by ASMA KHALID
American Muslim women discuss their choice to unveil; many now wear the headscarf only for prayers. Featured are Heba Elzawahry, Sana Javed, Noorain Khan, and Kim Joseph. Hear more voices in the feature below.
For centuries, Islamic scholars have said that Muslim women must cover their hair. But many Muslim women don’t.
There are about 1 million Muslim women in America; 43 percent of them wear headscarves all the time, according to the Pew Research Center. About 48 percent — or half a million women — don’t cover their hair, the survey found.
The split between women who’ve covered and women who’ve never done so has existed for decades. But now a generation of women is taking off the headscarf, or hijab.
Although the scarf is a public, sometimes even political symbol, women say the choice to unveil is highly private, emotional and religious.
NPR for more
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