Women wearing traditional Islamic clothing are an increasingly common sight in Finland's cities. For Finland's young urban Muslim population Islamic dress is both a religious interpretation and a fashion statement, but it can also draw intolerance.
"The headscarf symbolises respect," says 19-year-old Dina Akoudad who adheres to the Islamic dress code.
Dina says observing tradition doesn't stop her and other Muslim girls from being fashion-conscious and displaying their individuality.
Young Muslim women are making the hijab their own by incorporating influences from mainstream Finnish youth, such as heavy metal music, in cloth prints.
The headscarf, often considered an emphatic symbol of religious identity, plays a top role in Muslim dress. Although the scarf hasn't been the subject of heated debate in Finland as it has been in other European countries, Finnish Muslims say that wearing the Islamic headscarf may make landing a job more difficult.
"Many of my friends have been told they'll get the job if they leave the scarf at home," says Dina.
Some Muslim girls begin covering their heads in their teens, some do so earlier -- while others choose not to wear a scarf at all.
Source: YLE (English)
"The headscarf symbolises respect," says 19-year-old Dina Akoudad who adheres to the Islamic dress code.
Dina says observing tradition doesn't stop her and other Muslim girls from being fashion-conscious and displaying their individuality.
Young Muslim women are making the hijab their own by incorporating influences from mainstream Finnish youth, such as heavy metal music, in cloth prints.
The headscarf, often considered an emphatic symbol of religious identity, plays a top role in Muslim dress. Although the scarf hasn't been the subject of heated debate in Finland as it has been in other European countries, Finnish Muslims say that wearing the Islamic headscarf may make landing a job more difficult.
"Many of my friends have been told they'll get the job if they leave the scarf at home," says Dina.
Some Muslim girls begin covering their heads in their teens, some do so earlier -- while others choose not to wear a scarf at all.
Source: YLE (English)
11 comments:
Thanks for blogging.
Finland has a Muslim population of .18% of the general population.
"The headscarf symbolises respect" ...for the Islamic obligation to parasitize, enslave, extort, loot, rape, and murder every Jew, Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, Zoroastrian, Jainist, Confuscian, Animist, atheist, humanist, agnostic, apostate, feminist, homosexual, individual who in any way exhibits talent or intellect and thereby contributes to their culture or society, poet, artist, musician, cinematographer, photographer of anything living, honest person, real journalist, scientist, competent teacher, individual who values anything worthwhile (liberty, democracy, human dignity, human rights), and individual who engages in romantic relationships consentually and independently of incestuous Sharia sex slavery (remember, decent-people marriages are null and void in Islam, so even per their sick, twisted notion of 'adultery' only Sharia sex slavery is valid).
It's only a thousand times more offensive than the offspring of a swastika and a Confederate flag. Respect for licking Satan's b*lls maybe.
The way in which many in the west analysis and approach Islam and Muslim societies is problematic at best. While the Western hermeneutic lens is located in 19th century imperialism, they is also subconsciously inherited and implemented to draw meaning out of symbols constructed outside of the western spiritual matrix. Through this, many in the west are socialized into seeing the symbol of the veil as one of oppression, subjugation and restriction.
Throughout the west Islam is packaged within a ahistorical matrix, and Muslim women are constructed with political expediency. It is ridiculous to attempt to get rid of the Islamist movement by saying "Muslims can be good Muslims" by being secular, particularly by being secular to the point of being not religious.
Ms. Ivanovic,
". . .The Western hermeneutic lens is located in 19th century imperialism"? Give me a break. Sounds like you've swallowed the diversity brainwashing whole.
The reason we in the West (it should be capitalized, by the way, unless you'd like me to write "islam" and "muslim") see "the symbol of the veil as one of oppression, subjugation and restriction" is because we live in a FREE society where women can CHOOSE to dress how they like, including modestly; as opposed to certain Muslim countries (or even Muslim communities in the West) in which women are REQUIRED to wear the veil or face being arrested by the Modesty Police, beaten by their husbands, or flogged or worse by the authorities.
