Islamic Veil & Celebrities
The Arab world is witnessing a wave of attacks pointed specifically to famous women in the Arab world who wore the Islamic veil in the middle of their blooming careers as movie stars, media representatives or singers.
The wave got specifically stronger following the decision of 2 Egyptian movie stars to wear the Islamic veil: Hala Shiha and Hanan Turk.
Among the few supporting and congratulating voices, many called them different kinds of things for taking such a step.
They’re fame-seekers on one hand, and they’re being this dull example of oppressed women on the other.
Now I’m not here to convince those against the Islamic veil that it’s exactly the opposite of oppressing women, and that it has nothing to do with making women inferior to men in any way, because I’ve said that thousands of times and in the end of the day everyone is free to think what they like.
But what I’m into is asking one single question: does being a famous star in any field mean that we, the audience, suddenly own the lives of those celebrities and have the right to control their decisions?
It really annoys me how people interfere with celebrities’ lives, and what annoys me even more is what they give themselves the right to interfere with. For example, if an actress shoots a scene in which she’s half naked, or appears in lingerie, very few show their dislike. But once the magic word –Hijab- is mentioned, you find almost every one, even the least religiously educated, having a take on their decisions, blaming them of awful things and claiming they’re after fame!
What fame are you talking about if they’re already famous? What fame are you talking about, if it’s easier to be an official prostitute and gain respect these days, than wearing a veil on your head and covering your body!
Why does a celebrity wearing Hijab get all sorts of attacks, but when this very same celebrity takes it off, no one really bothers and no one say: bravo, you did the right thing! It’s because most of the people out there don’t really care about this celebrity, their life, their freedom of choice or their happiness, they only care about one thing: attacking Hijab.
Yesterday I watched a very impressive episode of a Lebanese program: Al Hadath, discussing the phenomena of celebrities wearing Hijab. The arguments were really interesting, and I didn’t want to miss a second of the heated discussions.
The guests were Mona Abdel Ghani, a famous singer/actress who wore Hijab for a while now, and Khadeeja Ben Qinna, a very famous Aljazeera newsreader who wore Hijab recently, as well as Iqbal Haraka, very well known for her anti-Hijab ideas, and who wrote a book called: Al Hijab, in a lousy attempt to convince Muslim women not to wear Hijab and that it’s not even mentioned in Quran and all using really lame excuses and pointless arguments, and so the book turned out to do a counter-effect provoking even those against Hijab to be with it.
Talking of attacks against the Islamic veil, I came across this post of The Big Pharaoh:“Running Out Of Our Mindsâ€, in which our fellow blogger actually believes, like many others, that there is nothing in Quran addressing the Islamic veil in particular. He also says: “I believe the case of these two actresses mirror what my country is currently going through. A fake wave of religiosity that is killing everything beautiful we once had.
All what I am against is this current form of religiosity that places so much importance on outer appearances and neglects everything that has to do with the core inner values.â€
As I said, everyone is free to think whatever they like, but if you give yourself the right to take your own decisions, don’t you think you have to give others the right to the same thing as well!
If one calls for not judging people by their appearances and focus on their inner values instead, what does “killing everything beautiful†and “running out of actresses†mean?
In my humble understanding it means that you’re measuring beauty by looks and not by core values and professionalism as you claim, and it means that as long as women don’t show as much skin as possible, they’re no longer welcome as actresses!
Who’s judging by appearances here?
And just for the record, Hijab sure does mean barrier, or separator, but it also means coverage, (hajaba al shay2: covered it), just thought I’d make this clear, because as you very well know, writing is responsibility.
What I’ve been reading online, and what I’ve been watching on TV lately concerning this issue made me just hope people will start thinking more, act more responsible, and know that not believing in something, doesn’t mean attacking it, and if there is no other choice but to attack, do it on solid basis.
