S
SAVINGRACE
Guest
There is group of old and very old women of European descent (migrants) who attend my Church. They would not be caught dead without a mantilla veil inside the Church. Some look down on us who don’t cover our hair in Church whilst others don’t have a problem. Maybe that’s the same with Muslims.I suspect that that site is oversimplifying that fatwa that was given (whether that’s intentional or not, I don’t know). That is a common view, though, that women and men should not post pictures of themselves online. As for the view that women shouldn’t display their faces at all to non-mahrams [males who aren’t relatives/spouses], that’s also a common view. That would be the viewpoint that says that the niqab is obligatory.
I’ve met some sisters who believe that the niqab is obligatory; they wear it out of a deep sense of conviction and that can be a beautiful thing. They wear it not out of fear of men, but fear of Allah azza wa jal (which, by the way, fear of God is different kind of fear).
I think there is considerable ignorance in the community in general when it comes to niqabs, hijabs etc. We go by hearsay or make our interpretation of what we read on blogs/media etc.
Ironically that is the same kind of research that many anti-catholics do too.