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Monday, September 21, 2020

Maryam Lee - Tudung in Malaysia, a social expectation rather than a religious requirement

MM Online:

Unveiling: Malaysian activist fights for hijab freedom



Maryam Lee posing with a picture on a mobile phone of her wearing a headscarf in her parent's home in Shah Alam August 17, 2020. — AFP pic 

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 21 — Harassed and placed under investigation by religious authorities — activist Maryam Lee is a highly controversial figure in Malaysia.

Her crime? Speaking out about her decision to stop wearing the hijab and criticising what she sees as institutional patriarchy in Islam.

Most in Muslim-majority Malaysia follow a moderate form of the religion and wearing a headscarf, known locally as a “tudung” and used to cover the head and neck, is not mandatory.

But experts says the nation has become more conservative in recent years and today most Muslim women wear one.

Maryam, who was made to wear a headscarf from the age of nine, says she realised in her mid-20s that she was conforming to a social expectation rather than a religious requirement and decided to remove it.

“All my life, I had been told that (wearing the headscarf) is mandatory and if I don’t wear it, it’s sinful. And then I found out that it actually wasn’t, so I felt very cheated — like all your life you’ve been told one thing, and it turns out to be a lie,” she explains.

It was a difficult personal decision but when she went public, detailing her story in her book “Unveiling Choice”, she faced a vitriolic backlash and death threats.

Malaysia’s religious affairs minister expressed concern and she was hauled in for questioning under a law against insulting Islam — the country has a dual-track legal system, with Muslim citizens subject to sharia laws in certain areas.

Maryam believes officials were concerned she was encouraging other women to “de-hijab”, but insists this is not the case.


‘Jail of society’s expectation’

“I’m not telling women what to think, I’m asking them to revisit certain assumptions and certain theories that have been taught to them over the years,” the 28-year-old says.

“Even without legal criminalisation, women are facing social criminalisation when they want to take [the hijab] off,” she warns adding that women like her are in a “jail of society’s expectation”.

To mark the release of her book, which she describes as a story of resistance against patriarchy in religion and wider society, she took part in a talk called “Malay Women and De-Hijabbing” which fuelled the furore against her.

Head coverings differ around the Muslim world, from scarves that leave the face visible, to the niqab that leaves the areas around the eyes clear and the all-concealing burqa with just a mesh screen to see through.

In the West they remain controversial amid debates over freedom of religious expression and women’s rights — France does not allow students to wear hijabs in schools and along with Belgium, Denmark, Austria and the Netherlands has a total ban on wearing the niqab or burqa in public.

Muslim women in Malaysia, which is more than 60 per cent Muslim but is also home to large ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities, wear a headscarf that covers the hair and chest, though it is not legally required.

Critics say this expectation of modesty was not the case a generation ago and is a result of the greater influence of increasingly vocal religious hardliners.

Maryam has been targeted by angry zealots but has also been hailed as the voice of the modern Malaysian woman by some in the social media generation keen to express their individuality as well as their faith.
 

Maryam Lee receiving a manicure at a nail salon in Kuala Lumpur August 17, 2020. — AFP pic 

‘No less of a Muslim’

“Women in this part of the world, when they take off the hijab, what happens to them? They get bullied, they get harassed,” says Maryam.

Malaysian rights group Sisters of Islam agree women without headscarves come under heavy scrutiny from family, colleagues and in public — making the decision “difficult and traumatic”.

Maryam argues her choice was to step away from patriarchal instruction rather than her faith.

“I was born a Muslim, I’m still a Muslim — I’m no less of a Muslim because I removed my hijab,” she explains.

She is not alone.

Even some prominent female politicians in Malaysia such as Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz and former central bank governor Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz do not cover their heads, nor do the wife or daughter of former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad.


In urban areas, young women have experimented with turbans and other ‘fashionable’ head coverings, despite criticism they flout religious guidelines.

Sarah, a consultant from a financial firm who gave a pseudonym to avoid upsetting her family, no longer wears the headscarf believing it to be a patriarchal expectation.

“Malay men especially at an authoritative level somehow have this mindset... that Malay women need to appear in a certain manner, but it doesn’t mean that these people who are wearing tudung are any better.”

Religious authorities have yet to close their investigation into Maryam, meaning the possibility of further action remains.

But she has no regrets about her decision to open up about her experience: “Society needs to be awakened.” — AFP


12 comments:

  1. Buka Tudung - I Sokong
    Undi Rosak - I Tak Sokong

    Boleh masuk MUDA.

    ReplyDelete
  2. That's the problem when religion go for the external "show" of religiosity.

    PAS is a clear example of a grp of people who think they are the bastions of islam but behaviour very unislamic; think the new mercedeses

    Maryam is right - with or eithout the tudung, she is no less a muslim and I applaud her

    ReplyDelete
  3. Better Leave Islam....don't be TERPESONG dengan Agama Awak!!

    PENIPUAN Allah by Christian Prince

    131

    Ayat ini memberitahu orang Islam agar tidak mengambil orang

    yang tidak beriman sebagai sahabat, sambil mengabaikan mereka

    yang beriman, kerana sesiapa yang berbuat demikian tidak

    dilindungi Allah, melainkan anda mengambil mereka sebagai rakan

    demi langkah keselamatan diri anda. Allah sendiri memberi amaran

    kepada anda, dan bagi Allah semua ini adalah perintahperintahnya.

    Akhir kata, seperti penerangan yang telah dilihat, orang Islam tidak

    boleh berkawan dengan orang bukan Islam.

    Orang Islam Boleh Berbohong Walaupun Ketika Mengangkat

    Sumpah
    Al-Quran 2:225 (Muhammad Habib Shakir):

    ReplyDelete
  4. dun do tat ayam, its for yr own safety,ular get hard seeing no tudung,kena minta more vellfire since no camel then we chinese bankrupt.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Female MPs from the evangelical party have been wearing the tudung to connive the Muslim audience. How desperate could they be? Hannah and her silly gang.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If Hannah and her gang are 'desperate' enough, then how 'bodoh sangat' la those "connived" ones to think a mata-sepek cina yang selau makan babi is a Muslim just because she puts on a headscarf !

      You shallow otaks must really get beyond the superficial...masuk keluar toilets pun must decide which foot to start out first, LOL sampai sakit perut la.

      That's why people like you are 'beyond cure' to use back your own words. Terpikat lagi la pada that snake oil seller Naik fella...did not goatee said it is better to reject the upright and honest because he is a kafir over a corrupt and wicked Muslim. Pandai la tu.

      Delete
  6. Sibuk je engkorang ni. Macam ahli pulak nak bahaskan pasal hukum hakam islam.

    Baik kau ucapkan kalimah syahadah dan jadi orang muslim yang baik. Sekurang kurang ada peluang masuk syurga.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Cuba dengar cakap bro ni

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D330FFXvlfQ&t=413s

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dah....cuba tonton ni pulak bro....

      https://youtu.be/Yqy6CppVCAA

      Delete
    2. Dah...u tonton ni pulak

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyKziLx0FpI

      Delete
    3. Last one....then better stop otherwise KT start censoring.... because don't want to spook the Malays....ha ha ha...

      https://youtu.be/4of-PbRvdqo

      Delete
    4. semua you ni terlebih la...storm in a teacup...just mere mortals frothing at the mouth to show off whose is bigger/better....your god, your syurga, your batang, your kepala hotak, he he he he

      Delete