July 27, 2005

Should Muslims cast aside hijabs and beards?
Amir Taheri urges Muslims to stop "using their bodies as advertising space for al-Qaeda" by wearing hijabs, beards and Taleban-style clothes which, he says, have nothing to do with Islam: "Muslims who wear such clothes in the belief that it shows their piety, in most cases, are unwittingly giving succour to a brand of Islamist extremism." Send us your view using the form below

I came to England in 1972 from Uganda. There were Muslims living in Leicester, and it was rare to see women wearing hijabs or seeing lots of men with beards and white robes. Then all of a sudden, there were lots of women wearing hijabs and men wearing beards and white robes. It seems to me that this sudden change was caused by some ideological change in the outlook of these people. This questions the oft-quoted argument about "freedom". If it was a quesion of freedom, then we would expect the law of averages to apply; however, here there is something more going on. Ashok Dattani, London

I am a Saudi woman living in London and I am so happy to live and work without wearing hijabs or yashmaqs. I can never understand Muslim women in this country who feel the need to wear medieval dress. Women who wear traditional dress in a country like Saudi Arabia have no choice; women who wear it by choice can be nothing more than fanatics in my opinion. You can be Muslim and you do not have to dress like a circus tent. Amina Al-Gahtani, London

In the five years that I lived in the Middle East, young Saudis, to avoid referring to anyone directly by name, would mime stroking imaginary long beards when talking about someone whom they considered a fundamentalist. In the very heartland of Islam the way you dress and present yourself physically is a crucial sign of your political and religious allegiences. I think that it is impossible to dismiss wearing a hijab or long beard and short gown as having no other significance than showing yourself to be extra pious. In my experience, those Muslims who did not make such a fuss about their external appearances were usually the more genuinely devout. Dene Croxford, Southall, Middx

Many Muslims living in Britain and elsewhere in the World who do not wear hijabs or beards, including me, lead a perfectly peaceful and God-fearing lives and they do not feel lesser Muslims because of that. I think people who think wearing a hijab or beard makes them good or better Muslims are, to put mildly, simply wrong. Khalid Abbas, London