Read my lips?

October 20, 2006 2:30 PM

Are muslim women who wear a veil or burka allowed to remove it to be lip read by deaf people?

Just wondering as it all a considerable topic for debate in the UK at the moment

posted by A189Nut to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (8 answers total)

This is a non-issue. There is a special dispensation for the deaf Muslims and for those that are in their immediate family. It depends on the sect or congregation, but deafness is usually dealt with in the same ways as any other physical impediment. The imam will usually say it is not sinful to help those who are deaf, but it is sinful if it stops the Muslim from practicing prayers or other activities. It is also not sinful (to hadith) for deaf people to seek help from women who would otherwise be enveiled, unless it is not in aid but is in fact salacious.
posted by parmanparman at 2:39 PM on October 20, 2006

I think it's important to make clear that there's no single "Muslim" ruling or single "Muslim" policy. They vary as much as Jews and Christians, if not even more.

Consider the variation between Orthodox Jews and Reform Jews, or between Southern Baptists and Catholics and Presbyterians, and then realize that there's at least as much variation among Muslims, in different places at different times.

Which means that your question can't be answered without more information: What muslim woman, where?

The ruling will be a lot different for a woman in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan than it will be for my friend's wife in Houston.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 2:48 PM on October 20, 2006

Except in certain very conservative Muslim countries, Muslim women can do whatever they want with their burkas or headscarevs. The degree to which they cover themselves is a matter of personal choice, desire to publicly display religious/political beliefs and subjective interpretation of the Koran.
posted by croutonsupafreak at 4:40 PM on October 20, 2006

Assuming you're talking about the niqab uproar, my second hand understanding is that in places where the niqab is part of the dominant culture (Saudi Arabia, for instance), it's a non-issue, because women are not supposed to talk to non-mahram men anyway, whether or not they are wearing niqab. So if they are talking to a man, then they should be able to remove the niqab in front of them.

(I suppose this raises the question of whether you can talk to such a man in a mixed setting, but that I don't know).
posted by spaceman_spiff at 5:25 PM on October 20, 2006

Seconding that it's a personal choice - to wear the niqab, and to take it off. There is no Koranical edict to wear a niqab.
posted by goo at 7:22 PM on October 20, 2006

I should clarify that my comment is meant in the context of cultural edicts, not Koranic edicts.
posted by spaceman_spiff at 8:18 PM on October 20, 2006

Which culture are you talking about? Mainstream Muslims in the UK? Marginalized Muslims in the UK? The Middle East (which country)? The US? Nigeria? Afghanistan?
posted by croutonsupafreak at 10:12 PM on October 20, 2006

Croutonsupafreak: assuming your question is directed to me, as I said above, "in places where the niqab is part of the dominant culture (Saudi Arabia, for instance)". I propose that Muslims in the US and UK who wear the niqab are most likely adhering (in that respect) to the cultural norms of places like Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia where the garment is common.
posted by spaceman_spiff at 4:43 AM on October 21, 2006