Re: Hijab / veil
So far you're imposing the hijab because of a few occurances you can pluck out. XYZ did this. ABC did this. Nowhere can you provide that it's an ISLAMIC duty to do anything but dress modestly. Wearing a hijab, a burka, a veil or whatever else you want is a personal interpretation of modesty. It is not in your hands to determine if I am a muslim or not. Follow your interpretation in peace, and leave the rest of us alone.
You are no more a muslim than me for believing a veil is the only form of modesty. Infact, your lecture paints a daunting image of an ignorant and arrogant imposition of beliefs. Your perverted version of islam, albeit common is merely an interpretation.
If your only basis of justifying the hijab is common practice a thousand years ago, i'd suggest you build your houses out of mud and hay also. We are asked to mimick the prophet's community in what they believed, not what they wore. If you're so intent on living like the prophet's people, I point the finger at you and demand you make peace and marry your Jewish and Christian neighbours. You cite the prophet as a spiritual role model, yet you insist on only following physical traits. The burka or veil are not religious, nor is a keffiyah, turban or thobe. It's cultural, and you're not arab. Your insecurities and misunderstandings are leading you down a long road of shameless taunts. The next time you go on a rant, save it for your arab friends.
If a woman believes in becoming that "diamond" you so eloquently symbolize, it implies she has become the property of someone. A woman wearing a veil, is only a diamond when she lets a man lock her up in a vault. Your key to self hood, as a muslim woman, is not in the hand of a man. While it may sound romantic to equate a veiled woman to a diamond, something so precious is not appreciated when only a man can acknowledge it. Your definition of precious revolves around a male instinct to own and conquer. You conquer a woman, and then in your insecurities and distrust of your woman you cover and lock her away.
A woman, as is a man - are asked to dress modestly. There are provisions that tell a woman to cover her bosom. But nowhere are there rules that say modesty = a burka or niqab. The veil is cultural, and forever long you misinterpret an ancient cultural occurance to be a religious necessity - you'll be ostracized by your own muslim brothers and sisters.