Why Europeans stopped wearing The Hijab

did you know that less than a hundred years ago European women used to wear veils in the same way that Muslims wear hijabs today in the year 380 the Roman Empire officially adopted trinitarian Christianity as the official state religion and with the Roman empire being the biggest political and military power in Europe at the time Christianity eventually spread to the rest of Europe and with it came the Bible in the first Epistle of the Corinthians one of the books in the New Testament there's a verse that reads the following but every woman who prays or prophecies with their head uncovered dishonors her head it is the same as having her head shaved basically it's saying that women should cover their head especially when praying otherwise they might dishonor themselves and yes this is in fact an atlas and not a Bible anyway the use of veils go all the way back to the early church being taught universally by the church fathers tertullian of Carthage Clement of Alexandria hippolytus of Rome John chrysostom Augustine of Hippo and many others all taught of the importance of veils for women and this becomes pretty clear when you look at church iconography if you've ever taken a look at the inside of a church recently you might have noticed that in all the paintings and glass designs and the windows the women depicted are usually in veils and this isn't a unique phenomenon to one denomination of Christianity I'm talking about Catholics Orthodox Christians and Protestants who all use the veil in images of female saints or in even mother Mary herself and while Christianity has played an extremely influential role in the shared European culture and Heritage someone could make the argument that European history traces its roots well before Christianity and that Christianity was actually brought from a foreign culture there for the Christian Veil is not actually a European custom but a foreign custom I mean I wouldn't really agree with that because if I did agree with that argument the entire video would be pointless so it turns out that that argument doesn't actually hold water because Christianity didn't bring the veil to Europe if we go a little bit further back in time before Christianity before even the Roman Empire existed if we go to the heart of European Heritage and tradition where women first began wearing the veil we arrive in ancient Greece in 2003 Lloyd Lewin Jones a professor of ancient history at Cardiff University in Britain wrote a book titled Aphrodite's tortoise and in this book he goes into extensive detail on how and why women wore veils in ancient Greece and as he explains this was the standard of women's clothing in ancient Greece the most common style was called the Pharaohs it was looser and allowed women to move easily while still concealing their bodies another style called the lithma was similar but it was wrapped a bit tighter indoors women would wear the himatian which was an overwrap that would also be tugged up to cover the head when answering the front door in case of male guests it's kind of like how a lot of Arab women will wear hoodies indoors so that they can just pull it over their hair when they need to answer the door instead of spending 20 minutes or so getting their hijab done I couldn't find a picture of it online but it pretty much looks exactly like this just without the pot lid face shield and finally the one that really surprised me the most was the tegideon a long rectangular face veil with eye holes that was fastened with a and around the forehead and worn with an overwrap which is almost exactly the same as the nikab today now if you're coming from this topic from a modern liberal perspective on clothing you might assume that women in ancient Greece were unhappy with this Arrangement but in reality from their perspective the veil was actually a sign of respectability and high status so much so that it was even illegal for women of lower status such as prostitutes and female slaves to wear them essentially for the ancient Greeks the veil distinguished between women who were protected by the law and by men and their families and women who were fair game side note in later European societies this evolved slightly so that unmarried women would go in public without the veil to signify that they were available for marriage but once they got married then they would start wearing the veil to show that they were no longer available and if you're like me when I first began researching this topic all of this will come as a complete shock my whole life I've been told that ancient Greece was all about liberalism and social freedom and in all the modern art and movies and depictions of ancient Greece never once have I actually seen a veil like how can this be the Greeks were wearing hijabs and shadors and the clubs are you kidding me where was this in History Class oh and the author knows this he had to dedicate the first five pages of this book to Ally this shock he explicitly states that the reason more professors aren't writing about this topic and why it's never discussed publicly is because it's too politically sensitive ah well what do you expect but you know what's really amazing the Greeks were just the beginning after the Romans dominated the Greeks and became the big dogs of Europe they too brought their own Veil culture married Roman women wore a simple garment called the stola with a shawl over it that they called the Pala it covered the hair and off in their face as well just the same as the Greeks wives were expected to wear the veil out side of the homes and if a wife went out without a veil it meant that she was somehow rejecting her marriage or denying her husband and now she's back on the mark and then there were the religious ceremonies you had the Vestal virgins who were a group of women that tended to roam's Sacred fire and prepared essential materials for sacrifice they were highly respected and were considered sacred and Untouchable and what symbolized their High status was the special Veil worn only by them called the safibullom in Roman weddings on the other hand the bride's hair was covered with a brightly colored Veil called the flamium weddings in Rome were sacred so if a bride was dressed improperly and wasn't wearing the veil it was considered an attack on Roman morality and so considering how important the veil was already to the Roman and Greek societies when the Bible came into being with its verses on wearing the veil it was not a foreign concept at all European women had been wearing veils for hundreds if not thousands of years before it was already a very deeply important part of the Europe European culture over the centuries the style of veils changed significantly in the late Middle Ages Noble women wore veils like the hennen which could be divided or truncated the wimple was also popular in England and France and later evolved into the Cornet during the Renaissance Era Noble women began wearing coiffs caps nudes hoods and even hats in place of the veil but still with the same purpose of covering their hair later on some of these even evolved into the gimpay and the Gable Hood peasants during this time still wore simple linen veils and wraps and often wore straw hats on top when working outside in the 1700s cap started getting fancier adding laces and Feathers Noble women started wearing the straw hats of peasants and peasants started wearing the coiffs and caps of noble women in this sort of bizarre Switcheroo after the French Revolution simple was in fashion and MOB caps and head wraps were all the rage in the 1820s and 30s caps and banettes were once again big and fancy then caps went out of fashion bonnets grew smaller and then in the 1870s both were replaced by hats and by the 1900s the upper class in City dwellers