This project is beginning to meet my expectations and dreams for discovering how your faith affects how one dresses and/or acts. This week a question that came up was, how does Islam affect clothing choices?  In the Quran, a central idea around clothing has to do with modesty. In the Quran, modesty is described as, 

 

“Say to the believing men that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty: 

That will make for greater purity for them:

And Allah is well acquainted with all that they do

And tell the believing women to lower their gaze and guard their chastity, and not to reveal their adornments except what normally appears. Let them draw their veils over their chests, and not reveal their ˹hidden˺ adornments3 except to their husbands, their fathers, their fathers-in-law, their sons, their stepsons, their brothers, their brothers’ sons or sisters’ sons, their fellow women, those ˹bondwomen˺ in their possession, male attendants with no desire, or children who are still unaware of women’s nakedness. Let them not stomp their feet, drawing attention to their hidden adornments. Turn to Allah in repentance all together, O believers, so that you may be successful”(Surah 24:30).

 

At the beginning, I thought modesty meant a sense of decorum on how to present yourself in a respectable manner. The challenge is to find a balance between presenting yourself in a way that shows your identity but is not overly sexual. In the Quran, it does not mention one specific gender but the Hadith specifies certain etiquette for clothing. Next, the focus shifted from the original text to practice, for example, Interpretations and the Hadith, the words of the Prophets. It talks specifically about what type of clothing men should wear and how they should act. For example, it states that men should not wear gold jewelry but should only wear silver. This builds upon Quran Surah Al-Noor, which talks about the idea that there is a certain level of respect both genders need to uphold, like being humble. To men, the idea of gold destroys their integrity. For women, wearing a hijab depends on how religious you are, what style of Hijab you wear, and how you want to be represented in the Hijab. 

These few key ideas revealed that my structure for this weekend was perfect because it mirrors how I used to learn about Islam. I would go to religious school on Sunday but I was talking about the Quran, and Islamic principles with my parents throughout the week. I think it was impactful to see that process repeat itself now. In the later part of the week, I interviewed three different people, my sister’s two best friends and my Sunday school teacher. I think that was really impactful to see how my research sort of culminates in these conversations with these religious people. When I went to Sunday school, the teacher talked about clothing as an idea that it can not shift but the principle of not showing the shape of the body. However, I went to ask my sister’s best friend and both of them continuously said modesty was a fluid idea that can not be one definition but it is a definition the individual makes for themselves. It was impactful to see me ask the same question but all three said answers that were so different but almost the same. After my initial interviews, my understanding of Islam is actually false, it is based on everything I’ve been told throughout my life. I think overall my expectation shifted from wanting a clear-cut answer to hoping to find my own answer through hearing these different perspectives of what modesty is and how different aspects of the Quran and Islam are more or less important.