Demystifying the Orient: Imperative of Veil and Muslim Women’s Emanicipation

The hegemonic discourse produced by West theorized veil as an imperative of Muslim women’s oppression. This discourse further imprinted the binary of ‘us’ and ‘they’ aftermath 9/11. The discourse produced multifaceted interpretations to other the theocracy of its practitioners and sympathizes with the barbaric alterity of its followers. The controversy of interpreting and staging the otherness West attempts to protect the Muslim women from the oppression of misogynistic Muslim men and their religion. The current study deals with the dynamics of the discourse of otherness by posing the question of veil as an imperative of oppression or emancipation. To examine the factors of misrepresentation of Islam and Muslim women this research strengthens its argument in the frame of Orientalism by Edward Said. The study is significant to examine donning veil as an epitome of oppression or emancipation under the rubric of feminist scholarship while providing counter study of Qur’Én and AÍÉdÊth. This paper investigates the theological interpretations of traditionalists and contemporary readings of Islamic feminists to manifest the trouble of subjective interpretations. The study also helps to deconstruct the image of Islam as backward religion by highlighting the underlying sagacity of Islamic injunctions with specific reference to veil. The study concludes that Islam is an egalitarian religion that does not allow gender discrimination.