Hijab is the headscarf that women in the middle east ware. I think its time to give some induction to the head covering topic, that’s normally the first question that people have about middle east. And I am definitely not an expert, so nothing here is theoretical truth, just my observations and notes from discussion with the local girls.

Do I have to cover my head?

No covering is a religious thing. I am not a Moslem and my religion does not require me to cover, thus no one also expects me to cover.
In fact it’s the opposite. Covering your head and body is just the superficial part of the act. If you are not following the other rules of the religion, it is kind of rude to just do the superficial part. Leave an impression to be someone who you actually aren’t.
Especially in Jordan, where there is a high Christian population, religious toleration and acception is a big part of the society.

So why do girls cover?

In Islam religion you are not allowed to have any physical contact between man and woman before the marriage. But since men are built to have physical needs and fancy girls, the girls should make their life easier. If the girl covers the attractiveness of her body, then the men have easier to resist her.
So its actually the woman who has the strength, power and responsibility to keep the guys pure to the god.

Why do some cover all face (veil) and some just hear (hijab)?

don’t really have a good answer to that. Some say that there is nothing in the Koran that tells to cover the whole face! But the only reason I have hear is the following:
When you think that you have so irresistible beauty, then you should cover more. But mainly its only the old women veiling themselves. Haven’t really seen the beauty under the veil yet.

Do they always cover?

Off course you don’t need to cover in front of other women. When there are just women in the room, everyone takes off their scarf.
You are supposed to cover only from the guys who could be potentially interested in you and could marry you.
So for example if you are a 40 year old mom and you meet your 10 year old sons friends, its ok not to cover. Or when are with your relatives and family, who are close enough not to propose to you, you don’t have to cover.

Here is a party taken at girls night, when we asked our Moslem friends to cover us up:


The other side

Now the side that I haven’t figured out yet. For young girls hijabs seem to be more of a fashion item. There are different ways how you can do them. Nowadays its fashion to have your head look as big as possible. So the teenagers actually put newspaper under the hijab to make their hair look bigger.
Then some girls were thigh jeans or kind of short skirts that show more of their body shape than the scarf hides.
Most of the young girls match the style and color of the hijab with their clothes and it actually looks very stylish and cool. And some of them actually might look better with this style and without it.

To finish the story I have to go back to the best explanation I have heard from an Arab girl in AIESEC conference few year s ago. As the westerners think - poor girls they are forced to cover them selves. The Moslems think - poor western girls they are forced to wear bikini. The reality is both is a personal choice and not everyone in either society does that.