'Amr Khalid and "the Hijab of Faith" : Transformation of the Discourses on the Veil in Contemporary Egypt

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  • GOTO Emi
    Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the University of Tokyo:Japan Society for the Promotion of Science

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  • アムル・ハーリドと「信仰のヒジャーブ」 : 現代エジプトにおけるヴェール言説とその変化について
  • アムル ハーリド ト シンコウ ノ ヒジャーブ ゲンダイ エジプト ニ オケル ヴェール ゲンセツ ト ソノ ヘンカ ニ ツイテ

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Abstract

Why are many Muslim women in Egypt now wearing the hijab(veil)? It is a question that has puzzled scholars since the late 1970s. Most of the answers given have been based on either functional or symbolic reasons attached to veiling. Women choose to wear the hijab on economical grounds, to prevent harassment, and for the sake of their public reputation; or because the hijab is a symbol of their identity, resistance, and protest. Upon closer examination, there seems to be an assumption that the hijab is associated with some kind of oppression of Muslim women. A prevailing religious discourse seems to support this assumption; men are responsible for women's hijab, because without it, the former could be seduced by the latter, which would lead society to corruption. However, this is not the only discourse on the hijab. This paper presents an alternative view, which has become increasingly dominant in Egypt in recent years, owing, in part, to an influential preacher who asserts that women should wear the hijab for their own piety and for their own responsibility as Muslims. Indicating that this seemingly "new" discourse is not so new, this paper invites readers to pay closer attention to the previously inconspicuous words of veiled women; many of them have been affirming that they wear the hijab because it is the obligation of Muslim women or that their hijab is "for the sake of God".

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