All around the world, we see examples of vast gulf between the theory and practice of religion. A warmongering Christian American president, who seems to not understand the basic tenets of Christianity that are peace, love and tolerance. Muslim fundamentalists who do not seem to understand or follow the teachings of Mohammed, the Prophet, who preached quite the same and whose clerics insist they practice while extolling the virtues of suicide bombing and destroying the West. Siddhartha Gauthama The Buddha once said that to be a Buddhist first and foremost one must meditate. How then does one explain the hereditary Buddhists in Sri Lanka who claim Buddhism but do not meditate, do not follow the tenets of non-violence and who use monasteries as refuges to hide from prosecution by law? All around the world, we see the huge gulf between religious teachings and religious practice. But one of the most baffling examples of this gulf is Istanbul’s phenomenon of half-naked girls parading around the streets in headscarves.
All of the world’s religions include a teaching that extols modesty. Modesty in behaviour, in dress, for men and women. Islam, like Orthodox Christianity and Judaism, notes the importance of appropriate dress. Clothing that covers knees, ankles, wrists, the hair, and even the face when necessary. What I simply cannot wrap my brain around is how a woman who would be inclined towards wearing a headscarf would wear stiletto boots and a mini-skirt along with her hijab. How could she justify wearing breast and crotch hugging clothes that leave not a curve of her body to the imagination while sporting her headscarf at the same time?
I can imagine some academic noting the small protest in her dress. Her consent to covering her head but nothing else. A way to battle the patriarchal culture that supports the purity and honor of women by controlling their manner of dress. Her way of appropriating an object with spiritual significance that denotes her lesser position in the world and taking it to an extreme. I am not versed in the theories of headscarves and Islamic women.
What I am well-versed in is the absurd. And a woman in a skimpy outfit wearing a headscarf screams of the hyper-absurd. The surreal. The ridiculous, even. I mean, what the hell is she thinking? I can see her belly but not her hair??? Her nipples but not her hairline? Where is the modesty in that? How can a bare midriff and headscarf be acceptable? If her parents make her wear a headscarf then how on earth did she leave the house looking like that???
And then makeup. How is a headscarf conducive to makeup? The point of the headscarf is to stop men from looking at women as sex objects, to allay their lust because male lust is the fault and responsibility of women. It is a woman’s job to make sure she does not turn on a man. Is this an insane religious fetish of men who lust after super-coiffed headscarved women? The mind absolutely reels.
When I will remember Istanbul, I will not think of the Bosphorus with its sulfur-smelling black water that makes not a single memorable landscape and which I for the life of me cannot understand how it is considered one of the most beautiful landmarks in the world. I will not think of the palaces and converted churches, the mosques, the Marmara. My image of Istanbul will henceforth be that of the headscarved slut, parading herself down the street in complete contradiction of herself.
Possibly related posts:
