"You see this is the bit where it bothers me. Because in our society people do have full blown conversations in the street, toddler groups have fathers and grandfathers present, interviews for jobs may be with men (can the veil be removed in a job interview if it is a 1-1 with a man? and then what happens when you do the actual job?) and so on.
Our society is not constructed to give women lots of "female only" meeting opportunities, and while there may be some set up in areas with large muslim populations (women only toddler groups maybe) they won't necessarily be attended by any non muslims.
All of those things come back to not mixing with non-muslim people - and while that may be the reason some women wear the veil, for others it is an unwanted consequence."
Women who wear a veil are not ignorant. If they go for an interview they are fully aware that regardless of interviewee they will need to remove their veil. Also they would not expect to be in a workplace with their veil unless they had consent before hand (it literally could be a safety hazard depending on the environment).
Whose society isn't constructed to women only meets. There are plenty. They're campaigning to get women only wards (not just in muslim areas), they're are women only gyms, spas, nights out, social groups, walking groups etc. Before I was even muslim I did loads of things that were women only so that simply isn't true.
As I said before, I haven't had full blown conversations in the street with people I don't know. Maybe sometimes if someone's looked into the pram or started talking about my children, but generally nothing beyond "have you got the time?"
I do however understand that it can give off an us and them attitude. But so can many other "lifestyles"
"So in fact women who are fully veiled don't want to interact with people who do not share their beliefs, they are rejecting my way of life, and yes I am reading the message of the veil correctly. I think?
But then others are saying "go and talk to women in veils" which directly contradicts this idea that it is a deiberate rejection. "
ISNT they don't want to talk to men. You are implying they don't want to talk to you as a woman. Maybe a specific person doesn't want to talk to you. You are reading the message of the veil incorrectly. Unless you have said hello to a woman in a veil and she has said "FUCK OFF can't you see I'm wearing a veil???"
"What is not in the Quran is not absolutely essential to Islam. And while hadith are all well and good, they are hearsay of various degrees of credibility and not the literal word of God (like Quran)"
Cote d'azure actually you are wrong. The Quran is not to be taken without the hadith and the hadith are not to be taken without the Quran.
"Riven ,do you think that some muslim women in the uk have taken to wearing the veil because of the anti muslim sentiment ? i only ask because in the large city near where i live ,before 9/11 you used to see the odd burqa clad woman ,but most just wore a headscarve ,after 9/11 the burqa became alot more prevelant . Im asking you as you have alot more contact with the muslim community than i "
Bumpsoon I'm obviously not Riven but I did ask my husband this a while ago. I honestly think a lot of people (especially the younger muslims) feel there is a huge anti-islam movement and thus are using it to be visible. I still believe however that most are using it as they believe it is the ultimate in modesty.
"Do you know what, I'm actually disgusted by the ignorance, and the pride in ignorance, that is displayed on this thread."
Yep couldn't agree more tbh