Yeah it´s strange but true The women who wear full body and face cover can even recognize eachother from a distance, and I often hear about how well they can communicate on open street, not being able to see face expressions etc., and even talk of who carries their clothes well, is charismatic in it and so forth.

I got a niqab headpiece from a friend who wears it on a regular basis, I guess it´s the old kind and with no string between the eyes, and it´s not uncomfortable at all (unless you have an itch ). I actually used it along with an abaya once I went to see my inlaws, but they thought I had gone out of my mind because it was extreme in their eyes. They are Shafi´i so I wanted to show them how women are supposed to dress according to that fiqh but they didn´t believe me anyway.

There´s so many "opinions" of correct islamic clothes...

 I said for me it wasn´t comfortable. My Afghanistan lady friend found it a preferable way to dress. I think it´s an analogy would be a person trying on high heel shoes for the first time. Even a small heel could be problematic for one who was not used to any type of heel.

The more comfortable way to keep sand and debris out of one´s eyes is to wear the type of head covering that is made out of black gauzy cotton. It comes about a meter wide and at least 2 or 3 meters long. It is folded with about 1/3 a meter in half lenghtwise. The item is put on the head off center and draped around the head. If sand or debris is imminent, you just draw down some of the fold over your face. It´s gauzy, so you can see clearly out of it. Black is the best to see out of. White or a light color is hard to see through.

FWIW when I was in the Sahara, nobody was without a covering. They even wore heavy goggles. The sand was like wind born sandpaper. You definitly have to use something to keep it off of you.

 The problem with the niqab is that your eyes are really highlighted. Where and how you use your eyes becomes visible. A lady friend of mine who tried one of mine on said , "oh this is awful, people can see where you are looking!" Something to think about, hmmm?

I saw prostitutes who were doing a brisk business in their niqabs......it was how they used their eyes.......

What is the problem with having highlighted eyes???

Isn´t that exactly the reason why people wear eyeliner, mascara and eyeshadow???

 Muslim women don´t wear makeup outside of their home. Otherwise you are right

...................Some wear make up in, and out of the house, under hijab, and without hijab, some drink wine, others do not drink wine, some have boyfriends, some do not. There are even some Muslim prostitutes.....but they are still Muslim.....maybe they are not accepted as good Muslims, but one can´t say, and should not ever say they are not Muslim.

Sometimes the hijab is worn out of sanctimonious vanity. Superficial observation rarely results in comprehension of the deep reality of a situation.

I guess it´s up to the invidual but loads of scholars agree that one who ignores salah completely is not a Muslim.

Anyway there is a big difference between technically belonging to a religion and following it

What about muslim men???

Back to Roswitha´s original post, and the girl and an American univeristy. Ok some people do stare at others in a negative view - I personally know people that do, but what about others that stare for other reasons? Well not stare, but take a quick glance?

Such as somewhere that is really open with huge varieties of fashion such as Manhattan, New York, or Camden Town in London. There would always be someone with such a different style of dress code than yours that would make you look over and think "oooh I like that!" or "wow I love his hair!" etc.

What if that view can be stretched upon cultural styles, such as Muslim women, If i were to glance at someone wearing a hijab etc I wouldn´t be doing so out of rudeness but more out of respect or curiosity.

I agree that there are bad people in the world who look at people just do judge them, but what we musn´t forget is that there are good people too.

I go to a cafe now and then with a friend of mine, and we "people watch". Just curiously looking at people, there fashion, their culture, how they are going about their daily lives etc.

So maybe people shouldn´t be so paranoid that people are looking at you in a bad way, because they could always be looking at you in a good way.

After all, isn´t it how fashion comes along? One person starts it off and another copies because they got inspiration from the original style?

All in all, there is people out there with judgemental thoughts but there is also people out there with thoughts of curiosity too

 Are you kidding me?

The most adorned, heaviest make up and over the top jewellery I ever see is always on muslim women.  I always think it kind of defeats the object of wearing the headscarf in the first place

People are of course free to ignore rules of their religion, be it ignoring the reason for wearing a headscarf or by drinking alcohol and that is fine.  We see it here all the time... very few manage to fast through ramadan, remain a virgin until marriage or avoid alcohol but mention eating pork and they look aghast!!! 

Anyway, as with all religions, just don´t preach your religion to me, or suddenly become VERY religious when it suits you

how about christians` having sex before marriage? isn`t it it the same thing? christianity clearly forbids it.