Veiling (And Robing)

Monica Hunter-Hart, Mosque and Koranic school visits, 10.01.14

Here in Banda Aceh, all Muslim women over a certain age wear a head scarf. They don't have a choice: sharia law is in place here, a non-governmental, civilian-enforced Islamic code. In America, we associate head scarves with oppression and gender inequality, and their wearers with powerlessness and a lack of agency. I expected Aceh to complicate this narrative, and it does; more surprising was talking to the female university students about them so casually. We are hyper-aware of their scarves, and assumedly they are hyper-aware that we lack them. But the conversations we have with the girls about them are superficial: "How do you wear it?" (Many styles.) "Is it hot?" (Yes.) "What patterns do you prefer?" (Depends. Our buddy Tika, who comes to almost all of our activities, likes plain colors.) All the baggage we associate with the scarves is missing, nor can its presence be felt underneath our exchanged words. These girls don't seem to know that so many Americans negatively judge their religious and cultural habits.

Yesterday the girls on the trip experimented with wearing head scarves. We went to two places that require them: Baiturrahman Grand Mosque and a school for learning Koranic recitation. The first experience went down a little differently than we'd expected. Despite dressing in our most conservative clothing--more conservative than some women at the mosque--us girls were not allowed on the grounds unless we put on these enormous, billowing gray robes. We did, went inside, and promptly had our photo taken by about a gazillion locals. Mbak Jeni has assured us that they were excited that we'd show our respect that way, but Rebecca put it nicely when she said it "felt like we were wearing a dunce cap." We were a spectacle and felt humiliated by the ceaseless staring. It was both an experience that I never want to repeat and a lesson in trust and respect. Although it didn't feel like this, we were told that our gesture was an act of honoring Acehnese Islamic culture. It was one of those times when you have to risk making a fool of yourself in order to do the right thing.

 

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