were still wearing hats but in rural areas peasants wore scarves and wraps and caps and coiffs and veils oh I think that was pretty good that was like 2 000 years of History summarized in what a minute there was a clear uninterrupted history of women feeling the need to cover their hair from the time of the ancient Greeks and potentially even earlier all the way to the early 1900s so I don't think when did European women start wearing the veil is the right question rather when did European women stop in the early 1920s massive social changes took place World War one had just ended a few years earlier migration from rural areas to large cities was increasing exponentially and the invention and mass marketing of latex condoms all led to what historians hold the first sexual Revolution anything goes became a slogan for the Youth and a new sub subculture of women was born called Flappers there were women who danced drank and smoked and were career driven becoming financially independent and able to live on their own chaperones who used to accompany unmarried women in public were no longer important and traditional clothing fell out of use dresses went from floor length to ankle or even knee length and women began wearing makeup something that used to be taboo because of its association with prostitution veils and hats were no longer used as an indicator of being married or of being high status they stopped being wardrobe Essentials and just became optional accessories mostly for sunny or cold weather and this continued into the 1960s where the more famous sexual Revolution happened the birth control pill had just been invented and birth control was now as easy as brushing your teeth every morning and with the addition of abortion becoming legal in many places pre-marital sex became the norm the Advent of the internet and modern globalization only further intensified these social revolutions bringing them even into the rural areas as well the veil became a relic of the past an artifact of an era long ago the Old Europe was gone and its place was something completely different and with it the veil went through well that's not entirely true veils are actually still quite common in the west you just may not have noticed them now you remember the flamium I mentioned before it was that Veil that Roman women used to wear during their weddings well that tradition is still kept today with the bridal veil in Western Christian culture the veil has historically been used to symbolize modesty and obedience and Chastity just like back in ancient Rome and only after the ceremony finishes can the bride's father or groom lift the veil in contrast to such a joyous event Wales are also worn for the most somber occasion mourning the death of a loved one the tradition of widows veiling came from clothes nuns used to wear and became a way to demonstrate sincerity and piety one of the most famous examples of this was John F Kennedy's Widow Jackie who wore a black veil to his funeral many rural areas of Europe older women still wear a traditional veil of some sort especially in Eastern Europe and in the Mediterranean areas in Orthodox Christian countries women are still required to wear a veil when going into churches I have personally seen this when I traveled to Ukraine and Serbia but I know it also happens in other countries like Russia and Greece as well in Catholic countries on the other hand women used to be required to wear the veil in church until 1983 when the Vatican passed a new set of laws allowing women to remove their veils but don't get your hopes up lady you still need to wear a veil when visiting the Pope in the Vatican and then you have Spain which I know is a Catholic country but Spain in particular loves veils women there wear the montia which is a type of unique Veil specific to that region and women wear it in churches and during Holy Week now I'm not exactly sure what Holy Week is but they have some really interesting costumes for it anabaptist Christians as well are often found in the more sophisticated version of Europe I'm sure you've heard of the Amish and the Mennonites but there are other groups as well and these groups still require women to wear veils at all times except when alone or at home with their husbands and since I'm adding examples from the US now there's a whole hat culture for women in southern states stemming directly from that verse in the Bible I mentioned earlier they're called Church crowns and no there aren't just fancy hats for fashion they are taken seriously and even have their own set of rules and Customs such as the Hat should not be wider than your shoulders or darker than your shoes and you should never touch another woman's hat unless it's your mothers or grandmothers and what about the non-christians of Europe and America in Jewish law women are expected to cover their hair when around men who are not in their immediate family Orthodox Jewish women and some conservative Jewish women as well actually still practice this on a personal note I once actually rented an apartment for a month in a Jewish neighborhood in Brooklyn in New York just south of Williamsburg I never once saw a woman outside in that neighborhood with hair on cover never and if I thought I did well look again she's wearing a wig so she's not technically breaking the rules so I covered the bridal and funeral veils the older women in rural areas all those Christian sects the Orthodox Jews all that stuff in the US but what am I missing oh the nuns I bet you that most people clicked this video were expecting this to be the only thing I talked about and nothing else which is why I left it for last for those who don't know nuns are women who dedicate their lives to religious service in the church they are found in many countries across Europe and in the US and are usually trusted and well respected by the public and they all cover their hair with veils both inside and outside the church and all this leads me to ask the Europeans watching this video have I given you enough what more examples do I need to give you well here's one more just for you the national costume of virtually all your countries incorporates a veil of some kind this is your heritage this is your culture your Traditions since the beginning of the history of Europe through its Christian past and even until this day Wales have been a part of what makes Europe Europe and this video isn't to try and convince you that you should be wearing them that's a totally different discussion altogether but rather it's to make you realize that by you attacking women who are wearing veils you're attacking your own people your own grandmothers the 1920s was not that long ago for some of you your grandparents lived through that but who am I to give you a heavy-handed lesson on what's right and wrong after all according to most of you right and wrong these are just social constructs they're subjective but wait if you don't believe that right and wrong or objective truths how can you even say that the veil is oppressive or wrong in the first place if you liked the video please give it a thumbs up and share it with all your hijabi friends who are feeling down because of all the slander and harassment they have to put up with on a daily basis and subscribe if you want more videos about Muslim history and culture from around the world I just wanted to share this with you Queen Elizabeth wearing what we would identify as a hijab and here are some pictures of her covering her hair and as many women at the time did it was the way they dressed I wanted to share this with you because nowadays this is looked at as oppressive against our culture but this video will show that within our heritage we have this modest stress and obviously Queen Elizabeth wearing it I think should send a message

