Feminism and Hijab (1)

Hijab, as natural and universal phenomenon in all societies, and divine religions, in various neutral states has been emphasized. In the post modern world, there has not been a special attitude towards hijab and was not considered a social issue because humans practiced it according to their nature. But in the modern world, phenomena such as colonialism, globalization, the arrival of the women in the public arenas in the Islamic countries, and also the apparent presence of veiled women in Western countries and ETC caused the hijab to become central and most controversial issue for the Islamic and Western intellectuals and scholar.
The modern feministic theories seeking to delete hijab as the main religious and patriarchic symbol but post- modern feminists (Muslim, black and third - world) criticized the works, positive functions on the one hand , analyzed the issue of Hijab with regard to the post - modern concepts (such as lifestyle , identity and image) . From the other side, Islamic scholars according to the requirements of the time and place of Islamic society provided an optimal explanation of the veil so that they can, by keeping hijab, submit the women to preserve their real value. آof post -
Key words: the hijab, modern feminism, , post - modern Islamic feminism, Islamic scholars
Hijab in word meaning means a cover and a barrier which is placed between the two objects and prevent from the object to the front to be seen and also means a porter who is as buffer between the people inside and outside a house. Hijab, as wearing for the women, is a relatively new a term which is a replacement to the hijab in its recent meaning before the emergence of Islam and has existed among different nations in the world including the ancient in Iran , the Jews and among Hindus. In the majority of the religious images of Jewish, Christian, women have a cover or long headscarves like a chador. According to the researches, since the beginning of the human's emergence ,every man and woman has tried to supply their cover and wearing hence, the first person by the leaves , then by the animals' skins and later by hand-made web of his own, tried to cover him or herself. The contemporary Anthropologists' theories confirm this theory that man has accepted covering optionally so, in very ancient history of Iran this is very evident. Dr. Shibani, in civilization and history, by referring to the soomeri's civilization as the oldest of human civilization says; The first group of the human's race who were settled in these areas and built the first real city was the soomeries , and because their land was very fertile they harvested two times in a year and they did cattle raising and used the donkey , sheep , goats, and oxen they also produced material from the wool , the goat's wool and linen clothes which called Gad and Hijab, in various neutral states, and in all of divine religions has been emphasized. In addition, in the majority of geographic areas the people and anthropologists have registered the hijab of tribes and remote communities and only a handful of traditional societies there have been without hijab. In all images and religious paintings throughout the world Madonna's hijab has been depicted therefore, this evidence shows that, in the post modern state, there has not been a special issue towards hijab in the world. But at the beginning of the 20th century, rapid and unprecedented changes flooded the world, so far as there was no neutral territory as result, the Middle East, no doubt, have to be faced with the changes, too of course, the problem that for many of us is still is vague that how can we make our society as well as our life to keep up with those changes? So, depending on our attitudes , we can have different responses to this issue ,for example, an economist answer in a way vice versa, a sociologist perhaps might have another answer also a secular and a fundamentalists may answer differently. It is evident that for many of us there is no a specified route for change and transformation for what is known as "tradition to "modern" but, it is a string of bridges which can forms new institutions.
If the speed of the change is large and do not gently enter into not life, it will cause the collapse of the communities and will create disorder in the values .So, on the pass of social change as communities pass the basis of social cohesion, deformities and separation of society occurs especially, if
this secession is rapid. On condition that the generally accepted norms has not still been replaced by the former values, it is possible people to become strange toward themselves, society divided, and the people struggle each other therefore, These slots can create political instability, social and religious tensions, mental disorders and lack of economic balance. The changes have several implications, but tensions are usually caused when traditional society faces challenges from the outside world and domestic or decisions based on Modernization. In the Middle East, under the influence of modernization, the Europeans and exploitation (in the general concept) , ideas and traditional way of life were challenged , and this issue made reactions so, many of the values were questioned and were pondered. Abdo Filali, Ansari, and the Moroccan contemporary intellectual says how can we remain Muslim? in this regard that There is no easy answer so, on the other hand, it seems that Islam is a series of beliefs that for centuries have remained unchanged, and on the other hand, the latest new life offers us a series of concepts which is in compliance with more scientific theories and contemporary ideas that are more persuasive than scientific theories. So, there is no harmony often between these two sides; not only Islam as a faith, but Islam as a thing that there is among people. Most of the Muslims are in a dual - mode; this means that despite the link with the Islamic community are not relied on in the same things that it is necessary. As a result, it is possible that their everyday lives as well as their believing problems are in conflicts with each other. The Muslims obtains science, technology and most of the philosophy from the West and through translating the Greek texts and of course, they expanded this science, deepened it, and established some new cases, and then, they handed this new civilization to the uncivilized world and medieval century stuck in the darkness.
