Culture Shock! Egypt - A Survival Guide to Customs and Etiquette

Social Interactions 107

difference from others. Wearing
the cloak or overgarment also
signalled that these women
should not be annoyed or given
trouble. Later, the act of veiling
was legitimised in the Qur’an.
Interpretation of how veiling
should be implemented in a
modern society is a matter
disputed throughout the Islamic world. It ranges from the
mandated requirements in Saudi Arabia and Iran to personal
preference in many other parts of the world.
Not all women in Egypt wear the veil. Veiling can be
anything from a large head scarf, pinned under the chin,
to a long cloak, head and face covered, allowing only the
eyes to show through a slit in the face covering, with gloves
and socks. While this type of veiling does occur in Egypt, it
is quite rare in the population as a whole. Among the few
women who cover themselves completely, the colour of the
veil may vary from black to lavender. Most Egyptian women
who veil wear a large head scarf secured under the chin that
falls over the shoulders in front and back. This veil may be
white or coloured. Can you imagine how they could work in
the fields covered in a full veil?

A Veiled Experiment

Reasons abound for wearing the veil in Egypt—“I wear the veil to show

I am a practising Muslim.”; “I wear the veil to be inconspicuous.”;

“I am wearing a veil today because I didn’t want to fi x my hair.”;

“Women wear the veil more now than they did in the past because

the economy is not good and women cannot afford to go to the

beauty shop as often as they used to.” Among the reasons I fi nd most

intriguing are the ones relating to being inconspicuous or ‘becoming

invisible’. Some of my female students decided to try an experiment to

see if they were treated differently when they wore a scarf than when

they did not. They found that by wearing a scarf veil, they truly could

walk among crowds in the most frequented tourist areas and basically

become invisible. Wearing the same clothes as before but without a

veil, they returned to a popular tourist area with shops, and hawkers

and the usual gauntlet of people tried to get their attention. With their

heads covered, most of the hassling seemed to disappear.

For anyone interested in looking

at the reference to the act of

veiling in the Qur’an, see Surah

XXXIII, verse 59. You should note

that several translations of the

Qur’an exist. Some translations

are more acceptable to Islamic

scholars than others. However,

this passage does not vary

too much from one version

to another.