The contentious debate over the wearing, or not, of the hijab or burka has been raging on across this ideologically polarised world. Muslims believe that wearing the hijab or burka is compulsory for women under Islam. Some, however, claim that the Holy Quran makes no mention of it and so it is not compulsory.
One Pakistani conservative tweeted that wearing the hijab is a “way of living”. The tweet has now been removed but not before Tarek Fatah slammed it.
There is nothing about the Hijab that is a ‘way of living’. Stop lying in the name of Islam @AlishbaSharif. Stop slut-shaming non-hijabis. https://t.co/SRfKBEHmmd
— Tarek तारिक Fatah (@TarekFatah) November 24, 2016
Another Twitter user asked Fatah to prove whether wearing of the hijab or burka is mandatory under Islam or is it just another diktat of the radicals.
@TarekFatah no surah or Aayat of Holy Quran talked about Hijab,if any please prove its about ALLAHs V/S Islam Mullas ISLAM @AlishbaSharif
— SAMEER YADAV (@SAMEER0107) November 24, 2016
Tarek Fatah then made his case against the wearing of the headcover by Muslim women:
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It doesn’t matter to Islamists. They practise ‘Mullah’s Islam’ as against ‘Allah’s Islam’; use women as frontline troops, bait to draw fire https://t.co/uY2Yz967IE
Advertisement— Tarek तारिक Fatah (@TarekFatah) November 24, 2016
He contends that the wearing of the hijab or burka is a custom created by the mullahs. The Islamists he refers to in his tweet are the radicals whose violent understanding of the world is known to all, and which is completely against the teachings of the Quran.
One Twitter user, however, said that the mention of the headcover has been made in the Quran:
@TarekFatah @SAMEER0107 @AlishbaSharif
Actually here is a verse that is used to justify hijab/burka. Quran does command women cover pic.twitter.com/4UCxdj2M2c— Trent Sickle (@Trentsickle) November 24, 2016
And another pointed to the cultural roots of the hijab:
@TarekFatah @sameer0107 Hijab predates Islam. Hijab was used during the Assyrian empire somewhere in 800 BC or so. Islam adopted it.
— Rag (@ragways) November 24, 2016
Hijab is a headscarf generally worn by Shia Muslim women whereas the burka, or head-to-toe black garment that covers every part of the body except the eyes, is usually worn by Sunni Muslim women. Every woman in the highly conservative Saudi Arabia wears a burka. But there is no uniform pattern. For instance most women in Sunni majority Turkey dress up in western attire while the conservatives prefer a headscarf over a burka. In Muslim majority southeast Asian countries, the headscarf or the burka assumes a different colour, style or make, and at times is totally absent.