In the ninth and 10th century the European, not only had immersed in ignorance and barbarism, but also feared treatment up to the Islamic civilization and, even to the point when Christian students, in Andalusia, went to schools of Christians, were accused by Christians that had sold their soul to the devil. As a whole, Islamic civilization had many effects on the formation of Western civilization. Of course, there is intellectuals who believe that Western civilization has directly taken Islamic civilization so, we can express the way of this effect:
1. The presence and influence of the Muslims up to the beyond of the spread of the Pyrenees' mountains
2. Sicilian court, the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), is the Emperor Frederick II,
3. Referring of the celebrate persons, kings and even Popes to the Islamic physicians who were more skilled than the Europeans.
4 – They, in this teaching method were setting off to the western Islamic and scientific center and by widespread translation of scientific book to the English provided the best opportunity to achieve third term orientation towards history.
In 1130, and in Talitale, the Translating Companies were established and through which the famous books of the Muslims were translated to the Latin so, the translation process of the books in Latin continued until the 14 century and through this passage the Europeans, gradually, abandoned half wild state of barbarism and faced a new world . The Europeans not only translated the books of Razi, books of Ibn Siena, Ibn Roshed in Latin , but also, the books of Plato, Jalinoos,Dimgratis, Batlamyus that the Muslims had translated hem into Arabic, transferred in to Latin . The scientific and cultural renaissance in Europe is considered as one of the largest developments in human history that still by passing of the ages is mentioned as the greatest event, but the fact that always remains forgotten, is that the intellectual evolution of the European has been the result of the transfer and taking Islamic civilization.
When the Islamic civilization slowly started to fade, the gradual attempt of western civilization started to dominate the world. But the Islamic civilization with its very productive background was never receiving this affair and always was trying to, of course with various approaches, return to their peak. By escalating material power of the civilization no problem had been found with Western civilization to the 17th and 18th century but, with the spread of capitalism, the Western civilization was trying to overcome the Islamic civilization and accurately, in the eighteenth and nineteenth century growing and evolution process of Islamic communities faced disorder. In this period,
religious values were questioned by scholars and social philosophers so, church also during the medieval had stuck in the darkness and ,due to the oppression to many people, had lost its power and legitimacy ; an era which was known as " the evening of Westphalia'' so, in this conditions, people with renaissance were seeking new legitimacy for themselves; However, social ideas in this age slowly forgot the religion in Europe and imposed its legitimacy upon the church . Of the main social ideas of that era was modern Feministic thoughts so, modern Feministic thoughts were trying to remove any religious work in society, including the hijab; however, after decades of 1990, new views regarding post - modern were raised which were emphasizing non - dropping of religion from social arena in fact, this group discusses hijab's functions for the women of Muslim. So, these feminists are called third world feminists in the third world, black, or Muslims. But in front of these feministic thoughts, Muslim thinkers and Islamic scholars have always trying to give religious opinions and theorizing in the domain of humanistic science.
This paper is trying to investigate feministic theories (modern and postmodern) including the views of Islamic scholars in the area of the hijab. In this way, first, theories of thinkers are studied and at the end of it, is shown that what kind of ideas (theories with the Islamic and with Feministic ones) both in terms of theoretical, and administrative capability and the effectiveness of use in society have had more efficiency and on the other hand, has been more compatible with the requirements of the time and place in Iranian society.