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.

Bloody hell **cloudy

Bit of a sweeping statement. I will go to church over the Christmas period, we do understand the true meaning of Christmas, I won't be hungover (much) and I won't be in debt.

I also wouldn't sexualise my children and put them in a hijab and when it's hot outside I let both my daughter and sons wear cool clothes.

People are questioning why such a young child would need a hijab and quite rightly so!

hmm You know very we’ll i make talking about other threads.

cloudly who would you have preferred to write the article, and who would be representative of all muslims? Also who is “attacking muslims”? why can’t there be a discussion about a certain aspect of a religion that many people don’t agree with without it being twisted into “attacking muslims”. All religions get criticised for one thing or another, and damn right they should be. Why is Islam any different. No religion is perfect surely?

very well i was talking* stupid ipad

YANBU, I think it's weird if a hijab is a sign of modesty who needs a modest 4 year old. And it's not as if it stops them having a fun time dressing up from time to time.

I'm with you Op. The hijab is only intended for after puberty. It's appalling to make a child wear it. I lived in Egypt fir many years and no educated person there would ask their child to wear a hijab. I knew some very religiously conservative people there and they would never have condoned it.
We had a very religious, almost to the point of being fundamentalist, family at our primary school. When their dd went into year 5, they wanted her to wear the hijab. Our HT refused and they moved out of the area totally presumably to a school which would accept it. Good on him

Yanbu. Young children don't need to be modest for men.

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.
Yes she is saying what people want to hear. Everytime threads about the hijab come up people often ask why more young girls than ever are wearing it. Nobody ever seems able to explain why. She does, and in an intelligent well thought out way.

Agree with you OP.

Little girls should not have to, or be encouraged to, wear this.

late to thread but I don't give a f*ck about people wearing hijabs. It's attitudes that oppress, not clothes.

So the meaning behind the hijab is not oppressive then? The attitude that girls should cover their heads when they start menstruating (therefore become a woman of an age to start having sex) to prevent men having lustful thoughts about them is not oppressive? While women in western countries insist they wear it to feel 'free' and women in the Middle East and Africa are beaten if they don't...........

It's symbolises oppression of ALL women.

The hijab is oppressive because it limits your choices. My dh's cousins are veiled and love fashion but find shopping a nightmare. Then there's the stuff you can't do. You can swim in a burkini but they are hideous so many women chose not to. I have seen so many veiled women sitting at the side of pools watching their husbands play with their children. It's holding turn back from enjoying their life. You can't dress more lightly in hot weather. I could go on and on

No dawnmist, she explains it in a way that is acceptable to your ears. Listen to her all you like, think what you like, I’m just saying that she is irrelevant in the world of important Islamic speakers. Muslims don’t take advice or direction from her.
She can say what she thinks as we all can but she has no authority.

She doesn’t claim to have authority

She will talk about progression

Is a progressive society one that embraces all religious and cultural practices or one that moves towards moving away from religion and cultural practices that have never favored women as being equal

People talk about supporting religious freedom in this country (which we haven’t thankfully) if you think we should do take up reading the religious text of the Bible and Koran/hadiths because I am quite sure your opinions will change

Well who does have authority then. I thought she sounded the voice of reason, someone who realised how wrong it is to think girls should have to hide themselves away from men. So why should i listen to them.

The problem is that no one has authority because they are all individuals with their own circumstances. Any more than I have authority on talking about what it is like to be British or atheist.

OP, I completely agree with you.
Why should very young girls even think about dressing 'modestly'.
It also makes them feel separate from their schoolmates who do not confirm to similar strictures.

True, but if anyone was to have authority i’d hope it’d be a woman, seeing as how it’s about women.

I have a Muslim relative in his 80s and he gets very upset when he sees women wearing the burkha/niquab etc he just doesn't understand why they wear them now, apparently it was unheard of when he was young. He thinks the Muslims that have this sort of attitude give the others a bad name!

LalaLeona

I’ve heard similar.

Lala - grandma (a very lovely and religious lady) never covered her hair in the West - she said the whole idea was that you didn't stand out in a crowd. Very sensible lady.

The thing is, dawnmist, there are so many people out there wearing hijab in a variety of ways and for similar and varying reasons. It’s unfair that someone like Yasmine Ali brown gets listened to as the voice of reason because she is already out there in the public eye and your average hijab wearer who is happily wearing it for whatever reason (and not in the public eye) is dismissed. So many timed Muslim females have come onto these threads to say positive things about their hijab and they are poo pooed as being wrong /brainwashed by ex Muslims or anti Muslims. I don’t know why it’s so hard for some to accept that lots of Muslims like to wear and chose to wear the hijab and don’t view it in any way as oppressive or backwards.

Who are some of the "important" Islamic female speakers we could learn from instead?

I don’t know why it’s so hard for some to accept that lots of Muslims like to wear and chose to wear the hijab and don’t view it in any way as oppressive or backwards

How ironic then that women in Iran, Afghanistan etc see it as exactly that. If only they could have that freedom to choose.