The recent debate over a Muslim student banned from wearing a face veil at the American University in Cairo highlighted the East-West chasm over the much-debated Muslim attire.
The right to don a hijab, the Muslim head scarf, has created a storm in European countries such as France and Great Britain, pitting Muslims and non-Muslim against each other in the name of freedom.
In Gaza, the hijab has even become an issue of life and death. Palestinian female journalists have been threatened with murder if they continued to display a bare head.
But a hijab is not only a sign of religious fervency, and contrary to Western perception, not all religious Muslim women are dressed uniformly.
A more learned Muslim will point out the subtle differences between the abaya, the jilbab, the galabiyya and the chador; or between a regular hijab, a patterned one, a burka and a niqab.
The world of Muslim fashion is more colorful and diverse than meets the eye, and Muslim women are finding creative ways to stay fashionable, without compromising their religious beliefs.
The jilbab, for example, is a popular item of clothing among Muslim women. The unicolored overcoat is mentioned in the Quran as the desired dress for women, covering the entire body from neck to feet.
Hani Taha, the manager of Taha Style on the bustling Salah A-Din Street in eastern Jerusalem holds up two almost identical jilbabs.
Identical? Taha laughs.
“This is the regular one and it doesn’t cost much. About $50,” Taha says, displaying a dark brown jilbab.
At first glance, the heavy-built Taha looks more likely to be a car mechanic than a clothes salesman. But he delicately handles a cream-colored jilbab on a coat hanger in his other hand and props the overcoats opposite each other.
A Muslim woman with a taste for flare and a well-lined pocket will surely make a bee-line for the cream jilbab, which costs three times as much as the brown one, Taha says.
“It’s the name of the company, the quality and the design,” he explains.
Muslim girls can certainly be fashionable and maintain the modesty required by the religion, says Naim Qasim, 30, a Muslim Arab clothes designer in the Israeli Arab town, Tira.
A male Muslim in the fashion industry is a rarity, he admits, and his profession often raises eyebrows. But he lives and breathes the industry, insisting the profession chose him and not vice versa.
“The girls jazz up their clothes,” he says. “There are plenty of girls who have good taste, they make combinations and try out different things. They can put a few items together and create a new style, or tie their hair back in a different way.”
The latest trend in Muslim fashion is to wear lots of layers and colors, he says.
Taha has two cabinets in his shops displaying the latest collection of hijabs.
The regular and more “conventional” hijabs are made of a length of material in one low-key color.
But his shelves are also lined with dazzling scarves of soft pastel colors, bright oranges, floral designs and of various fabrics.
Taha displays a sponge box with hundreds of beaded pins, carefully selecting the color to match each scarf.
These days, Taha says, the hijab is no longer a symbol of piety.
“Girls wear the hijab as a fashion item,” he says.
“They like to look good and they want the boys to look at them. They want to be fashionable.”
Naim agrees that hijabs have become trendy, especially in eastern Jerusalem where the Muslims are more observant than in Arab villages in Israel’s north.
Some of the girls may not feel comfortable without a hijab, so they opt for a stylish head covering, which is both modest and flattering.
“The color doesn’t matter to me,” says Aya, a resident of eastern Jerusalem. “What matters is that God told us to wear it.”
But asked how many hijabs she has at home, Aya laughs with embarrassment.
“About 30,” she says. “This brown one is my favorite.”
“I don’t think these colorful scarves can be called hijabs,” Qasim says. “This terminology doesn’t work with me. A hijab is supposed to block the view of something, and a jilbab is supposed to cover the body so you won’t be able to see its shape. But today’s girls are going for a new style. They wear things tighter. It’s still modest and covers them up but it’s tailored and attractive.”
“These days are hard days for the Islamic dress,” says Taha. His wife is one of the few women in Jerusalem who wear the full niqab, or face veil.
“It’s becoming fashion. It’s not religious.”
Muslim women, he laments, no longer know the meaning of wearing Muslim attire.
Lana is in the minority on Salah A-Din Street in that she chooses not wear the hijab.
“It’s not fashionable. It’s all to do with religion and tradition,” she says. “Everyone has their freedom. When it’s time to wear it, I will wear it.”