The perception of “securing the hijab” is the narration of the western media – Mehr news agency Iran and world’s news
to report Mehr news agency, The most recent session of this special program “Discovering the realities of hijab” with the theme “People’s Narrative, Governance Narrative” was held at Andisheh Cultural Center. Hojjat al-Islam Zoulam, a member of the academic board of the Research Institute of Islamic Culture and Thought, and Mohammad Hossein Badamchi, a member of the academic board of the Institute of Cultural and Social Studies of the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology, spoke about issues related to this field.
Zulam said at the beginning of this meeting: I believe that most of the women in our society observe hijab and we should thank them for paying attention to this social norm. Definitely, those who observe hijab in our society, there is no social constraint or obligation on them, because there are some people who do not observe this issue and nothing happens. I also have to make a request to the women who do not observe the hijab, because I believe that the main activists in the issue of the hijab are the women themselves. My request is that they observe this important norm of our society.
He continued: One of the important issues that should be considered is how the behavior of people who are not intimate with each other and even the behavior of people who are intimate with each other should be at the level of society in order to achieve a favorable situation. This is where the issue of coverage comes into play.
Referring to the different aspects of the hijab issue, he said: I think the hijab has several aspects; If we consider hijab as an issue in society, we should ask what is the importance of this issue? In fact, if we ask people what is the main problem in your society, what will they answer? Another aspect is the hijab law, and on the other hand, the hijab is known as a symbol of being a Muslim and opposing the western cultural wave. In my opinion, all these aspects should end in 2 things; One is that the issue of hijab should be properly clarified for us and we should reach a unified view on this issue, and the other is the practical realization and improvement of the quality of this important norm in the society and its continuation.
In another part of this meeting, Badamchi said: There has been very little discussion on the issue of hijab, and a paradox in this field must be answered. I believe that a very strange obesity has been created in the hijab debate in the years after the revolution. It seems that since the early days of the revolution, hijab has become the top of cultural issues and has continued until today. This means that we have an unusual situation in the issue of hijab; In all societies, you can see that hijab is a customary issue and has nothing to do with religious issues.
He continued: On the other hand, speakers are always men and listeners are always women. This issue appears strange when the speaker himself is not included in a sentence, he talks about it. I believe that the type of plan that has been made regarding the issue of hijab originates from a kind of male concern and we have not seen female concerns in this matter.
In response to Badamchi’s words, Zoulam said: It is wrong to say that policy making in the field of hijab has not been successful. I do not mean the Islamic Republic, but my interpretation is that the Iranian Muslim community has been very successful in the issue of hijab. Many countries have gone backwards in this matter, but our society is very healthy in this regard.
He emphasized: You also mentioned that hijab was a male issue; I think this is also incorrect. For example, we have a think tank called a lifestyle think tank, most of whose members are women. In addition, there are many issues that people may not be directly involved in, but are important to them, because it is a social issue. For example, there are many people who are not poor, but poverty is important to them. Therefore, there is no scientific basis for any issue to be involved with the people themselves. Every Muslim has a social responsibility. He may not be sick himself, but he is concerned about the illness of the society. On the other hand, we have to ask why this issue is unimportant to some people? Maybe this is a group of men who have no restrictions on issues and take advantage of some people’s modesty.
Pointing out that hijab has distanced itself from the main issues of society, Badamchi said: I believe that the issue of hijab has distanced itself from the main issues of our society. Now our main problem has reached the survival of the family and it is losing its existence due to economic reasons, but from that side we see that the emphasis on hijab is increasing day by day. I do not understand the reason for this paradox.
In response to an ambiguity about why an internal matter is imposed, Zulam said: This phrase is a distorted narrative and it is clear that behind the scenes those who do not agree with this society and this social system are trying to create problems. When it comes to governance, one person and group should not be satisfied. It is better to ask what the leadership thinks about this issue. During the last 10 years, how many times have you heard the phrase women’s hijab from the leadership? In the conversation they had with the government, did they say to take care of women’s hijab? I don’t mean that they are careless, but as a caring leader of the society, they are looking for a cultural strategy to solve this challenge. They have emphasized many times in their cultural strategies that the type of facing a cultural issue should be of a cultural issue.
He continued: On the other hand, what is the president’s position? He also says that the law should be implemented and does not say more. Therefore, fattening is not done by him. It is wrong to think that the hijab has become a security issue. Maybe sometimes the social security police will give a warning to a very badly dressed lady and she will make a fuss too; These are narratives and not factual reports. Of course, the police is only one link of the government. Many parts of the government do not think about hijab and may consider the hijab law as a nuisance. I believe that if there is some exaggeration in the issue of hijab, there is an intention behind it, and that intention is one of the external elements.
In another part of his speech, Badamchi said: “Unfortunately, we have made the issue of hijab an important part of Muslim women’s life, and I think this issue is unfortunate.” There is a lot of evidence that shows that hijab was not among its top 10 priorities. The Muslim woman’s problem at the beginning of the revolution was that I, along with men, can fight with arrogance and create a just society. The same discourse won, but a turn was created; In other words, the groups whose hijab was their first priority were not qataba, but they took over the government during a turn. In my opinion, there were two types of statements about Muslim women; The revolutionary formulation is that a Muslim woman can be political, but the traditionalist formulation is that if a woman enters the social arena, it will cause corruption. This view seems to have prevailed. My question is, why are we talking about security instead of taking a scientific and research approach to talk about this issue?
In response to these points, Zulam said: Without a doubt, the issue of hijab was important to Imam; In most of their fatwas and speeches, they mentioned the same issue and expressed very important things about hijab. The fact that the imam speaks about political and social issues does not contradict the hijab issue, and it cannot be inferred that this issue was not important to the imam.