Non muslims in a Muslim Country..

[Donna A 4]

there are alot of christians in syria so it is not out of the ordinary for woman not to be covered. no i didnt cover. my husbands family is not offended if a person dont cover. his sister didnt cover til she was nearly 30 and his cousin doesnt cover and neither did his brothers ex wife. its not a big deal to them at all.

[monnik 0]

I asked if I needed to cover, and DH said that it wasn't necessary. (I think it went more along the lines of "Are you out of your everloving mind?? You will never cover your head!") Why??? Because conservative dress in Egypt is considered the most appropriate dress for non-muslims. I know there are some non-muslims who cover. I have seen some older Christian ladies and the women from Upper Egypt wear scarves, but they don't cover all of their hair. It's kind of like a wrap/scarf loosely thrown over their heads.

I didn't understand why DH seemed upset about me asking this question until I talked with my MIL and some other family members. They have been discriminated against a lot for being Christian and they aren't mad about it (not from what I gathered), but they look at it as a cross that you may have to bear. They are aware that they will get critisism and nasty remarks. That's just how it is, they tell me. Everyone has a story to tell.

Examples: MIL's head was not covered and she was on microbus and some guy standing next to her called her the sh....... word. He said it loud enough to embarass her and make her feel like sh!t (not to mention scared - she weighs all of 100 pounds) and when she got home, she was almost crying. Also, one of her co-workers brought her son to work and MIL bent down to say hi and shake his hand or give him a hug and the boy told her not to touch him. She said why, and he said because I hate you. You wear a cross on your necklace.

So....... even if it's just out of loyalty to my MIL, I would never want to cover myself here. If she can put up with looks, remarks, etc., so can I.

But, if I was ever in a country like KSA where it could be required of me, I would have to do it.