Very nice post. I’ve read a couple on the same matter earlier and I have to agree with some that in recent years. Many have taken Hijab as a way to stay in the light and add more fame. Whatever they do, it’s their own choice
Now, I also believe that there is a wave of “Islamization” that is swooping over our societies. The reasons are many, one of which is the failure of Arab Nationalism of producing any valid results and people seeking identity and more likely as a way of silently protesting our position among the world nation. And on very small select cases just shear backwardness and closed mindedness. Totally the opposite of what the religion is
Anyway, Great post … keep them up
hi Eman! Haven’t said so in awhile, good to see your post. What I wonder is, will these ladies only take roles where they can wear the hijab? Is it such a matter of conscience that it will remain on and they only choose characters whose behaviour mirrors the status quo for covered ones? I don’t know, just curious.
you are one of the few people I know who actually ‘gets it’
i absolutely love how people will come and say “hijab is not mentioned in the quran and therefore not a requirement”, instantly destroying something which has been agreed upon since the Prophet pbuh himself to Ibn Abbas till today.
also people tend to equate hijab with a simple headscarf. this is not the purpose of it. the hijab is a way of dressing modestly, it is a way of thinking, and it is a mindset. and it isn’t exclusive to a single magical piece of cloth. And it’s not only backed up by the Quran but also the Sunnah.
and as for these celebrities…it’s their own business why they do it. if people really want to know whether they do it for fame or for religion, well how they live their life henceforth is a good reflection of that. if they wear the hijab and go make a porno (an extreme example for purposes of making a point) then it’s a bit obvious what the purpose is/was.
i think people feel that when a Muslim actress wears the hijab its suddenly the end of her career. because of course wearing the hijab renders a women incapable of thinking or working or doing anything else other than praying.
sigh
I don’t think this is the post to discuss wether Huijab restrains women or not, wether it has legitimacy or not as some comments has done as we continue to do in our media and daily life. We tend to judge people on what they wear or what they don’t wear.
What I believe is that an actress has the freedom to appear half naked as well as to wear hijab. We shall not judge the first one as much as we do’nt want the second one to be juged.
But still we need to make a difference between the person behind the role and the public image of that person. These people sell images and images have meanings and connotations. I am not saying this to make a comparison with women wearing Hijab but for example women presenting TV news can’t wear Tshirts and jeans or shorts because they are young for example because they have an image to vehiculate. Also if you get to talk to actors and actresses, you’ll find that some do exclusively comedy role, others are always play boys, business men or innocent girl and that is because they way they look, hence i belive that women who choose to wear hijab also restrain themselves to some kind of roles and that is just normal. They also have to accept it and assume the image they vehiculate to their public because THEY ARE PUBLIC!
Qwaider, thanks for dropping by and leaving a comment. I agree with all what you said, but I’m afraid some are generalizing, i.e. they say: because some wear hijab for wrong reasons, hijab is not right.
As you said, it’s their choice, and for whatever reason they wore it, let it be between them and God, and let us mind our own business.
Kinzi, good to hear from you too.I totally understand your question dear. I believe the role selection will be a very personal issue, no one can predict what they’ll be choosing from now on. But what I can say is that wearing hijab will limit the roles to the ones with the veil on, and this does not mean playing only religious roles or good roles, because veiled women are people in the end of the day, they have many personalities among them, they can play roles of any profession that does not contradict wearing hijab, let it be a good character or a bad one. And I think this will open the door to more craetivity in the Arab film industry.
Nas, thanks my friend. This is exactly what people don’t want to understand, that Hijab doesn’t stand for a piece of cloth, it’s a whole way of living.
And I hope one day the world will finally understand that wearing hijab is not the end of a balanced productive life, it’s exactly the opposite.
Rim, thanks for the comment. It’s because we tend to judge people by what they wear that we need to make it clear that one of the reasons hijab exists is to prevent women from being judged by their looks.
I do agree with you however, that an actress’ choice of appearing however she wants is a personal issue we should not interfer with.
I do understand your point on the images people represent, and I do agree that wearing hijab will limit the choice to less roles, but it doesn’t mean a woman wearing hijab can’t act. There are millions of roles she can act, maybe not a prostitute or a dancer, but many other things that do not require her to take off her hijab. And I’m sure that when the actresses wore hijab they knew in advance that their roles will be limited and that they were ok with that and are heading to a new challenge to surprise us with more craetivity and a whole different level of acting.