Re: Why do Pakistan women dress like Arabs in America?
Dude i agree with you and all the Muslims should have the freedom to wear whatever they please. The criticism doesn't stem from the freedom aspect much more from the hypocritical aspect. By that i mean the aspect in which deception is used. You must also understand that these "Pakistani women" who wear "Arabic garb" are trying to rub their religious piety and orthodoxy on other Pakistani women's faces who don't adhere to the "Arab Garb". But that doesn't mean that those women who wear Pakistani clothes are some how not decent and somehow less religious? You must understand that a woman who wears a burqa is as much pious as the same woman who wears shalwar kameez and covers her body well. The same could be said of the Molvie who adheres to the sunnah and the sufi who adheres to the philosophical thought of the dervaishes. Their religion is not different nor are their prayers. Therefore you must understand that wearing something shouldn't change wearing someone's religion or the fact that lifting up our pants to our ankles is gonna make us better than the same Muslim who prays 5 times with his pants covering his ankles. This is the mentality that gets criticized and not the freedom to lift your jeans up your ankles or wearing a turban. Muslims are pleased to do whatever they want yet when you wear and then display your attire in such a way to play down down another Muslim's religion is wrong and should be taken in to consideration. Because showing off in Islam even up to a point in which you Read the Quran really loudly as to give an impression of showing off is discouraged. Hope that answers the question.
Lol bro you're just going in circles here, how do you know the intention of anyone? How do you know the intentions of Hijaabi women and non hijaabi women? So many things could factor in about both type of women's personalities. Either group of women could be adulterous and conniving and all sort of unholy. The same goes for Men, but how do you know? There is no way to judge them and if you judge them based on their garb then thats like judging a book by its cover. How do you know the inner workings of a Hijaabi women and how do you know that of the non Hijaabi women? There is simply no way to ever conclude that. Can you trust a long bearded man who wears a turban then he goes and blows himself up and kills innocent people, going against the teachings of the Quran. Or how do you judge a non turban liberal muslim man who kills people just because he's a psychopath? Can these people be judged based on what they're wearing? No they can't and to judge their modesty and their orthodoxy and religiousness based on what they wear is erroneous. Human beings are far more complex individuals to be judged based on what they wear. You say that you know Hijaabi women who follow the "Live and let live principle" and never point fingers, but i personally know of one Algerian girl who comes to my university and takes off her hijaab and attends classes then puts it back on when she leaves. Do you see where we're going with this? There are simply innumerable situations in which people do totally unpredictable things contrary to what they're expected to do.
I'm not being a cynic here but im only trying to show you how complex it is to say that 1 group of people is somehow better than the other based on what they wear.
I came to the following conclusion by determining the fact that you can't never really know the intentions of either Hijaabi women or Non Hijaabi women. You can't be sure then why must you give credence to the Hijaabi women that they're somehow more pious than the non Hijaabi women.
This is exactly what im trying to emphasize here BarbieCue, you're thinking that i am being biased and trying to say that "Bearded Molvie looking men and Hijaabi women" are showing off. I am merely saying you can't know their intentions if they are showing off or not **BUT **you can't also know for sure if the Non Hijaabi women and liberal Muslim men are pious or religious. However in the eyes of the greater Muslim world, the woman who wears Hijaab and covers her body well is somehow better than the non hijaaban. I'm not saying that non-hijaabi women dont cover their bodies (and im certainly not referring to the women who wear bikinis. If you're liberal enough to be a Muslim and wear bikinis then you're defeating the whole point of modesty, my argument doesn't involve bikini wearing women or women who show skin my point is regarding the pious muslims who don't adhere to the Arabic garb and if they do decide to wear westernized clothing then they are somehow branded less of Muslims by the same Arabic garb wearing Muslims.)
You will agree BarbieCue that there is a consensus among Muslims that both men and women who adhere to the Arabic garb are considered better than then non Arabic garb wearers. Who really knows who's intentions are evil or good? No One. Then why does this consensus exists? Surely there has to be one for this thread to exist in the first place.
I do not feel that way about my fellow Muslims who do follow the sunnah, I for example am a Sunni and i follow the Sunnah in every possible way i can. However somethings aren't forced upon me and i know what my rights are as a Muslim Man. I've read the Quran and i know what is permissible and what is not permissible. I can be a perfect Muslim without having to "Show" my Adherence to a particular code of dress. That being said for those Muslims who choose do this is perfectly fine. They have every right to do so and the "degrading" manner in which the name "mullah" and "Molvie" and now thrown around stem from westernized media's portrayal of the Muslim clergymen and not from any personal biases. People tend to get on any popular band wagon to distinguish themselves from what they seem is negative. In this case the "Mullah look". I don't agree to this i feel as if it is good for Muslims to hold on to their roots and dress and feel comfortable. But if they do decide to do this they shouldn't then feel that if other Muslims don't adhere to their viewpoints on clothing they are somehow not "true" Muslims.
Yes barbieCue the Prophet did do it, and not only that he did many other things which are beyond the comprehension of the "Arabic Garb" wearing Muslims. I am not going to give you an impression as if i am against the Sunnah of our beloved Prophet. I admire him and follow his teachings as much as i can. I believe that there can never ever have been such magnificent personality in this world as that of our Prophet. He took the pagan Arab world out of the Dark Ages and in that age sought to enlighten his backward peoples. Now this is my opinion that people tend to forget his entire life's work and try to "become" like him not in his likeness but rather in his;appearance. As I've mentioned before the prophet never forced his lifestyle upon his followers, even up to the point that when he was in the abode of the creator of the Universe he sought to lessen the prayer because it might be too harsh for his followers. This is brilliant character of our beloved Prophet. What the Muslims need the most is to change their inner mentality rather than their outward appearance in the hopes that God will take them as pious and forget whats in their hearts. We have to light our hearts with the love of the Prophet and his Sunnah and our outward appearance will change automatically. Rather than changing our outward appearance and hoping something will happen inside.
Quran doesn't make any particular clothing requirements nor does it prevent Muslims from wearing certain types of clothes. I don't know why you're misunderstanding what i'm trying to say. If the Quran said, "Wear such and such and do not wear such and such". I would never have this conversation with you because i would agree with you. But what I'm saying is since the Quran doesn't require Muslims to dress in any Particular way then why must Muslims who dress in an Arabic garb are somehow considered "better Muslims"?
Dude?
As much as I could read, I see you began with being very judgemental and back tracked by saying no one can be certain of anyone else's intentions.
The fact remains:
If a bikini clad woman has freedom to wear bikini of ANY style, any woman Pakistani/ non-Pakistani in Aamerica/outside America, should be free to wear Arabic looking clothings if that is what she feels is good for her.
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No one including OP, needs to question that, since it is equal to questioning the basic rights of these women to choose for themselves.
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*Moreover, there is no need to second guess or doubt the intentions of these women.
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When they go to others and force/coerce others to wear the same attire then, it is alright to question them, otherwise, leave them alone.
*They like it. So be it. Period.
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These words when used at appropriate occasions look very nice. But at times when one utters them alot, they put me off…
Ashwariya is very pretty mashallah…inna lilah … 