Shoppers walk by a shop called Next in one of the beautiful new malls in Jeddah. Shopping is a popular pasttime for many Saudi women, a large percentage of whom do not work outside the home.
Always a shock to me to see women wearing these full black cloacks. I am currenty reading a book called "the veiled women of Islam" (in French "les voilées de l'Islam") written by Moroccan journalist Hinde Taarji and I find it a most useful read: I'm discovering how the veil in its various forms and the whole notion of what is appropriate for a good Muslim woman to do or not to do can be extremely different from one Muslim country to the next depending on the local traditions. So much for the totally false idea that there would be only ONE proper way to behave. Once more I find out that all this (like other customs and traditions elsewhere) has far more to do with historical traditions than with a single direction given by God.
Always a shock to me to see women wearing these full black cloacks. I am currenty reading a book called "the veiled women of Islam" (in French "les voilées de l'Islam") written by Moroccan journalist Hinde Taarji and I find it a most useful read: I'm discovering how the veil in its various forms and the whole notion of what is appropriate for a good Muslim woman to do or not to do can be extremely different from one Muslim country to the next depending on the local traditions. So much for the totally false idea that there would be only ONE proper way to behave. Once more I find out that all this (like other customs and traditions elsewhere) has far more to do with historical traditions than with a single direction given by God.
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