Muslim Women : the Veil

TABLE OF CONTENTS
• ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………………………2
• OBJECTIVES…………………………………………………………………….4
• RESEARCH METHODOLOGY…………………………………………………5
• INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………..6
• THE VEIL AND FEMINISTS APPROACHES…………………………………7
• METHODOLOGICAL STUDY………………………………………………….7
• VEIL AND THE WEST………………………………………………………....11
• MUSLIMS IN THE WEST………………………………………………………12
• MUSLIM WOMEN IN FRANCE………………………………………………..13
• MUSLIM WOMEN IN INDIA…………………………………………………...13
• THE VEIL…………………………………………………………………………14
• CONCLUSION……………………………………………………………………14 OBJECTIVE

To study the conditions of Muslim women in various regions and to draw the conclusions related to the topic.

INTRODUCTION
The veil should be considered as an oppression/suppression or it should be left upon the women to decide? Certainly, religious sentiments should never be undermined because in some or the other way it leads to humiliation which further provokes uncertainty among different groups of people. However, being a non-Muslim, it is somewhere inculcated in my mind that this practice is a landmark of patriarchal society or suppression of women, but through my research, I realized that it is not about my views but it is about those Muslim women and their opinion regarding this practice. A Muslim woman wears hijab (veil for the simple reason that God has commanded it in the Quran and Sunna. There are two verses which deal with the question of women’s dress. They are:
Surah an-Nur verse 31 and Surah al- Ahzab verse 59
Mainly, many non-Muslims and few Muslims also, fail to examine and analyse this issue and openly condemn this practice. Modernization has lessened the gap between men and women but it fails to understand that though ‘Men and women are equal but not identical’. Many feminists’ approaches have been taken against the suppression of Muslim women. They argue that Islam like any patriarchal religion, subordinates women. They are committed to women’s rights and believe that