UNE > News and Events > Browse by article > Beach prompts study of Muslim modesty

Next Ladies win Battle of the 'Loo July 23, 2004  

Previous Witches: myths obscure the reality July 21, 2004 

Beach prompts study of Muslim modesty

July 22, 2004

A scholar from the University of New England has investigated apparent differences between Muslim men and women in their observance of Qur’anic injunctions on modesty.

Toni Tidswell said her inquiry had begun after a day spent on an Australian beach, where she had observed a party of Muslim beachgoers: the men dressed only in board shorts and the women fully clothed from head to ankle (including the veil, or hijab). Dressed in this way, both the men and the women were swimming in the surf.

Ms Tidswell, a postgraduate student in UNE’s School of Classics, History and Religion, discussed this anomaly at a national Religious Studies conference last weekend. “I was deeply moved by the commitment of the women, who accepted the restriction of movement (and perhaps of enjoyment) in the surf with so much material around their bodies,” she said.

In her lecture at the conference (the annual meeting of the Australian Association for the Study of Religions) she drew on several passages in the Qur’an to argue that the injunctions on modesty of dress and behaviour applied equally to women and men. Her investigation led her to suggest that the apparent anomaly in dress arose from a general but false belief that the sight of men’s bodies did not excite sexual desire in women.

She discussed the story, as related in the Qur’an, of Joseph and Zulaykha (the woman called “Potiphar’s wife” in the Bible), showing that this story includes a sympathetic analysis of a woman’s overwhelming sexual desire at the sight of male beauty. “In a way, Zulaykha (who attempts unsuccessfully to seduce Joseph) can be considered the more honest of the two characters,” she said. “Although she is misguided and sinful in giving way to her desire, nevertheless Joseph’s beauty has drawn her in and she is honest about her desire.”

Ms Tidswell concluded that the story provided the context for a deeper understanding of the Qur’anic injunctions on modesty of dress. While the men on the beach may well have been complying with the “letter” of those injunctions, they could have been unaware of their “spirit”, she said. “I wonder if those Muslim men understood that their bodies were beautiful not just to the women in their own family, but potentially to others on the beach? Or have the Muslim men embraced the Australian beach culture with gusto while still adhering to their literal interpretation of the Qur’anic passage on modesty?”

Toni Tidswell attended the Study of Religions conference, held this year at the University of Western Sydney, as the Charles Strong Trust Junior Lecturer for 2004. Her PhD research concerns the portrayal of women in the Qur’an and Hebrew scriptures.

Media contact: Toni Tidswell, School of Classics, History and Religion, UNE, Armidale (02) 6773 3532 or Jim Scanlan, Public Relations, UNE, Armidale (02) 6773 3049.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at July 22, 2004 03:30 PM