to stop shopping at M and S for selling hijabs for young girls

[worstmotherintheworld]

So M and S have started to sell hijabs as part of their school uniform range...aimed at primary school children. One reviewer helpfully suggests getting the small one for a 4 year old.

I have been shopping at Marks all my adult life and have remained a faithful customer despite some dodgy clothes of late and the uninspirational Sparks card, but I think this is going to be the last straw for me.

Yanbu. How fugly and awful to keep little girls covered up like they should be ashamed of themselves.

@harshbuttrue1980

Wearing hijab is either a political statement or to stop men looking at the woman's hair and becoming aroused.

To you there may only be 2 reasons for wearing hijab, but those are NOT my reasons for wearing one nor my friends, so please stop talking on behalf of those that wear the hijab. We all wear it for different reasons. One of my friends only wears it on days she's having a bad hair day. Other parents I know have only got their kid to wear it when the school had a knits problem. So please do me a favour and go and actually speak to Muslim women or LISTEN to Muslim women who are sharing thoughts with you on this thread.

If a Muslim child wants to wear a short sleeved top and mini skirt to school is that also her choice?

SadEgg, the fact remains that a lot of people feel that it isn't right for an adult to inflict their choices on a child. Yes, of course, adults dress their 4 year old children and have the right to make decisions about this. However, this infringes the right of the child if the parent deliberately dresses them in a way that is so against the norm of the culture they are living in. Standing out is a brave choice, and I don't think children should be forced to do this.
I would also argue that if I had a child in a Muslim country where all of the other children in the class are covering their hair, I would be happy for them to cover their hair too so they didn't stand out. I'm a catholic and wear a crucifix every day, but I wouldn't force a child to do this either. They can CHOOSE to wear a cross, headscarf or whatever they like when they are older.

www.tes.com/news/our-kids-were-raped-classmates-dfe-wont-listen

@dawnacorns

Wow thank you giles that is absolutely shocking

I know.

Hence why I believe the focus should be on removing the reasons for the perceived risk(and obviously perceived because it's never clothes and it's not sexuality ) and raise our children to either want to fight against restrictions or to treat the opposite sex fairly and with respect.

I don't think policing women's clothing is the way to go about it.

I agree giles

I live in Kuwait which is a conservative Islamic country (not as bad as Saudi but not as lenient as the UAE). I know a lot of Muslim women - I would say around 75% of them cover their hair the others don't.

I teach at s nursery school and not one (who are aged between 3-4) wears a scarf. I had an orthodox Christian little girl come in last year wearing a scarf because she wanted to be the same as our headteacher - she took it off after a few days.
AFAIK girls start to wear a scarf when their periods start and that's (mainly) the choice of the girl whether she wants to wear one. In the gulf countries i think a lot of hijab wearing is cultural and practical - it's crazy hot and dusty and a lot of the men cover their head as well to protect them from the heat. I live near a Kuwaiti girls high school and some wear a hijab, some don't. It all depends. The younger girls I've seen that wear the hijab are from mainly Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Indian Muslim heritage.

Can’t see what the issue is. Not sure why people are so anti hijab? It’s a woman’s right to dress as she wishes. There is no obligation in Islam to wear a head scarf (particularly for girls). But if a wee girl wants to wear one then I can’t see the problem.

I agree with you up to a point.
Having a Muslim father from the ME, it was not the norm for young girls (say, 4-12), when he was growing up, to wear the headscarves. It was something girls wear as they transition to womanhood.
I don't feel girls as young as four should be wearing it.
However, I don't see the issue for M & S to sell the hijab to teenage girls or women.

harshbuttrue1980 I think it is a wonderful thing for children to stand out and don’t believe for a second anyone living in a different culture from their own should have to conform to that culture or countries way of dressing. I love diversity and the world would be so dull if we all looked and dressed exactly the same way.
I encourage my DD’s to be different, not to follow what everyone else is doing/wearing and if it was a cultural thing I’d be doing it all the more. Encourage not force though.

I thought the Qur'an gave only one reason to wear a hijab

XscourtX Your post doesn't make sense.

XscoutX 'a post makes perfect sense and is refreshing to read, along with some more sensible posters that have come along.

Completely agree, Havaina.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/mar/20/muslim-woman-veil-hijab
Totally agree with this muslim woman.

