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The hijab means “to cover” and refers to any style of head covering traditionally worn by Muslim women. The full niqab covers the face and eyes, while the half niqab leaves the eyes uncovered. The burqa and pak chador are alternative versions of the hijab worn in other Muslim countries. The niqab may not have originated from Islam, but from early pre-Islamic Persian societies and Christian women in fractured Rome.
Among almost all Arabic dialects, hijab simply means “to cover.” In terms of clothing, the hijab generally refers to any style of head covering traditionally worn by Muslim women. According to Islamic scholarship, the term hijab can also mean morality, privacy, and modesty. A Saudi hijab, or niqab, differs from other hijabs by the addition of pieces of cloth that cover or cover the eyes of Saudi women. Despite religious doctrines derived from religious writings such as the Qur’an, not all Muslim women in Saudi Arabia wear a full hijab.
Women in Islamic cultures may wear various types of hijabs. The best known is the full niqab, or gulf-style hibab, which covers both the face and the eyes of the wearer. Designed to dismiss personality or suggestions of femininity, the full niqab features a band tied around the top of the head and a long sampler that covers the rest of the face. It also usually includes several transparent veils over the eyes. The veils are attached to the top band in a way that allows the wearer to flip them over when necessary.
The half niqab is another common form of Saudi hijab. Usually made from a single piece of cloth with elastic bands or cloth ties to keep it secure around the face, the half niqab is less modest than the full form. Women who choose this type of face covering generally leave their eyes uncovered and may even choose to reveal a small portion of their forehead. Contemporary Muslim men often prefer their wives to wear the half niqab, particularly in Western countries, as they believe that this style of hijab may draw less attention than the full face version.
In other Muslim countries, women often wear an alternative version of the Saudi hijab. Afghan women may appear in public wearing the burqa, a long dress that covers them from head to toe with a piece of cloth covering the eyes. In Pakistan, women generally wear a pak chador, which consists of two triangular pieces of cloth tied together to hide most of the face. Muslim women in many Western countries also wear a form of hajib such as the khimer, a half circle of cloth that can be worn in conjunction with a traditional half hijab.
Although worn by Muslim women since the Arab nation conquered the Middle East, it is widely believed in intellectual circles that the niqab did not originate from Islam. Many scholars believe that Christian women in fractured Rome during the Byzantine Empire wore a face similar to the Saudi hijab. Additional anthropological evidence also suggests that similar coverings appeared in early pre-Islamic Persian societies. Despite this evidence, many scholars conclude that these do not represent an early form of the Saudi hijab due to the lack of veiling covering for the men’s eyes.
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