Have you ever wondered why Qatari women cover themselves in black all the time? I often ask myself this question everytime I see them in a rush to wear their abayas when the groom in every wedding will enter the hall to fetch her bride. So I kept reading about Qatari traditions, and well, based from some Qatar websites, I finally found out the anwer to my almost three-year-old question.
Many Qatari women are requested by their husbands to cover their faces either with the face veil, the nikab/niqab, or with the end of their sheilas, the ghishwa, when they get married. The reason for this is that the husband wants to keep his wife's beauty exclusively for him to see, which if you think about it, yes, in a way, it is quite romantic!
The Qatari women wear the nikab and ghishwa before they get married upon the request of their families or because she simply wants to wear it. But not all Qatari women cover their faces. Most Qatari women just wear a sheila (head scarf) and an abaya (thin black coat) but it doesn't mean they are not religious or traditional. In fact most of them are more religious and traditional than the women who are covered from head to toe. There are many Qatari women who wear the full extent of cover because their families are religious or traditional and requested them to do so, but not because the woman herself is particularly religious or traditional.
Many Qatari women would uncover their faces at school, university, and at work, and cover their faces only if they are going to a busy public place, like the mall. But covering the face in Qatar gives women a higher level of respect and protection from men than uncovered women. If they are covered, it means, they are not to be touched, disrespected or even harassed.
TRIVIA: Qatari women have only started wearing the abaya, sheila and nikab in the past two or so decades. It was after the breakout of the Iranian Revolution in 1979 that the Gulf region became more concerned with the practice of religion and Qatari women started to cover up.
In the seventies and early eighties, many Qatari women actually did not practice covering up! Many of them who are now in their forties and fifties recall that they did not cover their hair before and they could go out wearing trousers and knee-length skirts.
If Qatar will remain open to foreign investors especially the US and Europe, then sooner, even the practice of covering up will be affected. Maybe every Qatari women will be free to wear what they want without abayas and sheilas. It will be good for most women now who are liberated but to the those who stick to traditions, this will be a major problem in their families, and their faith in their religion.
