Veiling, Unveiling, Reveiling

April 21st, 2011 in Archive by The Kitchen Sisters1 Comment

On NPR’s Morning Edition
Thursday, April 21

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Throughout history, orthodox Islamic scholars have said that Muslim women MUST cover their hair. For most Muslims, the hijab – or headscarf – is a commandment from God. But, here in the US, that decision isn’t so clear-cut. There are about 1 million Muslim women in America. And 43 percent of them wear hijab, according to the Pew Research Center. That means nearly half a million don’t. That split – between women who’ve covered and women who’ve never covered – has existed for decades. But, now, there’s a generation of women…who are DE-HIJABBING.

Read more and view a multimedia presentation with photos and voices from the story at npr.org.

This story was produced by Asma Khalid
Editor: Steve Drummond
Multimedia: John Poole & Nelson Hsu

Above photo: John Poole/NPR

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One Comment

How do we go about producing a story that tells another side to this story – the side that sees women who choose to wear hijab in the US, but don’t feel hindered by it, the women who feel they can both follow the Quran and still be modern and not at all oppressed, the women who haven’t had these stereotypical experiences with wearing hijab? The Veiling, Unveiling, Reveiling story, while compelling, does nothing but perpetuate the thinking that muslim women who choose to wear the hijab are oppressed or somehow participate in backward thinking and can’t at all be modern. As a convert to Islam, I personally don’t know any muslim women who think or feel that way. Please, find us. Tell out story. There are too many moderate voices out there, voices that our politicians and our media keep calling for to speak up and out against radicalism in Islam, but where are the stories about us? Please continue the discussion with another piece about muslim women who cover who don’t feel oppressed.