Madrasa Education and Muslim Women: Negotiating Modest Dressing

Abstract

This study presents an ethnographic account of the lives of young Muslim women who underwent Islamic religious education in madrasa. It examines their body-image narratives. It focuses on how the socialisation at madrasa has shaped their image of themselves concerning bodily comportment, piety and modesty. It highlights different social actors from family, madrasa and media shape the image of these women. Accounts of six madrasa graduates who have studied Islamic theology for at least five years are examined. It focuses on Muslim women’s practice of purdah, keeping in mind cultural relativism and the perspective of the women who wear it. It unravels their everyday choice construction regarding the perceptions and practices of adorning their bodies with and within the burqa. The study is based in New Delhi, India. It finds that purdah for the respondents represents piety and completes their being. The embracing of fashion, trends, makeup and other aspects of body image varies in individual degrees, with a shared understanding of doing it within the framework of modesty, as interpreted by them. They present a picture of being agents of their own within their domain of life, living and being.