Higab Hypocrisy (originally published June 24, 2008)

The other day I was walking with Basma downtown and I saw a veiled girl wearing a shirt dress that went just about to her knee walking holding hands with a guy. Under the shirt dress she was wearing spandex capris that went about to the top of her calves which were bare. I pointed the girl out to Basma although at the time I couldn't explain to her why. I've obviously seen similar things before. Veiled girls wearing miniskirts with spandex pants, veiled girls wearing cleavage-bearing or short-sleeved shirts, veiled girls wearing skin tight clothing that shows their every curve...Everytime I see things like that I am slightly annoyed. I used to think that the source of my annoyance was the hypocrisy of the girls. They wear a higab to symbolize their modesty yet dress unmodestly.

I realized when I was trying to explain to Basma why I pointed the girl out to her that I was being hypocritical. I complain about how Egyptians have strict rules aobut how people should act and don't know how to handle anyone who deviates from those rules yet that is exactly what I am doing when I criticize veiled women/girls for showing skin. I have created two categories in my mind into which I place all of the Egyptian females I encounter. There are the veiled women who cover their arms, legs, hair, chests and usually their necks and there are the unveiled women for whom it is acceptable to wear a wide range fo clothing including low cut/short-sleeve t-shirts and capris. When someone deviates away from those two rigid categories, I criticize them. Why do I think that it is more modest/decent/proper/respectable/acceptable to cover your arms and not your hair than to cover your hair and not your arms. Why does a girl who wants to dress more modestly have to follow a certain pattern-legs, arms, then hair?

I guess then that the annoying part of this for me really isn't the fact that girls/women wear a higab while showing skin but rather society's perceptions of ladies who do so. No matter what I wear in Cairo I get stared at; that is just a fact of life for any female in Cairo. The 'harassment' by men in universal and virtually unavoidable. This is not true of the women. On the women's car in the metro, women always stare at me, give me piercing looks as if to shame me and occasionally they even say something to me aqbout veiling/being modest or mutter a "tsk, tsk" as I pass by. Veiled girls on the other hand wear whatever and they are left alone by other women. I have seen girls wearing very low cut shirsts, some that even show cleaqvage, with a higab tied Spanish style but they get no attention from the other women on the metro. I on the other hand, even if I'm wearing long, loose pants and a long-sleeved shirt whose neckline is literally up to my neck, am the object of disapproving glares. It is as if there is a some kind of code among women: if you wear a higab you are a good person and deserve respect, if not...

All of this was a long tirade toward my argument that, for many, the higab really isn't a sign of religion at all right now. There are certainly some for whom it is. For them, the higab is the final touch on their modest dress. Others wear the higab yet wear unmodest clothing for this culture. Nevertheless they appear more religious in the eyes of society than their modestly dressed, non-veiled counterparts. It is as if society is telling girls that the key to being a better person/better Muslim is their decision to wear a higab. To me it seems that, for many (but certainly not all) women in a society that puts (or at least claims to put) a very high value on religion, the higab is a tool to appear religious rather than to actually be religious.
Posted by ayah at 4:44 PM