Costume Capers

A Hui man - totally Chinese, and totally Muslim.

G'day mates and matesses!

With Eid ul-Adha just around the corner, people everywhere turn their thoughts to what to wear for the celebrations. Indeed, at the masjid the other day I couldn't help but try on a very nice shalwar kameez that I noticed was for sale. I was ultimately put off by the hefty price tag, but it got me thinking about the topic of modern muzzie fashion......

Now, Australia is basically a nation of immigrants, each ethnic group bringing its own culture and clothing. From the aforementioned shalwar kameez to thawbs, jalabiyas, kufis and turbans, Muslims from different countries proudly display the ornaments of their unique identity.

But what about those Muslims from a non-Islamic culture? This invariably means those who are reverts/converts, or born Muslims whose parents come from a background with little or no historical Islamic tradition. For instance, one may be a Scotsman who has accepted Islam in his twenties, or somebody raised as a Muslim whose Bronx-born mother and father entered the deen back in the days of Malcolm X.

The sartorial habits of these people can be said to fall into three general categories:

1. Absolutely no change from what they would 'typically' wear as a non-Muslim.

2. What they would 'typically' wear as a non-Muslim, with the rejection of certain items (eg shorts and miniskirts) and/or the addition of certain accessories, such as a skullcap for men or a hijab for women.

3. Adoption of the dress of a 'traditionally' Islamic culture.

It's funny to consider the things that one would 'typically' wear. For instance, in this country a Pakistani (or any suitably 'brown-looking') guy would attract no attention in a t-shirt and jeans, and if he were to wear a shalwar kameez as ordinary street attire people might go 'hmm' but basically accept it as normal. But if an East Asian guy dons a Chinese hanfu or Mao jacket, or a Japanese hakama, people think that he's performing for some cultural festival!

Not that there's no good reason for this. The SK is still a commonly worn everyday item back in Pakistan (and to a certain extent so is the Mao jacket in China, but hey, that's just how people's minds work), but the hanfu and hakama have all but died out for everything but formal events. This is symptomatic of the homogenizing effect of globalization, as traditional aesthetics are sidelined - the Mao jacket itself was only adopted in the early 20th century!

For 'New World Muslims' we have the potential to fall into either one of two extremes. The use of 'Western' clothing by people from a non-western background (eg Chinese reverts), even if 'Muslimized' via a hijab or skullcap can arguably be said to merely further reinforce the cultural hegemony of the globalizing West, as difference is slowly but inexorably eliminated.

On the other hand, I personally find it quite tragic how so many reverts enthusiastically ape 'traditional' Muslim fashion to the point of cariacature. From massive, pointy-headed turbans to abayas and burkhas, they leave people wondering what they find so incredibly deficient about their own cultures. Rather than a genuine expression of diversity, this merely comes across as another form of assimilation.

Thus, it can be said that the issue is how to retain uniqueness and originality without alienating the non-Muslim mainstream or resorting to cultural appropriation. 'New World Muslims' can try to convince themselves all they like about how they are just trying to follow the sunnah, but as long as they keep walking around the place like characters from A Thousand and One Nights, Islam will forever be regarded as something foreign and strange, a religion of the 'other', never to be integrated into western society. Such people uphold a crystallized and artificial view of what a real Muslim 'should' look like, when the fundamental sunnah in regards to clothing is simply modesty.

'New World Muslims' are in a unique position to act as trailblazers for both fashion and the normalization of Islam in western (or eastern, or northern, or southern.....) societies. They have the potential to serve as a bulwark against the homogenizing effect of globalization whilst opening their arms to modernity.

Now, I still wear a shirt, suit jacket and trousers to work, but hopefully one day every Muslim in Australia, Britain, France, Japan or Korea will be able to wear an outfit that says "I am of the country that I live in, I am of the culture that I belong to and I am of the religion that I practice" - all at the same time.

Eid mubarak in advance!