New Age Islam

Islam, Women and Feminism

26 Sep 2011, NewAgeIslam.Com

Interfaith Dialogue: In Search of Common Ground Over Muslim Dress Codes

By Souad Mekhennet

This was particularly striking at an “interfaith” discussion after the official panel, during which four women — three of them Muslims wearing the veil, and the fourth a Hindu — tussled with two businessmen, one from Pakistan and the second from South Africa, over the niqab, the veil for the face. “How do we want to create an interfaith dialogue if they ban the burqa, discuss the headscarves, don’t allow Muslims to build mosques and then even have a preacher who wanted to burn the Koran?” Ms. Karklina asked. “Don’t you think that it would create problems for Islam” for everyone to wear the niqab? “It is nowhere mentioned in Islam and does make our religion look bad.” “See, we would actually need an interfaith dialogue,” said Deepika Nagabhushan, a businesswoman from Bangalore, India. “We all talk about tolerance and common ground between different religions, but what’s with the tolerance inside your own religion?” “We have a tradition which says that you are not supposed to touch anyone when you have your periods,” she noted.Heeding that, or wearing the niqab, she suggested, is not just religion, but custom.-- Souad Mekhennet http://newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamIslamWomenAndFeminism_1.aspx?ArticleID=5559