XscoutX - but if a child is born here then this is their culture too.

My family (who came here) believed that if you choose to live in a country the last thing you want is to be the 'bloody foreigner' - you learn the language, culture and customs, don't sneer down your nose that the 'old country' is all roses and honey, and make friends with a wide circle of people. Accept the country and people for what they are - be fair.

Islam spread from Saudi and took its practices with it - so the hijab is alien to many of the cultures that the religion conquered. So really it's not 'their' or 'our' culture to begin with.

If you don't look up then how can you look forward? I lived in a part of town when I was iny 20s where I met women who spoke no English - I was surprised to learn that they were born here. They just stuck to 'their own' worked in family speciality food and fabric shops and took one of their kids along to the doctors to translate for them. I have met older generations who moved here as adults but speak very little or I English, and some have brought their kids up here. I can definitely sympathise here as my language skills are zero - but it must be very lonely to live in one place but have your head elsewhere.

Nobody wants to listen to Muslims on these threads. Dawnmist, in answer to your much earlier question, yes, I don’t like any religion being jumped on, each to his own is what I like to believe. I can’t say I’ve seen many threads so hateful of Christianity as I have seen of Islam/Muslims on here though.
So you agree with Yasmine Alibhai-Brown and her thoughts on hijab . Well she hardly represents the average hijab wearing Muslim female does she? She’s married to a Christian and brings her child up with 2 religions so she’s likely to not really be into hijab isn’t she? Of course, she says what you want to hear and she classes herself as a Muslim so therefore she fits with how you’d like all Muslim women to be. I imagine most practicing Muslim women have little interest in what she has to say on anything. Unfortunately on mumsnet the only Muslim voice many posters want to listen to are the ones who are no longer Muslim!

My bil and sil (here in the UK) are pretty religious - not a headscarf in sight.

hmmwhatatodoo you cant have been on the same threads as me, the ones i’ve been on are often hateful, openly attacking Christianity, not seen that on here, just people airing their views on girls wearing the hijab. As for agreeing with what Yasmine has to say, yes i do. She’s someone who actually tells us how it is, and doesn’t ignore the plight of the women in the middle east who are forced to wear it. Everything she says makes sense, and on the contrary i should imagine the women who don’t have a choice take a very big interest in what she has to say.

I think it is a wonderful thing for children to stand out and don’t believe for a second anyone living in a different culture from their own should have to conform to that culture or countries way of dressing

But the child isn't standing out, its the absence of a child that is standing out or merging into the background, because the child has been erased from the picture and replaced by an enforced covering.

And they are not simply dressing differently to the British cultural norms they are absenting themselves from any culture by replacing themselves with an anonymous segregating covering that stops integration.

We wouldn't allow a child of Jehovah's Witness parents to refuse them a blood transfusion. We should not allow children of Muslim parents to permanently cover their children with a hijab.

1st The article is written by a Shia Muslim who does not represent the whole Muslim followers. 2nd She is not the best person to go for advice, she herself has admitted she is not practicing Muslim or follows the laws of Islam has she should be. 3rd look at yourselves first before bashing another religion. One thing I have learnt is the hypocrisy of people who claim to know more about the Hijab than Muslims themselves. Christmas is coming how many of you know the true meaning of what Christmas is about? how many of you will actually go to church take your children, grandchildren or will you be hung over and have the attitude of not going. You will be buying materialistic gifts to please mankind but forgetting it is all for 1 day. Spending hundreds of money probably borrowed on loans or credit cards.
As for Muslims least they will know the reason for wearing the Hijab. As for those that force it upon their children to wear it then let it be their problem when the child grows up and learns the true meaning of wearing it.
Funny how many will eat Curries, makes curries recipes coming from Muslims, happy go to Muslim countries for holidays and enjoy the mixture of their cultures. Then come on here start attacking Muslims.

Why would people come on here attacking Christians when it’s a thread about a shop selling hijab Dawnmist?
Again, you like what Yasmine has to say because it makes sense to you. So what? It doesn’t mean she speaks on behalf of Muslim women around the world, she certainly doesn’t represent the majority in their thoughts or actions. She is not someone that your average Muslim female will look up to, she just appeals to non Muslims because she says what they want to hear.

A shia is just as muslim as a sunni. She has every right to speak of her religion as she sees it.

Gawd it's like catholics and protestants.