History of Veil in Islam: Myth and Reality

Veil By Dr Farrukh Saleem
The News, November 18, 2006

The veil predates Islam. The veil, as an article of clothing that covers parts of the head or face, was first worn more than 5,000 years ago. According to Dr Muazzez Cig, a well-known Turkish archaeologist specialising in ancient Sumerian civilisation, veils were "first used by Sumerian temple priestesses whose job it was to initiate young men into the world of sex (Vatandaslik Tepkilerim by Muazzez Cig)."

The veil, custom or religion? In the 13th century BC, Assyrian kings had "introduced both the seclusion of women in the royal harem and the veil." In pre-Islamic Persia, there is recorded evidence of veiled women (especially those married to wealthy individuals). In pre-Islamic Arabia, veil was worn to protect the face from sand-laden desert winds. In Judaism as well as Christianity, veil was once associated with modesty and propriety (the definition of both modesty and propriety changes over time).

The Prophet of Islam (PBUH) received the first revelation in 610 AD (the first five verses of Surah Al-Alaq). The last revelation came down in 632 AD (the third verse of Surah Al-Maidah). In the intervening 22 years, there was no specific dress code for Muslim women. Never ever did the founder of Islam (PBUH) require Muslim women to cover themselves up in an Afghan style head-to-toe burqa or any of burqa’s cousins.

In 632, Hazrat Abu Bakr, the first of the Four Rightly Guided Caliphs, assumed power. Caliph Abu Bakr led through the Battle of Basra, Battle of Damascus and the Campaigns in Bahrain, Oman and Yemen. Caliph Umar conquered Syria, Jerusalem and Egypt. Caliphs Usman and Ali brought Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Cyprus and Tunisia into the Islamic fold. From 632 till 661, when Caliph Ali was assassinated, the dress code for Muslim women was as relaxed as has been in the preceding 22 years.

As Islam spread outside its place of birth, some early Muslims adopted regional practices including veiling. During both the Umayyad and the Abbasid Dynasties, a period of almost 600 years, only a part of Muslim urban classes opted for veiling, seclusion or both; mostly as a status symbol depicting that the women of the family did not need to work in order to make both ends meet. All through Islamic history, rural and nomadic Muslim women, a majority among Muslim women, did not take on to veiling. The early Safavids (1500s) encouraged veiling as a custom while the late Safavids (1600s) discouraged it.

In the mid-1700s, Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab, an Arab theologian, set out to purify Islam in his own colours. His principal thrust was his belief that Muslims had "misunderstood Islam for centuries". Muhammad Ibn Wahab and Muhammad Ibn Saud agreed to rule by dividing Islamic interpretation and political administration between the two of them, respectively. From there on, Saudi Arabia’s political rulers have been from the House of Ibn Saud while the Grand Mufties from the House of Ibn Wahhab.

In 1938, Standard Oil of California discovered that Al Mamlakah al Arabiyah as Suudiyah was floating on top of a sea of oil. Since then, the House of Saud has sucked in a trillion petrodollars while the Grand Mufties have spent billions spreading the word of Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab (that includes severe discrimination of women in education, employment and the justice system). Saudi women are not allowed to drive and religious police enforce a strict code of dress -- face veil, headscarf and full black cloak. All customs, nothing to do with religion.

In the Christian world, women entering a church wore a head covering, a scarf, veil, cap or a hat. The Second Vatican Council, that opened under Pope John XXIII in 1962 and closed under Pope Paul VI in 1965, no longer required women to cover their heads.

By the second half of the nineteenth century, some Muslim intellectuals argued that interpretations of the Quran in regards to polygamy and wearing the veil had nothing to do with Islam. In 1923, Turkish intellectuals began denouncing the veil calling it ‘demeaning’ (Turkish women covered in black were called ‘beetles’). The same year, there was public unveiling in Lebanon, Syria and Tunis. Reza Pahlevi issued a proclamation (Iran; 1925-1941) banning the veil (on November 3 2006, Chief Justice of the Peshawar High Court ordered "women lawyers not to wear veils in courtrooms").

In the 1930s, veils fell out of favour in Egypt. In the 1980s, veils were back in favour. In late-2006, Abdel-Hai Ebeid, president of Helwan University (Cairo, Egypt), told her female students to pick either the veil or the hostel (students wearing the niqab have since taken it off). Ebeid has now banned students wearing a niqab (veil covering the face) from residing at the university’s hostel.The veil is once again making a comeback, surely culture not religion. The fact remains that of the 700 million Muslim women alive a majority does not wear a full-face veil.