All Veils Ahead?

In French, the language from the country that bans women from wearing the veil (and men and women from wearing religious-themed apparel or accessories) in public schools, voile has an interesting double meaning: it means both sail and veil. Hence, it is good fodder for puns, for instance the French equivalent of "full sail ahead" - 'toutes voiles dehors' has been used in the title of a book talking about the Koran and Islam in the modern world. However, in spite of the title, the book stresses that Islam is about much more than a "square of fabric" despite what the critics and defenders say.

Personally, I've never felt particularly comfortable with the idea of the veil. That's not to say I've always been against it but rather than I'm uncomfortable with a lot of the issues that inevitably arise when talking about it. For instance, those talking about it as a matter of choice, not considering the difficult social pressures that distort the meaning of choice.

While being in Morocco I have heard a variety of explanations for the veil, both from those who wear it or those who do not.There was one that made me particularly uncomfortable: I was in a taxi talking to the driver, we passed a couple of women who were dressed in shirts and skirts, not anything particularly revealing and something that wouldn't have turned a head in Europe or the US. But this guy turns to me, in French, and said "This is not good. They should be covered up and wear the veil" as he implied they were bad people for dressing as they do. I did not take the easy road of just nodding and accepting this; I did not heed the words of Linus from "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown:"

"There are three things I have learned never to discuss with people: religion, politics, and the Great Pumpkin."

I challenged him and ask why they should have to follow his belief of what he felt is proper. His answer was that it wasn't his belief, it was God's belief and all must adhere too. Still not satisfied I pushed it further, and asked why its important that God said that. Yet, unsurprisingly, I remained unsatisfied as he said that the fact that God said it is all that matters. That does not do it for me, no matter who the god is.

A quick aside, I consider myself am agnostic and think I fall most closely in line with the beliefs of secular humanism. I know its trendy but then again, so am I, right? That being said, I do believe in the belief in God and acknowledge that this can play an important role in the lives of many, many good people. However, I do require that people's beliefs and values - be they religious or not - be translated into moral terms that all people can understand. Additionally, I care most of all that, whatever their motivation, they are at the end of the day caring, tolerant and kind-hearted in their actions. So for this conversation I was left very unconvinced. I think a large part of this has to do with my my knee-jerk aversion to this side of the veil issue, rife with associations to male chauvinism and restricting the rights of women. Yet something I discovered in Morocco is that this is not the complete picture.

I have had other conversations, generally with women who defend it for other, at least to me, more understandable reasons. Some cite modesty, piety (along the lines of a yarmulke, that is serving as a reminder) while oter justify it purely because it says so in the Koran. The interesting part for me has been how many veiled women have been taking part in NDI conference. The reason I find this intersting is that I often paired the idea of veiled women with those of restricted, hardly liberated women. Yet, these veiled women are campaigning to have their voices be heard. They certainly don't see the square of fabric as restricting their liberties,

Another interesting thing is the thriving veil industry. The veils seen around Morocco certainly aren't just black. They come in a panoply of colors that leaves me wondering if some see it purely as a a fashion accessory. Instead of the veil being an instrument of restricting choice, it is instead one that provides many choices I'm picturing the Gap commercial now.

Despite these cases, I still find it hard to be completely satisfied with just saying that the veil is a matter of choice, some choose to wear it while others don't. I've learned here that there is a lot of pressure on some women, either in their communities or through their piety. However, one of my Moroccan friends told me what he wanted to do when he was explaining how he felt about women and the veil. As he is not exactly a traditional guy, initially I was surprised when he said he wanted to marry a woman who wears the veil. It all made sense, however, when he explained why: to do his part to fight against the veil; he wanted to convince her to take it off.

It certainly isn't an easy situation for me to reconcile in my head, but I guess that's what makes it a good ethical dilemma. What does seen to be important though is not to let this be a stumbling block to discussing other important elements of the role of Islam or for that matter all religion in the modern world. Just because someone doesn't wear a veil does not mean she can't be just as pious and committed to preserving some parts of tradition as others. If someone does wear a veil, don't count them out of being empowered, modern and, in some cases, politically active. So, toutes voiles dehors? I still haven't figured that one out yet.