1-Hijab in Islam........................................................................................ 5
2-Hijab was an Old Jewish Custom.......................................................... 6
3-European Jewish Women wore Hijab until the 19th. Century................ 8
4-Christianity as well believes that Women should wear Hijab ................ 9
5-Hijab is not an Islamic Innovation........................................................ 12
6-The Objective behind Wearing Hijab................................................... 13
Islam pays more Attention to the Woman›s Psyche ....................................14
7-Why is the Percentage of Rape and Harassment High in the Societies that
Reject Hijab?.......................................................................................... 15
Physically: ..................................................................................................18
Psychologically:..........................................................................................18
Socially:.....................................................................................................19
Healthy Behaviors: .....................................................................................19

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Contents

Hijab (head cover) and the Clothes of the Muslim Woman

1-Hijab in Islam
Many Westerners think that hijab (veil) is the symbol of oppression
of the Muslim woman. Several western caricaturists depict the
Muslim woman typically as one wearing a black «aba›a» : a dress that
covers all her body except for her eyes. She is usually fat and sad! The
aim behind this is usually to criticize such costume and confirm the
image of the oppressed Muslim woman in the western minds! We
refuted that image in a previous article «Arabs and Women Slavery»
in which we mentioned the reaction of Saudi female students to
the comments of Karen Hughes, the Middle East emissary of the
American Administration, and how they proved their love of their
Islamic costume and hijab. They were proud and had no intention to
give this up. However, is hijab an Islamic innovation?

Hijab (head cover) and the Clothes of the Muslim Woman

2-Hijab was an Old Jewish Custom
Although Muslim women are the ones that mostly observe the hijab, it
is not correct that Islam is the only religion that orders its followers to
wear hijab! Laila Lia Bruner, professor of Jewish history at the Jewish
University and the visiting professor at Shiva University Institute for
Adult Studies indicates that, «the early divine classic literature, Talmud
and Midrash, had completely different viewpoints regarding covering
woman›s hair. At that time, covering hair was not just a costume or a
habit as in the Bible. Rather, it was the rule and regulation for pious
women. The later divine literature of the middle ages asserted that
issue as a complementary part of Jewish religious rituals.» (1
)
Hijab, then, was a habit and then a religious obligation on the Jewish
woman. The Talmud Encyclopedia asserts this through comparing
the opinion of the «mishna», the main source of rabbinic Judaism,
and that of the Talmud regarding hijab:
«It seems that the mishna considered covering the hair as a Jewish
habit despite that Talmud had already set a Torah rule for that and
stated it as an obligation. Moreover, it is interesting that the term ‹dat
yahudit› is used only for the behavior of women so that many defined
the term as related to women›s modesty in particular.» (2
)

Whether covering hair was a Jewish habit or a religious obligation, it
is an established fact that was known and widespread in old Jewish
societies.

Menachem M. Brayer, Professor of Biblical Literature at Yeshiva
University, indicates that it was the habit of Jewish women to go
in public with the head cover which covered at time the whole face
except for one eye. (3

) He quotes the words of some old famous
Rabbis as saying, «it is not the habit of the girls of Israel to go with
bare head», «damned be the man who let his wife›s hair to be seen
... The woman who keeps her hair bare brings poverty.» The divine
law prohibits the recitation of blessings or prayers in the presence
of a married woman whose hair is not covered. This is considered
as «nakedness»(4

). Professor Brier adds that, «during the period of
Tanitic the failure of woman to cover her hair was considered as a
humiliation of her modesty. She was fined four hundred «zeuzem»
for that (zeuzem was about a quarter of a shekel)». He indicates as
well that the hijab of the Jewish woman was not always a sign of
modesty; at times it was an indication of distinction and luxury for
noble women. It also symbolized the non-attainment of the married
woman as being a sacred ownership of her husband. (5

) Hijab also
symbolized self-respect of the woman and he social status. Women
of the lower classes used to wear hijab to give the impression that
they were of a higher class. Hijab, in fact, was an indication of the
noble class and this was the reason prostitutes were prevented from
covering their hair in old Jewish society. However, prostitutes often
wore a special scarf to look respectable. (6

3 Menachem M. Brayer, The Jewish Woman in Rabbinic Literature: A Psychosocial
Perspective (Hoboken, N.J: Ktav Publishing House, 1986) p. 239.
4 Menachem M. Brayer, The Jewish Woman in Rabbinic Literature: A Psychosocial
Perspective (Hoboken, N.J: Ktav Publishing House, 1986), pp. 316317-. Also see Leonard J. Swidler,
Women in Judaism: the Status of Women in Formative Judaism (Metuchen, N.J: Scarecrow Press,
1976), pp. 121123-.
5 Menachem M. Brayer, The Jewish Woman in Rabbinic Literature: A Psychosocial
Perspective (Hoboken, N.J: Ktav Publishing House, 1986), p. 139.
6 Susan W. Schneider, Jewish and Female (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1984) p. 237.

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Hijab (head cover) and the Clothes of the Muslim Woman

3-European Jewish Women wore Hijab
until the 19th. Century
European Jewish women continued to wear hijab until the nineteenth
century. When their life became more secularized under the influence
of their surroundings and modernized European life, they were
forced to go out bare headed. Some of them found it easier to wear
the wig instead of their traditional hijab to keep their hair covered.
However, most devout Jewish women nowadays do not cover their
hair except at synagogues (7

while other sects, such as Haseedem, are

still wearing wigs. (8

 The Muslim Woman’s Dress according to the Qur’an and Sunnah, to some as a subject the Muslim women’s dress may sound trivial. The shari’ah, however, assigns it moral, social, and legal dimensions. One basic requirement to be a true believer according to the Qur’an is to make one’s opinions, feelings, and inclinations subservient to whatever Allah and his Messenger decided.