considered as a representation of the inner beauty, because it is already covering more parts that should expose beauty. The women clothing is applied in concealing and attracting attention about the local standards regarding modesty, beauty, and gender. This is because the female sexuality is always utilized for the integrity of the community (Shaheed, 2008). Unfortunately, the patriarchal societies in both the Muslim and non-Muslim countries sometimes use women dress codes, such as the Hijab, in enforcing control.
The Hijab plays a crucial role in the manner in which a Muslim woman identifies herself. It may act as a barrier against the western culture through constantly reminding the wearers about their Islamic morals (Ruby, 2006). Wearing of Hijab may also act as a form of behaviour check for Muslim women. Through wearing the veil, she is not likely to be tempted to engage in the behaviours contradict her religious doctrine. Shaheed (2008) indicates that there is a basic human perception that indicates that clothing is a symbol of beautification of the body and is designed to attract the opposite sex for procreation. However, the perception of people towards the wearing of Hijab and whether it helps people focus on inner beauty varies.
Just like in the case of painting whereby the perception of people towards them is dependent on various reasons, Hijab evokes varying feelings across the board. For instance, in his essay “Cezanne’s Doubt”, Merleau-Ponty acknowledges that the physical tendencies of the painter can be seen but not effective in completely explaining their work. He argues that the understanding of Cezanne’s work relates to the fact that people can understand his life experiences through the painting. It is the freedom that Cezanne possessed in his work that people can find meaning in his artwork. Similarly, Hijab will always represent inner beauty to Muslims as well as the Islam proponents regardless of the fact that it conceals most parts of a woman’s head or not. In the case of a predominantly non-Muslim society, a woman with a Hijab is considered less approachable and antisocial (Ruby, 2006). In many cases, the head scarf is considered a means of repression towards women.
Opponents of the use of Hijab are not likely to focus on the inner beauty as they have already developed a negative attitude towards its use. Some of the values invoked against the use of Hijab relates to the view that they are said to be objectionable because they are outsourced from outdated time or place, anti-progressive, incompatible with the secular values, and undermine feminism (Droogsma, 2007). Opponents assume that Muslim women may not have freely chosen to cover their head and that men may have imposed it on them. The use of Hijab to cover the head is also said to undermine the values of integration and social cohesion. Furthermore, its use is said to foster differences rather than cohesion. The issue of security is always invoked in the debate related to the use of Hijab. Covering is always associated with Islamic extremism. Such opposing arguments portray how people utilize physical outlook perceived through sight in making judgments. In this case then, one’s personality is seen and perceived in a glance due to the physical outlook. In artwork and/or painting perspective, Merleau-Ponty, in his essay “Cezanne’s Doubt”, argues that the utilization of the medium of paint is essential in rendering the pre-scientific perception of the visible (Quinn, 2009). This implies that the deeper understanding is attained through closer analysis of the contents and the motivation behind these paintings.
Merleau-Ponty argues that painters that focus on expression are likely to miss the mystery of the person appearing in nature (Quinn, 2009). Similarly, those that only focus on the appearance of the people wearing the Hijab are likely to miss the internal beauty and the doctrinal representation of Hijab. In concurrence with this, Ruby (2006) asserts that the Hijab curtails the sex appeal of the users, leading to the creation of a virtuous society domain. Those that support the use of Hijab do not think of the wearers as different and certainly do not think that they might be oppressed. Just like the appearance of a painting can portray its representation at a first glance, most people would always identi...