There have been a few discussions (mostly in the Pit) lately about the appropriateness of wearing conservative Muslim garb in Western countries. I get confused because I’m never sure what we’re talking about exactly.
For instance, I just saw someone say that they had never seen anyone wearing a burqa. Now, when I hear the word “burqa”, I think of this sort of thing. And I’ve never seen anyone dressed like that, anywhere. But I spent last summer in India, and they refer to this outfit as a burqa. (I took this picture very surreptitiously. I liked the sparkly blue trim.) I’m not sure what else I would call it, but I wouldn’t have called it a burqa. And I have seen people wearing this sort of thing in Chicago.
And I’m not clear on what the difference between a burqa and a niqab is. Is there one?
Those are both burqas, just in the former case, the eyes are covered by a mesh, which is mainly an Afghan and Saudi thing.
A burqa is made up of three parts: a jilbab (a long cloak that covers the body), a hijab (a scarf that covers the hair), and a niqab (a veil that covers the face). Put those three things together, and you have a burqa, where every part of the woman is covered up except their hands and eyes.
I’ve seen all of them in Toronto. Including the mesh-over-the-face ones. Not common, though. Much more common are headscarves.
That explanatory diagram is very helpfiul. I’m going to save it.
Toronto has to set some sort of record for variety of dress… I’ve seen people in full mesh burqas there, and I’ve seen people completely-naked except for sandals there (as part of the Pride Parade). About the only thing I haven’t seen is plate armour, and I suppose that’s only a matter of time. Technically you have to have something covering your crotch area; I’m not sure how the Pride Parade gets around this.
