"I tried to sell the niqab during the Taliban time but they got mad at me," shopkeeper Ahmed Shah told the Toronto Star. "The Vice and Virtue Department came to my shop and accused me of polluting with Western ways. They beat me, they took away my niqab and told me never to try this again."
Yes, you heard right, a niqab.
4 comments:
I missed your point here. What is not correct about this?
Wearing a niqab is hardly a western way
Wearing a niqab is hardly a western way
From the definition in your BBC link:
"It is worn by many Muslim women across Saudi Arabia and the Indian sub continent and is worn by many women in the West."
So the nigab really is "western."
I also think "western" may be a relative term in this context.
I took it to mean the niqab represents an outside or more liberal influence, and outside/liberal is synonymous with "western" to the more conservative muslims...as indicated in The Star:
"It is the influence of the Afghans who lived outside. They were exposed to other ideas and traditions and they are bringing it to Kandahar, where it is giving us new ideas," said Anita, 16.
"But any girl who wants to wear this niqab must have the approval of the family. And many of the more conservative families will not allow it because they think it brings shame."
Well whether it's "western" because some people who are geographically located in the west wear it is just semantics. Although I'm disinclined to accept the label just because of what happens with food. We can all get spaghetti and pad thai and sushi anywhere, but we don't label them as north american food. (And if someone in some random other country did, we'd laugh.)
But if we did give it that label just because people do it here, I think it would have to stand up to the three generation rule, and I don't know if we've had time for that.
And this is totally not your main point anyway so I've just used up way too many words on it.
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