What do you Want me to Wear? By Binth Niwas –

The spread of hate speech and campaign against Muslims is not something novel in history. We have witnessed this happening in our very own Sri Lanka in the recent past, in direct terms as well as in forms of manipulative sugarcoated speech. An important issue that is directed against Muslims is against the dress – Abaya worn by Muslim women.

In the very latest developments of Muslim culture it can be noted that Muslim women are highly taking to the dress Abaya, mostly in black. People, who are 'concerned' about this wave of change, see it as a sign of the influence of the Arabic culture. It is true that Abaya, especially black belongs to Arabian culture. So Muslim women in Sri Lanka being clad in Abaya are seen as a cultural invasion of the Arabic culture. This is one reason they give to lay their hands upon this form of dressing.

Pertaining to this theory if Muslim women were to opt to another mode of dress what could be a better replacement? Let us take the Shalwar, one of the dresses that still a large number of women in the Muslim society wear. Is this originally from Sri Lanka? Don't we know that the Shalwar is actually originating from Pakistan and India. So what if all Muslim women started wearing Shalwars, would the campaigns begin to say it is a cultural invasion from Pakistan and India?

Then again let's try the option of Saree, where does it actually come from? Is it not from India? We do widely know that it is. Leaving out all of these if for argument's sake if Muslim women go for western clothes, jeans, t-shirts, frocks and of the like, would that situation be received as an attempt to westernize Sri Lanka? Just as there are religious fanatics operating in the Middle East, it is a widely acknowledged fact that there are Western forces who try to impose their power on us. The recent Geneva Convention is a prominent example prove that West is won't leave us alone.

So I have been trying to mull over the argument that Abaya is a form of cultural invasion, in practical terms and this is the sense that it made. Culture in any part of the world is interrelated and not static, especially the forms of dressing. With the platforms for free flow of information this is even more evident, how influential a particular way of dressing could be on another is limitless. Under these circumstances when people are attracted to many different forms of dressing, why not the Abaya?

Islamic guidelines for the dress code of a woman fit perfectly with the kind of dress called Abaya. A woman must cover her whole body except from the wrists and face or the face inclusive (as some evidences show), with lose, non attractive, non transparent material which should not reveal the shape of the body. So Abaya comes in handy fitting all these requirements. The colour black is the one highly available in the market and given to for many reasons. It is a colour that is considered not very attractive. The ease of accessing and usage is high with black Abaya. These are few reasons among many other. After all black is yet another colour too.

So in rational terms it is yet another dress that is largely adorned by Muslim women for practical reasons. Viewing it in the lights of cultural extremism is a form of violation of basic human rights, for anyone has the right to wear the way they want unless of course it could cause some serious damage to the fellow human. How many incidents of violence have been caused by the Abaya/Niqab in Sri Lanka? Am honestly curious.

Even during the times when the country was battling with steaming terrorism, it never occurred to people that Abaya is a taboo on National Security.

Then why now? This is yet another revelation how these arguments certain forces hold in this country are nothing but means of shaping a population with hatred running in their veins. Let us not give in, to the powers of stupidity and malice. 

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Source : http://dailynews.lk/?q=features/what-do-you-want-me-wear