American Muslim Women, Religious Authority, and Activism: More Than a Prayer

9. Covers and Other Matters: Concluding Thoughts

9 Covers and Other Matters Concluding Thoughts My body is not your battleground My hair is neither sacred nor cheap, neither the cause of your disarray nor the path to your liberation My hair will not bring progress and clean water if it flies unbraided in the breeze It will not save us from attackers if it is wrapped and shielded from the sun From “My Body is Not Your Battleground,” by Mohja Kahf These lines from Mohja Kahf’s poem serve as the introduction to the concluding chapter of this book. Rather than summarize the many dimensions of the discussion offered in these pages, it develops thoughts on those who are not addressed in the book and are in need of further consideration. The lines above address one important aspect of the study of Muslim women, whether in America or elsewhere, whether in the past or the present, which is the “issue” of hijab, or the Muslim headscarf. No other aspect of Muslim women’s studies has received, deservedly or not, more public and scholarly attention. Maybe it is because the hijab is so visible, so obvious, and thus so easy to take as a starting point for thinking about women’s roles and status in Muslim societies and communities. Maybe it is about the “mystique” of the veil, the things or human beings hiding or being concealed behind “it,” and possibly it is as much about the gaze of those who want to know what is behind the veil. Scholars in many disciplines, feminist or otherwise, have written about the hijab. Increasingly, Muslim women have entered the debate even though it is still not carried out on their terms or within their intellectual parameters. The hijab as a symbol 194 American Muslim Women, Religious Authority, and Activism of Muslim women’s oppression figures prominently in colonial projects, Muslim modernist reform agendas, and feminist rallies on behalf of Muslim women. Routinely, the hijab appears in newspaper articles, both visually and in description, whenever the topic relates to Muslim women. Each one of the above statements can be supported with a long list of academic articles and books addressing a facet of the topic.1 Several texts have been dedicated specifically to the topic of hijab in the American context, while every other book on American Muslim women more generally contains at least some reference to the issue.2 In this book I have for the most part avoided discussion of hijab. However, many of the women authors discussed in these pages have made their reflections and thoughts on the issue an integral part of their writings. Guided by the way public and academic frames or frameworks determine to a large degree how we formulate our research and writing agendas, and equally often driven by ongoing intra-Muslim conversations about the politics and symbolism as well as the legal, spiritual, personal, and political pros and cons of hijab, Muslim women’s writings reflect the many facets of hijab. My decision to avoid focusing on hijab was guided by concerns that it would inevitably distract from other, equally important aspects of Muslim women’s ideas and works. Focusing on the outward, symbolic, and visual nature of hijab would have risked overshadowing the many important facets of the discourses that point to more inward and simply other dimensions of Muslim gender debates. I make two exceptions to this hijab avoidance rule: a brief discussion of the role, presence, and absence of hijab during the prayer event in 2005; and an equally brief reflection on the politics of hijab on the covers of the books analyzed for this study. Hijab and the 2005 Prayer Event The visual signification of hijab or any form of clothing covering hair and body is prevalent in American mainstream media representations of Muslim women. In looking at the prayer as a visual performance and as a media event, it becomes clear that here, too, hijab is invested with meaning and used as a tool. The various appearances (or absences) of women’s headscarves during the prayer point to the organizers’ and participants’ perspectives on and utilization of hijab in their intentions to create intra-Muslim debates about woman’s leadership, ritual practice, and spiritual equality and to make the prayer event a media event. Covers and Other Matters 195 An important distinction has to be made between the wearing of hijab for ritual purposes and the...