Xuraman Shushali, who has been engaged in singing activities for more than 26 years, said that some TV channels do not invite her to their broadcasts because she wears a hijab.
In fact, it might not be accurate to state Xuraman's work experience as over 26 years. I just saw the girls who joined the "W trio" group 26 years ago at an event, and it stuck in my memory. At that time, they were singing "A ləli yar"; they came to the event wearing shining and not very long golden dresses. God willing, it suited them.
Later, although the other singer girls made some adjustments to their clothes as they aged, Xuraman made a radical change, adopting a style of dress popular in Middle Eastern countries, specifically Saudi Arabia, Iran, which are Sharia countries. This, of course, was her exclusive right.
However, it now appears that things do not go smoothly for her stage-concert-broadcast activities in that combination.
The singer herself said about this: “Along with the channels, many restaurants also do not invite me. They say that if Xuraman’s head were uncovered, all the weddings would be yours. I think, what does the hijab have to do with the event?!... Because of the hijab, I have been deprived of great earnings. Although I have made official requests to state channels, my paths are blocked. We live in a country with religious freedom. It shouldn’t be like this.”
Xuraman is right, it should not be like this in countries with religious and belief freedom. There are no such prohibitions in countries where religion dominates. There, they do not even allow women to sing without a hijab. For example, in Afghanistan, a woman singer would have her headcut without removing her hijab. Men's singing is also prohibited, at best they could sing hymns, but if they sing of love and affection, they bleed. When the "Taliban" returned to power, they killed many singers at the doorstep. Occasionally they would severely beat a dumb percussionist.
The lady should be grateful that she lives in a secular country, if she lived in a Sharia country, she would have to give up her art. When she was at the peak of Quqush's fame, didn’t she flee from Iran fearing the mullahs? If she had stayed, either they would have made her wear a chador or hanged her for singing "Səkinə dayqızı" in her mother tongue in the presence of the shah.
But the TV channels are also wrong, so what if she dresses modestly? When five naked-madrasas go out and sing, let one also come to the studio dressed like Vatican nuns or Montserrat Caballé.
Such clothing, designed to protect from burning sun rays in hot countries, is not very suitable for our climate, and for that reason many women dislike it solely because it is stuffy. Our people have passed the seasons from father to son with the kələğayı (shawl, scarf, veil, headscarf, etc.).
1-2 years ago, the state leadership in Kazakhstan called such clothing “Arab clothing” and declared that this is simply the national costume of another people, not religious clothing. The brothers referred to the fact that in winter, when the temperature in Kazakhstan reaches -40 degrees, it is 30 degrees warm in Arabia, so Arabs and Kazakhs cannot dress the same way.
That is, if you are religious and wear fur, a tulup, tie wraps on your feet, and put on patava in Karaganda, you won’t be committing an act against religion. You cannot endure Siberian winter with slippers and sandals.
Every clothing must be suitable for the climate and beneficial to the organism. I have a knowledgeable middleman with encyclopedic knowledge, he has read every book and owns a rich library; he says that both men and women should not walk outdoors with their heads uncovered. The knowledgeable brother’s name is Ahdiman and he is certainly not religious. According to his theory, if sunlight continuously falls on the center of a woman’s or man’s head, it causes chemical processes in the brain and disrupts the body's metabolism, resulting in oncological diseases.
The brother says, do you notice that in all hot countries men put something on their heads – hats, panamas, berets, skullcaps, fess, keffiyeh, capotes, felt hats, chalma, cylinder hats, pakols, berets, borçalino (this is not the hat of the Borçalı people but Italians), kippa, sombrero, karoču etc. and so on.
In short, there is no nation without a hat in the world. Everyone protects their head so that the sun does not pierce their crowns, and the frosty wind does not freeze their ears and drop them.
From this perspective, head covering is an accessory required by the climate. Even if religion prohibits it, man is forced to protect his head.
Therefore, those who want to protect their head should be treated with tolerance. This is medically important. Otherwise, it is impossible for a woman to protect her hair and head from non-mahram eyes; the eyes of a lustful man are something like X-rays.
In fact, head covering is more necessary for men than women. Because the center of their heads bald prematurely and becomes unprotected. Jews and Uzbeks do not put kipas and skullcaps on those areas for no reason.
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The world is an old world, and knowledge of ancient traditions is new.
Samir SARI