September 01: The head covering worn by many Muslim women, intended to represent modesty in appearance, has caused confusion in numerous walks of life, now including amusement park rides.
Numerous Muslim teachings promote modesty, especially when it comes to the mixing of men and women.
One verse in the Quran states: “O Prophet! Tell thy wives and thy daughters and the women of the believers to draw their cloaks close around them. That is more suitable that they will be known and not be abused.”
It is for this reason that many Muslim women wear the hijab, covering their hair and often their neck. Muslims are often offended that others believe that the head covering is somehow oppressive of women.
An ad launched in 2003 by the Council on American-Islamic Relations showed a young woman saying: “In Islam, both women and men are encouraged to dress modestly, thereby allowing a person to be judged on the content of his or her character, and not on physical appearance. To me, hijab is a symbol of my confidence and self-respect.”
Still, since 2001, employers from Disneyland to McDonald’s have gotten in trouble for asking workers to remove their hijab. Several states have asked that the hijab be dropped for driver’s license photos and other forms of identification.
Recently, a Muslim weightlifter in Georgia pressed successfully for the right to compete wearing her head scarf. The International Weightlifting Federation reconsidered its requirement that lifters wear a singlet.
Playland asks that head coverings be removed on certain rides for safety reasons. Other local amusement parks don’t have the requirement.
One of the organizers of the first Muslim day there, an official with the Islamic Circle of North America, was killed on 9/11 at the World Trade Center.
Anees Shaikh, spokesman for the Upper Westchester Muslim Society in Thornwood, said he had never heard of the hijab being an issue at amusement parks.
“It is generally worn as a tight-fitting scarf,” he said. “For many women, the hijab is a religious obligation. But the rule is the rule. There must have been some miscommunication about the ability to participate in activities.”
(Page 2 of 2)
Dr. Shafi Bezar, spokesman for the Westchester Muslim Center in Mount Vernon, said that since going on rides is not a religious or civic obligation, the Muslims at Playland should have abided by the rules and stepped aside.
“If it’s something you have to do, that’s different,” he said.
Fawzia Afzal-Khan of Ossining, director of women’s and gender studies at Montclair State University in New Jersey and editor of 2004’s “Shattering the Stereotypes: Muslim American Women Speak Out,” said that it sounded as if several Muslims were in the wrong and the police overreacted.
“If they were simply asking for a refund, then clearly the situation should not have gotten so out of control,” she said. “But if they were insisting on taking these rides while wearing their scarves, then they were in the wrong.”
The Quran does not explicitly say how Muslim women should cover up, and the requirement of modesty is interpreted in many ways. In the U.S., many Muslim women do not wear a hijab at all or do so only at religious gatherings.
In some Muslim countries, women choose to wear full-length body garments that cover all but their eyes. France this year outlawed veils that cover the face, a highly controversial move in a country with a growing Muslim population.
–Agencies