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A burka covers the entire body, is almost never black, and has a meshed screen in front of the face. (Paranjas are very similar.)
A niqab covers the entire body, is almost always black, and has a slit for the eyes. The rest of the face is covered.
A hijab covers the head (and usually most or all of the hair), leaving the face exposed. In southeast Asia they have a variation on this called a "tudong."
An abaya covers the body (it's a cloak), not the head.
A jilbab covers the head AND the body (like a hijab and abaya combined), but leaves the face exposed.
That's just a very small list of the types of dress you're most likely to see in the media or out and about in the United States.
A burka covers the entire body, is almost never black, and has a meshed screen in front of the face. (Paranjas are very similar.)
A niqab covers the entire body, is almost always black, and has a slit for the eyes. The rest of the face is covered.
A hijab covers the head (and usually most or all of the hair), leaving the face exposed. In southeast Asia they have a variation on this called a "tudong."
An abaya covers the body (it's a cloak), not the head.
A jilbab covers the head AND the body (like a hijab and abaya combined), but leaves the face exposed.
That's just a very small list of the types of dress you're most likely to see in the media or out and about in the United States.
One small nitpick. Technically the niqab can be simply the veil. For example some of my wife's Saudi students wear the abaya, a hijab and a niqab. When all three are worn it can give the impression of a burqa, especially if all are black.
There is also a lot of regional variation in all these terms...
One small nitpick. Technically the niqab can be simply the veil. For example some of my wife's Saudi students wear the abaya, a hijab and a niqab. When all three are worn it can give the impression of a burqa, especially if all are black.
There is also a lot of regional variation in all these terms...
-NoCapo
That is correct, there is.
However, that list covers 95% of what I see when I go out and about in my suburb which has a larger-than-average Muslim population compared to the rest of north Texas.
I have never seen anyone wearing such a full covering. To my knowledge very few Muslim women wear this extreme dress and those who do will inevitably be followers of the Wahabbist sect.
Certainly not something I have seen. Not a fan of the tent covering [don't mind a simple scarf] but what can you do if they are not breaking the law?
However, that list covers 95% of what I see when I go out and about in my suburb which has a larger-than-average Muslim population compared to the rest of north Texas.
YMMV.
My sample is also skewed, as I live outside of the "Big D" (Detroit) and most of the folks I meet are Saudi or Omani, and often Shia, not Sunni. Things like that make a difference to the dress. I was taken aback by the amount of variation shown on the wiki, as here really you see a bog standard hijab, or sometimes the sort of Gulf states variant of full covering (black hijab, niquab, and abaya or jilbab). i don't think I have ever seen an actual burqua around here...
The Hijab is not an uncommon sight in DC, the burka is still pretty rare.
I am not interested in the semantics of the small differences between various Muslim coverings, when the point is we are talking about something that covers the whole body and maybe the eyes or not.
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Originally Posted by Tuck's Dad
If you served in the ME and everyone that you know that served there has no issues with women in Burkas in western countries, you served in an extremely unique unit, with some very unique veterans, or you did a 4 month AF tour in Qatar at what is, for the other services, the R&R post, and your "veterans" are AF and limited to the same type of 4 month service in Qatar in the ME.
No, not an extremely unique unit(s) at all, nothing special about them. I was not in the USAF either, was in the Navy and did two deployments to Afghanistan and one to Iraq. Not only that, I am currently part of a couple of veteran service organizations and interface with veteran outreach groups on a monthly basis.
My sample is also skewed, as I live outside of the "Big D" (Detroit) and most of the folks I meet are Saudi or Omani, and often Shia, not Sunni. Things like that make a difference to the dress. I was taken aback by the amount of variation shown on the wiki, as here really you see a bog standard hijab, or sometimes the sort of Gulf states variant of full covering (black hijab, niquab, and abaya or jilbab). i don't think I have ever seen an actual burqua around here...
-NoCapo
In my part of town most of our Muslims are either from Lebanon or Iran. I personally cannot tell them apart simply because of how they're dressed but I can sometimes tell whether they're speaking Arabic or Farsi. There are not many Pakistani Muslims in my part of town. Some of the Sub-Saharan African immigrants here are Muslim, but the overwhelming majority are Christian. North Africans here (and there aren't many) are almost always Muslim. East Africans (mainly Ethiopia/Eritrea/Djibouti), mixed bag. Can't usually tell by the way they're dressed.
Just as it is to commit honor killings and yet...
I would think people would be against this for the same reason they were/are against the "rebel" flag in the south.
It represents enslavement/degradation of women.
One further thought, why is it illegal in many places for the KKK to wear hoods but not illegal for the full cover burka's?
However, I am not against people flying a rebel flag or wearing a KKK hood. I believe in freedom, even if I disagree with someone position doesn't mean I feel I have the right to tell them what to do.
I think it is rather naive to think that just because it might be illegal to force a woman to wear a burka or even a hijab that it doesn't happen, even in the U.S. The subjugation of women in the Middle East is so pervasive that even when they move to a Western nation they are still treated as if they are under the laws of the home country.
For all you know a woman walking down the street in a certain outfit was forced to wear it. We have laws in place banning this sort of treatment, that is the best we can do. Banning burkas would be a clear violation of the First Amendment.
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I think you need a new screen name as there is nothing logical in your statement. You have no idea if a woman wearing a burka is a) even a woman or b) wearing it of her own volition.
There is nothing illogical about anything I said. Banning a religious garment is simply against the very legal foundation of our country. It doesn't make a different if a man or a woman is wearing it, but we all know that in more than 99% of cases it is a woman so your comment is silly.
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You have an incredibly extreme view of what personal freedom is. Personal freedom is not doing what you want, when you want, where you want. There are rules that society has in place as the agreed upon standards. To have it any other way is anarchy.
Actually that is exactly what personal freedom is. As long as you aren't directly harming someone else you should be able to do what you want. If someone chooses to walk around naked that isn't harming anyone and should be legal in a free society. A society with logical laws is very different from anarchy. How is putting a law in place saying woman aren't allowed to show their stomachs in public any more arbitrary than saying they can't show their breasts?
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(Detroit) and most of the folks I meet are Saudi or Omani, and often Shia, not Sunni. Things like that make a difference to the dress. I was taken aback by the amount of variation shown on the wiki, as here really you see a bog standard hijab, or sometimes the sort of Gulf states variant of full covering (black hijab, niquab, and abaya or jilbab). i don't think I have ever seen an actual burqua around here...
