Dis-covering Muslim Women: A Survey of Recent Literature on Veiling

III PREFACE This dissertation is a discussion about a collection of articles aimed to give a general view of the materials concerning the veiling practice available in the Internet and in the libraries. The main basis of this work is a database of around sixty articles found in the Internet and around ten essays found in the libraries. The paper material has been consulted in order to have a wider knowledge of the issue and obtain more information about the history, culture and society of the Muslim world. My purpose is to try to understand the ideas and opinions about the veiling phenomenon from different points of view. By analysing the articles, I found out three main ways of thinking: the first regards the ideas of Muslim people who live or experience the veiling practice from the inside. These people can be muhajabi women (women who wear the hijab), converted or not converted women who study the Islamic religion, scholars and so on. They believe the veil to be a protection for women rather than a symbol of oppression. Furthermore, they think that through the scarf a Muslim woman can elevate herself to a superior level and state her identity as a Muslim. The main articles used in this section are: Mackenzie Carpenter, “Muslim Women Say Veil is more about Expression than Oppression”, Post- Gazette, 2001; Al- Muhajabah (nickname for “Woman who wears the hijab”), “On Veiling…”, 2001; Sehmina Jaffer Chopra, “Liberation by the Veil”, 1996; Patricia J. Catto, “The Veil and the Sacred Space.