UNITED STATES: There are currently no laws banning veils or headscarves in the U.S. There is a move in some states to ban Sharia law, though these attempts have not succeeded so far. The sponsor of such a bill in Oklahoma wanted to prohibit women from wearing headscarves in driver's license photos. Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in 2010 banned veils that obscure the face for security reasons, but later changed it to accommodate Muslim women. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/04/11/ap/europe/main20052816.shtml
Khimar-headscarf Jilbab-a modest outgarment to cover the clothes Hijab-refers to both the head covering traditionally worn by Muslim women and modest Muslim styles of dress in general.
Translations of the Qur'an, Surah 24: 024.031 YUSUFALI: And say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty; that they should not display their beauty and ornaments except what (must ordinarily) appear thereof; that they should draw their veils over their bosoms and not display their beauty except to their husbands, their fathers, their husband's fathers, their sons, their husbands' sons, their brothers or their brothers' sons, or their sisters' sons, or their women, or the slaves whom their right hands possess, or male servants free of physical needs, or small children who have no sense of the shame of sex; and that they should not strike their feet in order to draw attention to their hidden ornaments. And O ye Believers! turn ye all together towards Allah, that ye may attain Bliss.
According to Wikipedia (which I realized is not the best source), there are some Muslims who take an activist approach to hijab. They interpret the commandment to mean that they must maintain modesty, and this varies according to the society. Something that may be modest in one society may be daring in another society.
I found some interesting info on this site: http://www.muhajabah.com/faceveil.htm
22/3/2011 UK: Appeal for Expressions of Solidarity with Dr Usama Hasan A recent hate campaign has been waged against the London-based academic and imam, Dr Usama Hasan. He has been victimised, accused of apostasy and has received death threats for his comments on evolution and the woman's right to choose whether or not to wear hijab. The Board of the Muslim Women’s Network-UK (http://www.mwnuk.co.uk/) strongly condemns the bullying and harassment of Dr Hasan. http://www.wluml.org/
Since the prayer is the most important matter of Islam after having the correct belief in God and His Messenger, one must plan his life around the prayer. It would be a great sin to neglect praying when at work if a prayer was required at that time. If a believer is shopping at the mall or waiting at the airport and there is no way to get home or to a mosque, he is still obligated to perform the prayer within its due time instead of purposely leaving out or delaying the prayer. This indicates the importance of the obligatory prayer. Doing the obligatory prayer on time takes priority over other non-obligatory matters. http://www.sunna.info/prayer/TheBasicsoftheMuslimsPrayer.php
^That site gives a lot of interesting info about Muslim prayers
UNITED STATES: There are currently no laws banning veils or headscarves in the U.S. There is a move in some states to ban Sharia law, though these attempts have not succeeded so far. The sponsor of such a bill in Oklahoma wanted to prohibit women from wearing headscarves in driver's license photos. Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in 2010 banned veils that obscure the face for security reasons, but later changed it to accommodate Muslim women.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/04/11/ap/europe/main20052816.shtml
Khimar-headscarf
Jilbab-a modest outgarment to cover the clothes
Hijab-refers to both the head covering traditionally worn by Muslim women and modest Muslim styles of dress in general.
Translations of the Qur'an, Surah 24:
024.031
YUSUFALI: And say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty; that they should not display their beauty and ornaments except what (must ordinarily) appear thereof; that they should draw their veils over their bosoms and not display their beauty except to their husbands, their fathers, their husband's fathers, their sons, their husbands' sons, their brothers or their brothers' sons, or their sisters' sons, or their women, or the slaves whom their right hands possess, or male servants free of physical needs, or small children who have no sense of the shame of sex; and that they should not strike their feet in order to draw attention to their hidden ornaments. And O ye Believers! turn ye all together towards Allah, that ye may attain Bliss.
According to Wikipedia (which I realized is not the best source), there are some Muslims who take an activist approach to hijab. They interpret the commandment to mean that they must maintain modesty, and this varies according to the society. Something that may be modest in one society may be daring in another society.
I found some interesting info on this site: http://www.muhajabah.com/faceveil.htm
22/3/2011
UK: Appeal for Expressions of Solidarity with Dr Usama Hasan
A recent hate campaign has been waged against the London-based academic and imam, Dr Usama Hasan. He has been victimised, accused of apostasy and has received death threats for his comments on evolution and the woman's right to choose whether or not to wear hijab. The Board of the Muslim Women’s Network-UK (http://www.mwnuk.co.uk/) strongly condemns the bullying and harassment of Dr Hasan.
http://www.wluml.org/
Since the prayer is the most important matter of Islam after having the correct belief in God and His Messenger, one must plan his life around the prayer. It would be a great sin to neglect praying when at work if a prayer was required at that time. If a believer is shopping at the mall or waiting at the airport and there is no way to get home or to a mosque, he is still obligated to perform the prayer within its due time instead of purposely leaving out or delaying the prayer. This indicates the importance of the obligatory prayer. Doing the obligatory prayer on time takes priority over other non-obligatory matters.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.sunna.info/prayer/TheBasicsoftheMuslimsPrayer.php
^That site gives a lot of interesting info about Muslim prayers