Keeping their faith

It's gaspingly hot on this Jacksonville sidewalk, and the woman swathed in a head scarf and ankle-length, long-sleeved robe attracts stares of curiosity, derision, sympathy, enmity and suspicion.

Curiosity because it's an outfit seen mostly in newscasts from the Middle East. Derision because some assume she's backward and uneducated. Sympathy because while everyone else is roasting, she must be broiling. Enmity because she's one of "them," the beasts who attacked our country on 9/11. And suspicion because, well, despite the little boy walking along with her, she might be a terrorist, too.

These are typical reactions faced by students, homemakers, educators and executives who are Muslim women observing their religion's tenets of modesty. It's called hijab, the practice of covering the head and body. In some cultures, it's modest Western attire and a head scarf; in the most extreme cases it's the burqa or abaya, a tentlike garment with a veiled slit for the eyes. Which version is correct has been a topic of controversy for as long as there have been Muslims. At a recent Saturday night gathering at the Islamic Center of Northeast Florida, women, ranging from Iman-look-alike Somalis to a self-described full-blooded Irishwoman, were attired in variations of the pants and tunics of India, robes and Western clothing.

"I like wearing hijab," said Sabeen Mansoori, from Pakistan, a student in education at Florida Community College at Jacksonville. "It is my identity, it says something about me without my saying anything at all. It shows I'm Muslim. A requirement of my faith? It's a pleasure."

Like Mansoori, Amtul Hafeez is from Pakistan and has worn traditional head scarf and robe since reaching puberty.

Alia Malik (right) and her daughters, Ramla, 5, and Marwa, 3, kneel in prayer. JON M. FLETCHER/The Times-Union

"Mentally, I feel more secure and more freedom inside," said Hafeez. "People ask, 'You are wearing this in the summer?' It's nothing; we're used to it. Also, it protects you from the sun." Hafeez, a homemaker, wife of a physician and the mother of four, adds that Christian women also wear hijab. "You see no statue or picture of Mary without head covering."

According to the Institute of Islamic Information and Education, Islam has no fixed standard as to the style of dress or type of clothing that Muslims must wear. There are, however, requirements for covering certain parts of the body with garments that are loose, thick enough that the color of skin beneath does not show and that create an overall dignified appearance.

Basically, according to Qur'an and Islamic commentaries, Muslim women should wear hijab when in the company of men other than close family members.

"We can take off hijab in front of our fathers, brothers, sons, uncles -- men to whom we cannot marry," said Alia Malik, wife of the mosque's imam. "With them, we can wear the beautiful dresses and makeup."

She says she gets the most questions when at the beach, especially on hot days.

Second-grader Fatimah Tuz-Zahra Mansoori, 7, enjoys recess with other students at Al-Furqan Academy, an Islamic school off St. Johns Bluff Road. Girls over age 7 are required to wear hijab as part of the school's dress code. JON M. FLETCHER/The Times-Union

"My kids like to fish and play on the sand, and the ladies are asking, 'Are you feeling hot?' I tell them it is part of my life, I feel nothing, and all of them respect me. They understand this is my religion."

All the women at the Islamic Center emphasized that what they wear is a matter of individual choice.

"We have the freedom of choice," said Savana Parveen of India, who chooses to wear traditional hijab. "Why are people so focused on this? American values are similar to Islamic values -- modesty, both are the same. There's no compulsion. Our religion says that you should not force anyone."

Cristina Luciano, an Italian "married to a Muslim man for 19 years and two children," wears slacks, a long-sleeved shirt and a scarf over her head as she helps in the kitchen after the potluck supper. "I wear the scarf when I come to the mosque. A lot of it has to do with cultural influences. Some cultures never wear it, others all wear it. Somali women never wear hijab, but those now living in Yemen wear it. In Montreal, all Muslims wear it."

Many Muslim women started wearing hijab after coming to America. In their native countries, they wore what the women in their families wore. Here, with perhaps 700 Muslim families scattered throughout the city, they give it more thought.

"I used to see of a lot of women in them and wonder why they would be wearing that," said Rakshinda Fiaz from India, who began wearing hijab two years ago. "When I read the Qur'an, which I hadn't before, and read what Allah had asked us to do, I felt very bad about how I used to dress."

Rose Torres, principal at Al-Furqan Academy, comes from a non-Muslim family. She began covering her head when she converted to the religion. JON M. FLETCHER/The Times-Union

Her husband? "He likes it; he supports me," said Fiaz. "I've noticed I do get looks, but it doesn't bother me. I'm doing it for Allah, not for someone else. I'm proud and feel better about myself. I thought it would be hard, but once I decided this is what I had to do, it was easy."

Zeynep Kiyasli, a single working mother, moved here in 1983 from Turkey, a Muslim yet secular country where the head scarf is banned in certain situations. She adopted the long skirt, jacket and head scarf version of hijab after studying the Qur'an in the United States.

"Honestly, when I was living there I was only wearing hijab the month of Ramadan," she said. "This is one duty of Islam, and I am doing it; I'm doing my best."

Her daughter, Isra Erbas, 13, grew up in the States. The eighth-grader at Kirby-Smith wore a contemporary version of hijab -- long skirt, modest knit top and head scarf.

"I do enjoy wearing it, the connection with God, to respect the religion and the culture," she said. "When I go out, I dress like an American girl. I don't wear [hijab] outside; just when I'm at the mosque."

Wearing hijab about town and on campus garners stares, whispered jibes about "bin Laden's wife" and crude gestures from passing motorists. It can also cost a job in the workplace. Kiyasli tried wearing it when working at a Holiday Inn front desk.

"Some people were fine with it," she said. "Some talked like I had some kind of disease. My employer was very kind. He had a meeting with the other employees and tried to explain."

In the end, she left the job and has since become an entrepreneur, marketing Turkish rugs and jewelry.

Several students wear hijab during Rose Torres' algebra class at the Al-Furqan Academy. JON M. FLETCHER/The Times-Union

"It's very, very rough," said Amal Barbari, a Duval County teacher who became a Muslim at the age of 6 when her mother married a Muslim man and converted. Some parents take one look at her in hijab and ask to transfer their children. She said they often drop the request after their children talk about how much fun they have in Mrs. Barbari's room.

Rose Torres, who comes from a non-Muslim family, is convinced wearing hijab kept her from being hired. A veteran of the state's Department of Education in Tallahassee with an MBA, she applied for a position with a Jacksonville school. They were interested, she said, until she showed up in hijab. When her husband was laid off three years later, the same job at the same school opened up and she again applied. With the welfare of the family at stake, her husband told her, "You have to take off your scarf." She did.

"Without the scarf, they hired me on the same day," said Torres, now principal of Al-Furqan Academy, an Islamic school adjacent to the Islamic center. "In hijab, I think they see me as homey, non-educated, not professional, not a business woman."

Whatever challenges living in a non-Muslim country presents, the women are grateful that the city is Jacksonville and the country is America.

"My neighbors are wonderful," said Hafeez. "They respect Qur'an."

All know of less-positive reactions in other cities and countries, such as France, which recently banned the head scarf.

"Thank goodness it hasn't come to that point where you can't do it," said Parveen. "We hope it doesn't happen here. In America we have the freedom. We value American tolerance."

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