Because Americans know so little of Middle Eastern culture, Americans' ideas and values misread how Middle Eastern women are treated. The womens' veils do not signify sexist oppression. The Qu'ran does not force women to wear it. The women's veils are not part of Islam, but a desired part of their community values. The women of Iraq believe that not covering oneself is shameful, and the use of the abayah or veil allows them to feel in high esteem about themselves. Americans believe that Middle Eastern women are not allowed to express themselves, when in fact, by wearing the veil, they are expressing the fulfilling values of their culture. A recent event exemplifies this difference in cultural values. In a recent beauty pageant, Miss Iraq showed off her bikini body onstage to the international camera. Americans belived that this act showed liberation and a healthy woman's confidence. On the other hand, important figures from Iraq found this display shameful for the woman. Americans disrespect the Middle Eastern ideal of liberation by assuming that both types of liberation are the same. Americans' ethnocentrism assumes that showing one's body freely is liberating.
Middle Eastern women often pity American women for being so naive as not to cover themselves. During her year and a half stay in El Nahra, Iraq, Elizabeth Warlock Fernea experienced this dispute concerning the veil. Like all travelers, Fernea arrived in Iraq more or less with an ethnocentrism which held some stereotypes about the women she would encounter. When Elizabeth Fernea first appeared in Baghdad, she was set to not wear an abayah and give into the perceived oppression of the veil. She was quick to learn by hostile or strange stares that by not wearing the abayah, she was shaming herself. Soon a female acquaintance had one made for Fernea and she felt much better.
It is not simply that Americans focus on looks and the Middle Eastern women do not care about their appearances, or do not express themselves. It is only that the two cultures give different standards as to what looks good and what does not. Abayahs and veils, contrary to American belief, look good to Middle Eastern women because it upholds their moral integrity. This makes them happy and gives one as much confidence as an American women could feel while wearing a new, red, summer dress.
There are biblical examples which have influenced these cultural ideas. In the Qu'ranic Bible, the story of the Garden of Eden is different than in the Christian Bible. It is believed and taught that once Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden of Eden, they were forced to strip their clothes. This story reflects the Middle Eastern value that to be without clothes in public is shameful, rather than liberating. The Christian Bible, Adam and Eve, once realizing their own nakedness, put clothes on themselves, which signifies that they had become ashamed of their nudity. Interestingly, Christians do not settle on the idea as to cover themselves so much as they focus on the innocence of being naked before God. Even Christian Americans show off some skin publicly when diving into the swimming pool.
There are other groups in the world who consider not covering oneself to be shameful. In a adulthood ceremony of the Nitendi in the Santa Cruz Islands, the young boys of the tribe are made to remove their clothes for five days until the Nitendi festival. After feeling shameful for five days, they are clothed at the ceremony and hence become adults. This can relate to the Adam and Eve story in the Christian Bible, because during the time they were naked, they were without knowledge, like a child. The Nitendi realize that this nakedness represents childhood, and by reclothing the young boys, they gain back their adulthood.
While putting so much pressure to release the women from the abayah, Americans miss the point that many Iraqi's who immigrate here to America are fleeing from religious persecution. In the land of the free, it is absurd that America does not throw open its arms to console those who are searching for religious freedom. The first pilgrims to the U.S. were Dutch Protestants who desired to flee from the Catholic persecutions. However, stereotypes of terrorism infiltrate the nation's mind. Constant television images of terrorist men in kaffiyehs or turbans bring the idea that all Iraqi men could be terrorists. This idea is hardly challenged in American society. Although precautions have cooled down since the few years after the 9//11 attack in New York, Iraqis are often prejudiced against, being overly searched in comparison to other plane passengers and not given company jobs in fear that they could abuse the system.
One way to be opened minded rather than prejudging one's safety is to reach out and get to know the Middle Eastern immigrants who live in America. Linda Walbridge became friends with Seyed Moustafa, a Shiite Muslim who left Iraq with his family to flee religious persecution from Saddam Hussein. His education is substantially intricate, as he speaks several languages and he has been trained as a Shiite Muslim cleric. His family is famous for helping to conduct Shiite religious rituals for local American Muslim communities. I find that Moustafa's life work is not much different than a Baptist preacher in America. These two types of religious leaders are both dedicated to their religion and host a passion to spread the words of their holy texts to others. They also satisfy the spiritual lives of the members in their respective communities.
Islam is similar to Christianity in the way that Islam is a fulfilling, spiritual religion and not a constant jihad. When the idea of Islam is brought up to Americans, the stereotype of men in turbans shouting and shooting with rifles into the air can sometimes come to mind. However, most time these images of jihad, or holy war, are rebellions against the oppressive, persecuting Middle Eastern governments, and do not connect with the Islamic faith at all. The Islamic faith is very much based on community and honoring the Qu'ran. Just like American Christians may meet for a Bible study, groups of women and men will meet, having one person read the Qu'ran and others will listen and reflect on its powerful words. In Guests of the Shiek, the women of El Nahra would sit and listen to the Qu'ran being read aloud and found this practice very spiritually uplifting. Also, the leading figures of Christianity and Islam, Jesus Christ and the Prophet Mohammed are similar in their martyrdom. Children's stories from each religion pay tribute to each of them, showing that they died, each for the greater good of their communities.
The best way to bridge gaps of understanding inbetween two cultures is two have cross cultural experiences which expose the contradicting ideas and misunderstandings. Since the abayah or veil is such a contrast or opposite value of American culture, it sticks out and therefore brings more opportunity for Americans to learn and discuss about the true meaning behind the abayah.
Americans have not yet truly accepted the religion of Islam because it is misunderstood and confused with ideas of political uprising.
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