Media Mention: It's Time to Understand the Islamic Veil
The Threads tagline is "Celebrating diversity through design." The Threads team doesn't just do this in creating and selling our clothes; we try to live our lives in a way that celebrates diversity as well. Celebrating diversity, however, is not always straightforward; it sometimes means celebrating something that makes us uncomfortable and expanding our understanding of that thing.
Mom recently contributed to a piece in Sojourners magazine on the Muslim veil and how to understand it. Her contribution to the article was part of the launch of Mirror on the Veil, a book that includes a collection of personal essays on the hijab and on veiling, one of which is Mom's. We've included in our blog post the excerpt referencing Mom's opinion, and you can scroll down to read the complete article and to buy the book!
Rev. Nell Green of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship has lived in Muslim-majority countries for much of her professional life. Now back in the U.S., she frequently speaks about Muslim women to Christian audiences with the aim of teaching sensitivity and interfaith understanding. She is aware that in some parts of the Muslim world, women are forced to cover themselves, and that cultural traditions sometimes overshadow the freedom that Islam itself provides in matters of faith. However, she is also aware of the discomfort that Christian audiences often have when they see the hijab, and part of her work is to help them discover points of similarity between various religious practices. “Hijab is an open sign or designation of a particular faith,” she told Sojourners. “But Christians should remember that they also have many obvious expressions of faith, whether it is a cross or a T-shirt or a bumper sticker.” In addition to her work with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, Green is the co-owner of a clothing design company, Threads by Nomad, that helps women celebrate diversity through design and provides a sustainable income for refugees. This effort helps, among other things, teach about clothing differences across cultures. “There is no one-size-fits-all idea about hijab,” she said. “For some it is tradition, and for some it is an issue of faith. For others it is a result of societal pressure. It would be unfair to categorize all Muslim women as falling into only one category.”
Read the complete Sojourners article here and buy the book to which Mom contributed here.
