Hijab or Habit

Photo by M. Strobbe @ Harvard
Law School Graduation 2012

Can someone explain the difference to me between the wearing of a hijab (headscarf), burqa (full cover age sometimes with a veil: niqab) and a nun's habit?

            

Both limit the amount of flesh the public can view. Both cover the head. Both allow only the hands to show. Feet are covered. Both are modest forms of dress representing the faith of the wearer.

So what is the big fuss?

Muslim friends have explained to me that the wearing of the burkha represents the extremists. Wearing of the hijab is a statement of one's belief) Just as we today have a very strong ultra conservative religious right. If you don't believe me, just watch the news, especially with regard to abortion and women's rights.

A Muslim woman, her 20 year old daughter, and I discussed the wearing of the hijab. the burkha, etc. I must agree with her that there is a great deal of freedom in wearing such garments. You can wear whatever you want (pajamas if you overslept) or even nothing!  No need to worry about the latest fashion. You do not have to worry about a bad hair day. How liberating is that?

I have never had a discussion with a nun about what is beneath the habit; I would not have dared ask a nun at catechism without fear of the ruler across the knuckles!

Granted, Roman Catholic nuns in some sects have a choice, just as Muslim women have a choice of how they dress. The attire for both is a reflection of their faith.

The Koran is not prescriptive. I have read every section that refers to women and reread them. Nowhere does it proscribe a burka: only modesty. Each person is given the freedom to determine their own mode of dressing.

I have heard some comments about how a burka hides physical abuse.  Non Muslim women also dress to hide physical abuse!  A counter argument is that a nun could easily hide a pregnancy, just like Pope Joan.