On the contrary, those who see the veil as a symbol of freedom and respect for women are viewing it through a "hermaneutic lens" located in 7th century medievalism.
Wear the veil if you like - in the West, that's your choice. Delude yourself into thinking it's a symbol of liberation if you like - that too is your choice. But don't try to tell us in the West that we're too dumb and inferior to understand.
And don't expect your express declaraton that you plan to kill us all, and that you'll continue to parasitize us to the maximum extent that you can in the meantime to not creep us out to the very cores of our being. It's disgusting and offensive and if you had a backbone, a soul, and half a clue, or if you were even a well-adjusted, self-sufficient, independent-thinking adult, not only would you not wear that disgusting evil, as you would have some concept of shame, but you wouldn't be a Muslim at all.
If you don't consider yourself a human baing, and if you wear that evil then you don't, then neither do I. Of course, I don't think anyone who doesn't work full-time and pay taxes is a human being because they haven't come anywhere close to achieving monkey status. Monkeys are self-sufficient, and they don't parasitize their host environment, and unlike Muslims, they raise their children to be well-adjusted, self-sufficient adults. All those 30-year-olds in student housing for pedophiles would be living on their own had they been raised by monkeys instead of Muslims.
I didn't realise that I saw the veil as oppressive, subjugating and restrictive because I'd been brainwashed by evil Western society. I always thought that I saw the veil as oppressive, subjugating and restrictive because it's oppressive, subjugating and restrictive. Amazing what you can learn on the intertubes, eh?
I have only a few problems with Islam, and they have very little to do with headscarves.
1) Kill the occupiers.
2) Stoning ANYONE to death.
3) Jihad.
4) Poll tax or 'Tribute'
5) Penalty for leaving Islam is
death.
(I have more, but these are the largest ones.)
These types of issues trigger warfare. The U.S. has in our past killed Muslims who were attempting to charge us Tribute for our ships passing through Muslim waters.
My note about how small the Muslim population in Finland is was designed to point out that this is why very little violence is occurring there. Once a population is more even, say Nigeria, everyone can see the results.
I do not need any symbols to see any of the problems that these issues will cause.
This war is going to become much, much larger before it is over.
Islam will start this war. It will only remain to see who ends it.
Nah, ditch the stoning and replace it with the requirement for Muslim women to live their entire lives as sex slaves, and maybe throw in genital mutilation and slavery. I would be hypocritical if I didn't admit that I find the idea of stoning people who are guilty of treasonous sedition (i.e., anyone who has ever recited a single Muslim prayer) quite attractive.
excuse me,
for consideration i`m a muslim (woman) used veil or headscraft. and that`s because i decided it by myself, not my society nor parents impose that. Now i`m in college pursuiting my bachelor degree in physics, i have a lot of activity, fitness, teaching(to my junior), research in laboratory, and headscraft not restrict me to do all those things. moreover i elected as a leader/chief in my laboratory and also in students council for sport. and also i have a lot of friends with different religions christian, catholic, budha, hindu, & forth.
I decided to wear veil coz this will help to remind me not to do any prohibit things such as drink, free sex, drugs, etc (bad things). and not only me who remind that but also all people in my society, thats why i can go on in my life pursuit my dream.
and i really don`t understand with the sentence "Penalty for leaving Islam is death." coz i`v seen people who leave islam and they still life till now, and in a good health.
just a little people who do such a bad things doesn`t mean that all those people in the same religion have a bad behaviour
there are so many missunderstanding . I tought we have to rethinking againt went we read some news.
Devi, congratulations on your accomplishments and on your diverse friendships. I don't know if you live in the West or not, but I respect your choice to wear the headscarf if you wish. Surely you know, however, that for many Muslim women the headscarf or the veil is not a personal choice.
Also, I agree with you that "people who do such a bad things doesn`t mean that all those people in the same religion have a bad behaviour." But this is an obvious truism, repeated ad nauseum, that every reasonable person acknowledges, and it doesn't change the fact that the penalty for apostasy in Islam is death. The fundamentalist Muslims who DO exhibit "bad behaviour" firmly believe that your healthy ex-Muslim acquaintances should be beheaded.
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