{"id":58,"date":"2018-04-25T16:48:20","date_gmt":"2018-04-25T16:48:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.harvard.edu\/aabdeljelil\/?page_id=58"},"modified":"2018-05-01T22:11:46","modified_gmt":"2018-05-01T22:11:46","slug":"the-veil","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/aabdeljelil\/the-veil\/","title":{"rendered":"The Veil"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Week 12: Gender and Islam\/ The Veil<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.harvard.edu\/aabdeljelil\/files\/2018\/04\/HalimaAdenFoundPoem.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-107\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.harvard.edu\/aabdeljelil\/files\/2018\/04\/HalimaAdenFoundPoem.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1299\" height=\"1801\" srcset=\"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/aabdeljelil\/files\/2018\/04\/HalimaAdenFoundPoem.jpeg 1299w, https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/aabdeljelil\/files\/2018\/04\/HalimaAdenFoundPoem-216x300.jpeg 216w, https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/aabdeljelil\/files\/2018\/04\/HalimaAdenFoundPoem-768x1065.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/aabdeljelil\/files\/2018\/04\/HalimaAdenFoundPoem-739x1024.jpeg 739w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1299px) 100vw, 1299px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Close-ups:<\/p>\n<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-58 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-medium'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/aabdeljelil\/files\/2018\/04\/IMG_7076.jpg'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" src=\"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/aabdeljelil\/files\/2018\/04\/IMG_7076-300x225.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/aabdeljelil\/files\/2018\/04\/IMG_7076-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/aabdeljelil\/files\/2018\/04\/IMG_7076-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/aabdeljelil\/files\/2018\/04\/IMG_7076-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/aabdeljelil\/files\/2018\/04\/IMG_7077-e1524674751193.jpg'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/aabdeljelil\/files\/2018\/04\/IMG_7077-e1524674751193-225x300.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/aabdeljelil\/files\/2018\/04\/IMG_7077-e1524674751193-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/aabdeljelil\/files\/2018\/04\/IMG_7077-e1524674751193-768x1024.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<hr \/>\n<p>During Week 12, as we were discussing the impacts of various reform and revival movements in Islam, Professor Asani noted, &#8220;During\u00a0times of transition, such as reform movements, w<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">omen become the battleground for ideological tensions.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Therefore when talking about gender in Islam, it is important to question: <em>Which Islam? Which women?<\/em>\u00a0and Whose<em> Islam?<\/em> These questions begin a conversation around the ways in which women&#8217;s bodies become <\/span>objects of reform and how they are rendered one of the<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0primary sites for contested Islamic ideologies.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The<em> hijab,<\/em> which literally translates to a &#8220;covering,&#8221;<em>\u00a0<\/em>is one of the most notable gendered and outward facing markers of Islam. It is undoubtedly\u00a0<\/span>tied to socio-political contexts and national ideologies. However, faith is localized and the\u00a0<em>hijab<\/em> can bear important cultural significance.<\/p>\n<p>In order to promote bodily autonomy, we must listen to the women who make the choice to veil. Perhaps it is time to stop asking the question: <em>Is the veil oppressive or liberating?<\/em> and actively work toward building a society where freedom of choice and bodily autonomy are respected values.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">For the purpose of this blog, I decided to create a found poem using interviews with Muslim model Halima Aden in <a href=\"https:\/\/en.vogue.me\/fashion\/halima-aden-dubai-interview\/\">Vogue Arabia<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.allure.com\/story\/halima-aden-muslim-model-interview\">Allure<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.teenvogue.com\/story\/halima-aden-beauty-instyle-interview\">Teen Vogue<\/a>, and <a href=\"http:\/\/time.com\/4825736\/halima-aden-allure\/\">Time<\/a>. Halima is a Somali American fashion model most known for being the first woman to wear a hijab in the Miss Minnesota USA pageant. Ever since, she has been the face of major fashion campaigns, making her one of the youngest and most visible hijab-wearing models in the world.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Inspired by the poetic readings from this week, I decided to try my hand at poetry and pull from Aden&#8217;s own words that she shared in the aforementioned interviews. By creating this found poem, I\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">explore the ways in which the arts can be used as a means of supplementing a person\u2019s voice and complicating questions of local religious hegemony &#8211; particularly those around religious modesty and piety.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><b>Transcript of Found Poem:<\/b><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cHey, I\u2019m not a perfect Muslim.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A lot of people had a misconception that I would be the perfect poster child for Islam.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><em>There is not a right or wrong way to dress as a Muslim, <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Stop judging women<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">I want<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Women to feel comfortable and confident in whatever <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Representation<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">To make waves in the fashion world<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Freedom of choice<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Diversity in Beauty <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">To participate<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Women like me<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Opportunities to talk for ourselves <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">My opportunity to draw my own narrative<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">My wardrobe requirements in mind <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">To compete while wearing a hijab <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Uphold my values <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">To find the balance of being Muslim, <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">My life <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">That\u2019s something<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Week 12: Gender and Islam\/ The Veil Close-ups: During Week 12, as we were discussing the impacts of various reform and revival movements in Islam, Professor Asani noted, &#8220;During\u00a0times of transition, such as reform movements, women become the battleground for ideological tensions.&#8221; Therefore when talking about gender in Islam, it is important to question: Which &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/aabdeljelil\/the-veil\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">The Veil<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9536,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":7,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-58","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/aabdeljelil\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/58","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/aabdeljelil\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/aabdeljelil\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/aabdeljelil\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9536"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/aabdeljelil\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/aabdeljelil\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/58\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":143,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/aabdeljelil\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/58\/revisions\/143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/aabdeljelil\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}