Fashion Is Evolution and Religion Is Anti-Evolution

By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam 13 September 2023 "Religious fashion is still fashion. It has its own history, evolution, and iterations of style. It requires skill and craftsmanship to achieve a certain effect. Modesty and beauty can coexist, and even complement each other. But beauty can’t coexist with bad taste, and that’s what this ruling leaves in my mouth." A Muslim reader in The Independent (UK) A young woman wearing an abaya, centre, on a street in Nantes, western France, on August 31, 2023 [File: Loic Venance/AFP] ----- I'm afraid this reminded me of Hugh Hefner's (The founder of Playboy) famous quote that, 'The oxymoronic term religious fashion sounds like holy porn.' The French court has justifiably upheld the ban on wearing abayas in schools. Fashion is evolution and religion is simply anti-evolution. So, it's indeed ridiculous to say that abaya is an expression of religious fashion. Both cannot go hand in hand. You either follow fashion and new trends or follow your sartorial specifications as Qur’anic or Islamic commandment. To project an abaya as a fashion statement is like having your cake and eating it too. Humans have an embedded natural proclivity to appear nice and good-looking to their fellow humans. There's nothing wrong with that. We're all appearance conscious individuals. And why shouldn't we be? But the problem arises when a religious-minded person tries to follow appearance-related diktats of his/her religion and the natural inclination to look beautiful and trendy. Somewhere deep down they know that however 'trendy' a burqa or abaya or a turban (in the case of a Sikh) may be, all these are manifestations of compromised fashion. But these people are torn between fashion and faith. So, they justify an abaya as a fashion statement or a turban as something very stylish. The fact is, a handsome man can never look that handsome if he wears a turban as a religious symbol or a lovely damsel will never look breathtakingly beautiful if she wears an abaya or a Hijab. Kabir Bedi looked handsome when he wore a turban but he looked gorgeous when he stopped wearing it. Now coming back to the French government banning abayas in public and at schools and colleges, it's the government's basic right. If Muslims don't approve of it, they can go back to North Africa. By the way, most of the Muslims crowding and infesting France are from North African Muslim countries like Algeria (maximum) and Morocco. It'll be in the fitness of things if the French government bans all religious symbols and totems of all faiths like turban, carrying a dagger (what nonsense!), sporting a beard in accordance with one's faith and displaying tilak, rosary and tripundi. All these symbols differentiate and pigeonhole humans. Do away with them. ------- A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a researcher in comparative religions, with special reference to Islam. He has contributed articles to the world's premier publications in several languages including Persian. URL: https://newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/fashion-evolution-religion/d/130662 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism