WUNRN
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tudong
 
Tudong is a Malay word which is commonly translated/referred to as a veil or headscarf in English. They are worn in accordance to Islam's hijab. Usually, the tudong covers the hair while leaving the face exposed. It is part of the standard dress code for office work, school uniforms and formal occasions.
 
The Brunei Times
http://bruneitimes.com.bn/details.php?shape_ID=27680
 
Tudong, Privilege for Women

Santi Soekanto and

Muhammad Ali Mu'izz

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN


20-Apr-07

BRUNEI DARUSSALAM is an Islamic state and women in headscarves are easily found across the country, but do they understand what veiling is in Islam and why they are doing it?

The Brunei Times spoke to a dozen of women in tudong and asked them how disciplined they were about it.

Yanee, a 16-year-old student of PTE, says she wears the headscarf because it is compulsory and because her parents taught her to wear it from an early age. However, she takes it off when she is participating in outdoor activities.

One UBD student, Nurul, wears the headscarf because she says she respects her religion but does so only when she attends religious functions and government business events.

Another young woman says she wears it because it is wajib and because "it looks good on me." However, when she goes out for activities that will make her sweat, such as hiking and jogging, she discards her tudong.

Adlina, a student, 17, says she faithfully wears it because she is a Muslim and because her parents taught her to. "I always wear it, except at home when there are no visitors."

Aidah, 19, an A-level graduate, has an interesting response. She says she wears it "Just to look good, and sometimes to respect days like Friday. If I'm going to government buildings like MoE, JPD and school, I do wear tudong. I also wear it during religious functions or weddings. But if I'm going elsewhere, I usually don't wear the tudong."

Yet another student, who is 16, says she wears the tudong "only because it is part of my school uniform and only during class at school and at places where it is really compulsory to wear it."

Sarah, a 26-year-old teacher, says she wears a tudong because "it is proper" to do so and because she wants to set a good example for the young women. Salmah, a 42-year-old housewife, says firmly "I wear it because I am a Muslim and I want to be a good example for my children. I wear it everywhere except at home when I am alone or with my family."

These women do not speak for the rest of the Muslim women population here, but their remarks give us an idea that not all Muslim women in Brunei understand that veiling is a commandment in Islam. Allah says in the Quran (Surah An-Nur) "And say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty: they should not display their adornments except what must ordinarily appear thereof; that they should draw their veils over their bosoms and not display their beauty."

Clear guidelines accompany the ruling on hijab and spelled out both in the Quran and in hadith, including when it is all right for the women to take off their hijab.

Maybe not many Bruneian women who realise they are privileged to be able to take up the hijab, but women in many other parts of the world have gone through difficulties in order to cover.

Countless pages have been dedicated to discuss the veiling of women in Islam, and much furore has been raised to defend or defile the simple of piece of cloth that is so laden with values and symbolicism. Very often, the discourse does not advance much from these two questions: Is hijab a symbol of oppression of Muslim women and is it really a religious obligation or merely a cultural fixture?

The speculation about oppression was more or less effectively quashed during the uproar France's Law Against Ostentatious Religious Symbols which banned hijab in schools several years ago. It was hard to reconcile the stereotype of Muslim women being an oppressed lot with the fact that it was women themselves, coming out in thousands, who organised rallies to protest the ban. "My body is my business. Hijab is my right," the veiled women chanted in Paris, London, and in many other major cities in the world, decrying the discrimination against women who cover rather than uncover in the streets. Studies have been conducted to determine whether France was an exception in Europe because reports of unequal treatment of women in hijab continue to surface in many countries.

Britain has been amongst the most friendly towards women in hijab and Ireland has an Equality Authority that acts swiftly to solve any discriminatory acts - which are against the laws. In Nowary, a furniture store fired a Muslim woman in 2004 because she refused to take off her hijab, but the authority moved quickly and the woman was re-employed. In Sweden, which has the largest number of Muslims in the Nordic European countries, little action was taken against the hijab. In Denmark both students and teachers have the right to wear it in schools and universities. The question of hijab for students is not a problem in the German schools but at least two states have banned teachers from wearing the headscarf. Holland has an issue about burqa, the covering that only allows a slit for the eyes.

Turkey is different. Its laws forbid the wearing of hijab in schools, in universities, and in public offices. For instance, the University of Istanbul denied a student, Leyla Sahlin, to pass her examinations in the Faculty of Medicine because she was wearing hijab. In the eyes of the European Court of Justice, Turkey has not violated Article 9 on the freedom of thought, conscience, and religion.

The Brunei Times





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