Channel: Omar of the Orient

Views: 192,887

Keywords: hijab, muslim, Islam, Europe

Id: K9YhzxyOtlo

Length: 15min 13sec (913 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 01 2022

Reddit Comments

[u/TopIncrease6441]

Is this all you scare about? Whether or not women cover their head? You’ve made an entire account to make multiple cases for the mandating of hijab and khimar. This is a manifestation of exactly what conservatives and traditionalists have reduced women down to, their body. Just like the pre Islamic medians, just like the liberal extremist, just like the pre Islamic meccans, etc; You don’t even recognize why tf you prioritize this so much.

[u/[deleted]]

I don’t care about what Europeans or Christians or hadithists do because I go by what’s in the Quran, and covering your hair isn’t in it thanks

[u/eternal_student78]

“Some women in some places used to cover their hair, therefore hijab must be mandatory.”

🤡

[u/No_Veterinarian_888]

If that is true, then wearing hijab is haram, since it would be "imitating the kuffar"?

[u/An-di]

Hijab was literally invented by men to control women and differentiate between free and slave women but he didn’t mention this part

[u/Foreign-Glass-7513]

Tired of this debate. There will never be a place truly for progressive muslims. These traditionalists will always be lerking there and trying to enforce there scholar's opinion and hadith views on others.

Who cares about European women. We are suppose to follow Allah's command in the Quran. The honest truth is you can't digest that it doesn't mention cover your head or hair. You play mental gymnastics to try and put words in the Quran which aren't there.

[u/cherrylattes]

There was a discussion with u/Melwood786 about the origin of how Arab put on hijab 6 months ago, so I'll just copy paste his answer here:

"During Muhammad's lifetime, there was no uniform way that women dressed. Their dress varied from woman to woman and region to region. Women who lived in regions of Arabia influenced by the "higher" cultures of Rome and Persia sometimes imitated their fashion, which included wearing veils. Women who lived outside regions of Arabia not influenced by the cultures of Rome and Persian often went without wearing veils:

"The Encyclopedia of Islam holds that the tradition of veiling women came from roughly that area: This custom [the hijab, or veil], which appears to have been unknown to the early inhabitants of the Hijaz [Muhammad's region of Arabia], seems to have been introduced into Islam by the Umayyads, probably under the influence of Sassanid [Persian] civilization." (see The Gardens of Their Dreams: Desertification and Culture in World History, pg. 71)

"With the exception of Muhammad's wives, whose special status set them apart, strict veiling for women does not seem to have been the norm in the early Muslim community." (see Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopaedia, vol. 1, pg. 160)

We were originally talking about slavery which still exist in Arab until 1962, where the slave women doesn't wear hijab. source. So to sum it up, hijab is not a thing during Muhammad times, but started during Ummayyads. And they use hijab to make a distinction between the free women and the slave women.

Also this push of hijab being mandatory begin in 1970s. "The 1979 Islamic revolution introduced the idea of hijab law. On March 8 1979, thousands of Iranian women marched in the street, protesting the idea of imposing hijab with slogans such as “freedom of choice in clothes”. Wearing hijab became obligatory for all Iranian women from April 1983." source

Edit: I apparently made a lot of typos.

[u/prouddeathicated]

Your logical fallacy is (drum roll) post hoc ergo propter hoc! 🎉 You assume that just because one thing followed another, the first thing caused the second.

Also how could I forget that the opinions of every Muslim to ever roam on this planet was recorded and that every single one pre-20th century believed the hijab was obligatory! It’s not like men actively tried to push women out of scholarly spaces, no never! (Also, I’ll give you one Muslim of the 1800s who didn’t believe the hijab was mandatory: Muhammad Abduh).

[u/CyberTutu]

This man isn't western. He's an Arab. Some Arabs have light coloured hair too. Having light coloured hair doesn't make you white nor Western. The clue should have been his name (Omar).