Traditional Scarves Point of Debate

Sixth-grade teacher Amaarah DeCuir has worn a head covering since becoming a Muslim five years ago. “I wear it because I’m supposed to,” she said. “I believe my religion states women are to cover their body except for face, hands and feet.”

About the same time, communications specialist Asma Ramadan stopped wearing her head scarf. Ramadan, whose tightly coiled tresses cascade over her shoulders, believes Islam’s command for modesty is discharged by a woman’s behavior, by “carrying herself as a lady.”

DeCuir, 27, and Ramadan, 26, represent dueling forces tugging at Islam’s heartstrings: the call of tradition and the clamor to be modern.

And nowhere is that tug of war more evident than in the increasingly robust debate over whether the hijab, the Islamic head covering, is mandatory. Though many young Muslims don the scarf, and its acceptance in the workplace has grown, the hijab is sometimes a division within the Muslim community.

As Muslims celebrate the holy fasting month of Ramadan, this debate illustrates the diversity of views within Islam, with some Muslims concerned that there’s been a misplaced emphasis on the scarf as an indicator of personal piety and communal identity.

“Any time something physical rather than someone’s behavior becomes the basis for judgment, there is a lot of danger,” said Manal Omar, 24, director of development at the Washington-based American Muslim Council. “Though I strongly believe it’s required, I would hate to see our community overemphasizing this, especially since it’s a woman’s choice.”

Islam has five fundamental requirements: Ramadan fasting, believing that the only god is Allah and that Prophet Mohammed is Allah’s messenger, praying five times daily, giving to charity, and making a pilgrimage to Mecca if possible.

Still, most of the largely male Islamic jurists interpret the Koran as mandating a head covering for women even though Islam’s holy book does not explicitly state this.

Hijab “is part of the protection of the family and family values,” said Taha Jabir Al Alwani, chairman of the Fiqh Council of North America, an Islamic law body. “We don’t like to see in society any woman show herself in a way that attracts husbands of other wives.”

Some Islamic scholars dispute that interpretation. “It’s an inference on the part of Islamic jurists to say that, because modesty in the prophet’s day meant covering the hair, that it is therefore immodest for women today to leave hair uncovered,” said Imad ad Dean Ahmad, president of the Minaret of Freedom Institute in suburban Bethesda.

DeCuir, the teacher in suburban Herdon, Va., has Muslim friends who cover their hair and others who don’t. “That’s fine. That’s between them and Allah,” she said. “It’s not a point of contention. I’d just say it’s a difference.”

Apart from the religious obligation, DeCuir and others said they like the hijab because it elicits respect, shows pride for their religion and gives a sense of empowerment.

“It’s amazing how different people treat you, especially men,” DeCuir said. “There is a sense of respect I get from men, and not just Muslim men. I don’t get whistling when I’m walking down the street. I don’t get inappropriate comments.”

Even Ramadan, who gave up her head covering, believes it can work to women’s advantage. “It’s feminist to wear hijab because you are covering your sexual aura,” she said. “So men tend to look at you on an equal level.”

Ramadan emigrated at age 3 from Libya and wore a scarf through high school and at Georgetown University, where for a while she was the only woman in hijab. But “crude stares” and hostility from non-Muslims made her forgo the scarf.

During a 1996 bout with depression, Sherri Fawzi, 34, took off her head covering as “a form of therapy for me for a while [because] it was a burden at certain times.

“Even though now I don’t wear a piece of material on my head, I’m very God-conscious and passionate about how I practice my religion,” said Fawzi, a convert to Islam who has two children and runs a preschool.

Omar, of the Muslim Council, “feeling an inner spirituality that it was the right thing to do,” has worn the scarf since she was 16. Still, she gets frustrated by the misperceptions it causes, even among Muslims, that she is backward, repressed or an English-challenged foreigner.

“It can be very condescending,” she said. “I’ve had times when people spoke extra slowly to me.”

Many young women say they resist it because they want to look pretty--natural enough in America’s cosmetically conscious, liposuctioned society.

“It’s my weakness. I wake up in the morning and want to dress my hair and put on makeup and nice clothes,” sighed Rania Al Mashat, 24, an Egyptian working on her doctorate in economics at the University of Maryland.

Mashat, who prays regularly and dresses modestly, was seriously considering wearing the scarf after returning from Mecca last spring. But she was barely off the plane when she had second thoughts.

“I was walking in Dulles Airport and I saw all these different clothes and colors, and I felt, ‘I’m not ready for this commitment,’ ” she said. “I keep on struggling with it. This is one of biggest issues among the younger generation.”