Little girls in headacarves

[Tallulahoola]

Can anyone tell me why very young Muslim girls - Year 1 and above - wear headscarves and what it signifies?

I went to school with a lot of Muslim girls and a couple with very religious parents started wearing headscarves when they reached 13 or so. I always assumed this was because they had reached puberty so were considered to be young women, and as such were dressing modestly.

Skip to now and I see a lot of girls aged 5 and above wearing headscarves at the local primary schools. Is there a concept of a modesty at this age? Does it mean their parents are extremely religious? Or is it particular to certain communities (the parents are from Somalia and I think from Bangladesh, whereas the community I grew up around was Pakistani)

Well if the Koran is the word of God as revealed to Mohammed then, no you can't interpret it surely? It is what it is. You believe it or you don't, surely? You believe it all without reserrvation as it is the word of God? That's my understanding.

Interesting about AHA.

Well Bird that's the confusing bit because whilst the Quran was supposed to be handed to Mohammed as the word of God whilst he was in the cave, the Quran that exists today was not that.

Rather it's thought to have been put together during the third Caliphate.

Plus there are the hadiths which are verbal rememberings of the sayings of Mohammed and Sunnis and Shias differ in the ones they refer to.

To give an example. Further up this thread a Muslim poster stated her belief that Aisha was 18 not 9 (as is written) when she married Mohammed and this misunderstanding was down to a typo / misreading of the text. Yet Aisha being 9 is often used as justification for child marriage in parts of MENA so you have two interpretations from the same text!

Apricot, what religious texts have I persistently attempted to defend?

And I very much doubt Hermione was influenced by the prophet Mohammed when she decided to wear a high necked, long sleeved top.

Eh, where have I said I was influenced by Mohammed?

I was wearing a boat necked top because I think that style suits me. I seem to have missed something in the discussion?

The whole "it's how you interpret the texts" is utter bullshit...exactly the same way that it is with the Bible.

The written word is very much open to interpretation.

Just because some fundamentalists will read ancient religious tects as a set of specific, immutable instructions "given to them by god", doesn't mean that you get to insist that those people are clearly right to do so.

If you think the Bible is not open to interpretation, then I distrust your views on the Quran.

doing (I speak as an atheist and skeptic)
Certainly some believe the Bible (KJV?) is the word of god but its nothing like as severe as the Koran. The Bible was not "dictated by God". In Islam the Koran is (in Arabic) the exact word of God, dictated to Mo via the angel Gabriel (yes, even ch 33 :))
You can still argue Koranic points (e.g. 4:34; does it mean light or heavy beating of wives?) but permission of men to beat their wives and the general subjection of women to men is the Word of Allah.

Hadith (accounts of Mo's life, not dicated by God of course) are more like the Bible and "scholars" will discuss these. Aishas age at marriage (6) and consummation (9) are supported by the strongest sources (Sahih al-Bukhari)

The whole "it's how you interpret the texts" is utter bullshit.

Me saying that texts are open to interpretation was not intended to let religion off the hook, but rather to move the responsibility onto the people/cultures who interpret them.

Religious texts were invented by and continue to be interpreted by patriarchal cultures who see women as gatekeepers to sex and breeding machines for passing on the male line.

So religion is essentially a conservative force which keeps us in the past trying to sanctify a time when the rights of women and LGBT people were pretty non existent. All bad so far..

However. ..

Religions also often have a progressive aspect to them because their leaders were revoltionaries, rebelling against certain aspects of the status quo. Mohammed gave a lot of rights to women that they previously didn't have and elevated the status of daughters somewhat whilst Jesus told us to love our enemies and fellow man and was sympathetic to prostitutes whilst others judged.

So there is a lot of scope for interpretation. It is the culture and the individuals within that culture who drive the interpretation.

Look how Christianity has evolved, from being a regressive and oppressive force to a largely progressive one. The rationale for witchhunts AND the concept of gender equality can both be found in the Bible. It's just our culture, in its evolution, has shifted its emphasis from one part of the Bible to another.