Perspectives and experiences of Muslim women who veil on college campuses

Journal of College Student Development, Jan/Feb 2003 by Cole, Darnell, Ahmadi, Shafiqa

When I started out, I didn't do it because I personally wanted to. I did it because my parents told us to-both my sister and me. And I think like in Pakistan, specifically among the religious families. . . . There is not even a question of not veiling, I mean it's understood, that if you are a good practicing Muslim woman, you have to cover. I mean there is no debate about that. So, I think those cultural reasons kind of affect [me], because you think okay, well everyone who is not veiling is automatically, you know, they are not as good as the ones who do.

Similarly, Elizabeth, a 26-year-old Turkish graduate student, who attended undergraduate school in Turkey explained,

I started veiling when I was about 14. . . . My family is quite conservative; so it was just expected. . . . I certainly didn't mind. Then, I lived in Malaysia and . . . when I was there everybody was doing it. It was sort of the norm. And so, I never even thought about it being wrong or not doing it. It wasn't even a question, essentially. Everybody around [us was] doing it . . . and you're sort of expected to do it.

In these brief excerpts, explicit and implicit familial expectations were their initial reasons for practicing hijab, although the environmental press, a diffused yet powerful socializing force, also contributed to their initial veiling practice.

Latifa, an Egyptian American who veiled for over 4 years and stopped covering prior to our initial interview explained, that in her case, it was mostly religious obligation and peer pressure, which prompt her decision to practice hijab. Latifa recounted,

The reason why I chose to veil is because during that summer before [I started], I had read a lot of the Qur'an [the word of God given to Prophet Mohammad by Angel Gabriel] and I interpreted things for myself instead of asking a scholar, asking my father. So, since I interpreted [the Qur'an] for myself, I started wearing the jilbab. . . . It was really my choice. But some people at the Mosque not directly, but indirectly kind of tried to influence [my] thinking. For example, if we'd go to Chicago. A lot of [Muslim women] in Chicago cover. And we'd be walking down the street and they would [say], `Oh, Latifa, look at her. She's covered'! At the time, I wasn't covered. So, it kind of plays with your mind. . . . So, you think that because they cover, they're good Muslims, because you don't cover, you're not a good Muslim. So, I guess I covered because of pressure from people, and because I thought that was what the Qur'an was directing [me] to do.

Likewise, Sema, a 29-year-old doctoral candidate from Britain with national origins in Pakistan articulated,

When I started covering, I started covering because I believed it was necessary-obligatory. I had read somewhere in somebody's interpretation of the Qur'an that it was necessary. So I started covering-that was when I was 15.

Latifa and Sema indicate that the religious interpretation of a good Muslim, either theirs or someone else's, obligated them as good Muslim women to veil. Aisha's example also justifies this assertion. Once again, peer pressure, at least for Latifa, was vital in forming this interpretation of a good Muslim and her subsequent veiling practice.