Why don’t men cover up?

Wa alykum as-salaam,

The only time where men did not cover up was in the requirements for Hajj, where a man’s awrah is different to women, but regardless of that fact, men still covered as much as women. Historically, men and women both covered up.

I mean, look at Saudi bros:

I mean, it really is only in very recent history that Muslim men began uncovering their hair, or start wearing shorts and that sort of stuff.

I could attach other pictures, like the Touareg men, or just historical paintings of Muslim men throughout history, but, at the end of the day, it was the interaction between the West. and their clothing styles that yielded a shift in male perspectives on what was required of them. The fact that only two sheets are required for men during Hajj provided a method for rulers who wanted to ape the West the sort of Islamic backing in order to shift their choice in fashion.

Furthermore, if you look at any society, women’s clothing is far less susceptible to change, while men’s clothing reflects the dominance of a certain culture, especially in our globalized world. So, while men across the world wear suits, women from Nigeria to Japan still wear traditional clothing at a far higher frequency then their male counterparts.

Granted, there are exceptions for men, such as the Gulf countries, but by-and-large, men’s clothing styles do not reflect the same patterns of dress as women’s do. I could continue writing on this issue, but it involves the dynamics of power relations vis-a-vis cultural hegemony and other various other socio-political points of pressure, in short, a very liberal artsy methodology that simply dresses up casual observation in academic language.

As far as women praying behind men, I will answer this question later in the week, but there are multiple levels to that question, but I will simply say this about this issue (right now), there are two discursive structures that confuse me, especially within the feminist discourse as it concerns men, because there is a rather large and plentiful literature of women underlining how they are tired and annoyed at men leering at them, let alone the far more serious and egregious forms of harassment that men continuously do, and then, when it comes to the issue of gender separation in the Mosque, this discursive structure suddenly disappears.

I think there is an issue within these frameworks, and as a result I support gender separation in the Mosque, 100%, but that does not mean in any way shape or form that I condone or support women having less access to the Mosque or worse facilities, if you fail to distinguish this, then well, I’ll be upset, and a little annoyed, and complain to my mom, who doesn’t understand what I do on Tumblr or that I write opinions on top of the academic work I have to do. Anyways.

As far as women being a “leader in Islam” I’m not sure what that means. If you’re talking about religious scholars, I’m sorry, there are a billion of them. I’ve started looking into Ingrid Mattson, do you realize she went to University of Chicago? Do you realize how ridiculous of a school that is for Islamic Studies?

Do you realize that Al-Azhar University, the most prestigious Islamic Institution of Learning in the Sunni Tradition has a female Dean?

Anyways, I have written about this issue many times, and if you would like to go to my index page, you can find what I have written on that subject.

In fact, at my index page, you would also find my responses to other questions in your response, such as how the idea that it is permissible to beat your wife in Islam is not true, which you can read here, furthermore, the idea that sex is involved in that issue, is also, not true, and since this question usually follows, please read this where I write about how the idea that men can have sex with women other then their wives is also, not found in The Qur’an or Sunnah.

Anyone who says that The Qur’an and Hadith are sexist, I just… I don’t know what to say, honestly, because it is such a ridiculous argument. However, it is perfectly possible that, as a man, I do not see these things, but, the amazing women in my life, as well as my sisters-in-Islam seem to disagree, quite strongly.

Finally, may I make one suggestion? Don’t Google things like that. You’re never going to get a proper response on an issue like that via Google, and I’d suggest reading the actual source material, and just because people say things, doesn’t mean its true.

For example, when the West first interacted with Muslims they thought that they worshiped the god Apollo, but then they thought we worshiped The Prophet Muhammad as some sort of perversion of Christianity, ergo we were referred to as “Mohammedans.”

I’m not talking “youtube” comments, I’m talking the most important scholars in Western traditions wrote these ideas. Take Guibert de Nogent who wrote that Muhammad died “through excessive drunkenness and that his corpse was eaten by pigs on a dung-hill, explaining why the flesh of this animal and wine are prohibited.”

If you fast forward to someone like Washington Irving, his racism and stupidity knew no bounds, where his work Mahomet and His Successors, he wrote that The Prophet had “mental hallucinations,” which “continued more or less to bewilder him with species of monomania to the end of his career, and that he died in the delusive belief of his mission as a prophet.”

These academic sources are still used today. I’m not joking. They are, and yet, we wonder why people misunderstand Muslims and Islam.

So, please, be careful with what you read, and go to trusted sources, and if you’d like to have a sort of “reading list” I’d be more than happy to suggest some titles for you, insha Allah.

I hope this answers your questions, or at least, begins to, but if you have any other questions, please do not hesitate to ask me, but also, please go to my index page, where you can find answers to many of your questions, insha Allah.

I pray this reaches you and your family in the best of health and Iman, insha Allah.