Los sujetos y objetos que inciden en el desarrollo de competencias digitales en el marco del

The literature written by Muslims to encourage Muslim women to wear the hijab is an important place to start this review. Many of these authors translate the religious instructions from Arabic into other languages, including English, and are therefore accessible to non-Muslims who want to find out about the wearing of the hijab and where the original instructions can be found. Franks (1998, p.17), an ethnographer, found that much of the literature she discovered when carrying out her research with Christian and Muslim women was written from a religious point of view.

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Two Muslim men who have written booklets for Muslims, and have included in them the dress obligations that they believe can be found by interpreting the original texts from the Qur’an, are Badawi (1994) and Doi (1995). Both authors based their booklets on surah (24:31). Badawi (1994) begins with the inclusion of the text in Arabic and then continues with an explanation of the text line by line, and although Doi (1995) follows the same format he begins his line-by-line explanation straight from the English translation. Badawi (1994, pp.5-9) uses his booklet to describe the extent, to which the woman should be covered, the looseness of the dress, the

thickness, the overall appearance and any additional requirements relating to women’s dress. However, unlike Badawi (1994), Doi (1995, pp.11-16) only allocates a section of his commentary to dress and applies the modesty guidelines to both men and women. Doi (1995) also includes excerpts from the Sunnah of the Prophet, including discussions Muhammad had with other Muslims during his lifetime.

Another male Muslim author, Patel (1997, p.59) explains his view that the instructions pertaining to the dress of Muslim women come ‘straight from the Qur’an’. Like Badawi (1994) and Doi (1995), Patel (1997) also includes surah

(24:31) in his text and a further discussion of the translation of these rules. These male Muslim authors who believe that the wearing of the hijab is essential and necessary, concur from the Qur’anic instructions, that Muslim women must cover their bodies except for their face and hands, although, none of these authors give any instructions relating to face covering. Patel (1997, p.59) re-iterates these instructions in his book, and goes a step further by starting to explain what the dress of the believer should look like.

A female Muslim author, Khattab (1996) gives a far more detailed account of the instructions to cover and clearly writes from a woman’s point of view. She does not include the authority from the Qur’an or Sunnah, but discusses what she believes are the two distinct meanings of hijab: the external hijab (1996, p.15) or what the woman should be wearing; and the internal hijab which Khattab (1996, p.18) describes as attitude and behaviour. Khattab (1996, p.15) begins by exploring the external hijab, with a list of conditions that should be adhered to.

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Another female Muslim author, Nazlee (2001) agrees with these instructions to cover.

Her book was a gift to me from one of the interviewees and is devoted entirely to the wearing of the hijab, exploring it from the time of the Prophet through to present day.

She states that:

Abu Dawood reported from Aishah that Asma, the daughter of Abu Bakr, came to see the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) wearing a thin dress. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) turned away and said to her, “O Asma! When a woman reaches the age of puberty, she cannot reveal any part of her body, except this and this” And he pointed to his face and hands.

(Nazlee, 2001, p.5)

To help Muslim women to fulfil their obligations, some of the authors break down these instructions into practical solutions for everyday wear. Badawi (1994, p.7), Doi (1996, p.14) and Nazlee (2001, p.35) explain that the cloth used for the outfit should be of a certain thickness so as not to be transparent. Doi (1996, p.14) explains further that this should be common sense to many Muslim women as the instruction was confirmed at the time of the Prophet ‘Hafsah, daughter of ‘Abdur-Rahman, once came before ‘A’isha wearing a thin shawl over her head and shoulders. ‘A’isha tore it up and put a thick shawl over her’.

Khattab (1996, p.15) begins with the point of view that Western clothing or any clothing could be worn as long as it complied with the instructions in the Qur’an.

However, she then explains exactly what women should wear and what it should look like and although she advises women to wear what appear to be modifications of Western dress Khattab (1996, p.16) states that Muslim women are not encouraged to wear the clothes that look like those of non-Muslims. These women should be easily identified as Muslim, so if wearing Western clothes they should always wear a head covering to ensure that they can be distinguished from any other religion or Western women. Khattab (1996, p.16) explains that: ‘One of the functions of Hijab is to identify the wearer as a Muslim who is proud (in the best sense) of her Islam. In particular, we should avoid wearing clothes which imitate the religious dress of others’.

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According to Khattab (1996, p.16) women are not encouraged to wear the clothing that looks like men's either. If a woman wishes to wear trousers they should be of a design especially made for women. Khattab (1996, p.17) explains the garments should not have gems attached to them or be woven with valuable threads such as gold and silver. This would attract attention to the wearer and is a show of wealth.

The wearing of the jilbab is approved of by Nazlee (2001, p.33) and Khattab (1996, p.17). Although according to Nazlee (2001 p.33) she is witnessing women wearing the hijab, but their other outer garments were not being worn correctly. In many cases women were not putting on their jilbabs or their clothes did not fulfil the Qur’anic instructions.

Therefore, it is the view of these authors that the Qur’an instructs the women to cover their bodies, just leaving their face and hands uncovered. For this purpose many women today, have adopted the wearing of a jilbab and together with the head covering, they believe that this satisfies the rules that were laid down for them.

Nazlee (2001, p.29) and Khattab (1996, p.22) mention the internal hijab, meaning the way to ‘behave in an Islamic manner’ and relate this to the wearing of the external hijab. To both of these authors the way a Muslim woman acts is just as important as the way that she dresses. Khattab (1996, p.22) believes that if a woman achieves success in her internal hijab, then as a side effect the external hijab will be put on as an outward show of her Muslim identity.

Therefore, it can be seen that there is a variety of literature interpreting the Qur’anic instructions, which clearly explain to Muslims what should be worn as a practising member of the religion. The small selection examined here all endorse the wearing of the hijab and make it quite clear that it is a religious obligation that should be worn by all Muslim women. However, this does not provide the answer as to how Muslims who do not wear the hijab justify their choices.

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