http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-20877090 Decoding facial hair in the Arab world During the Mubarak-era, beards were a no-no in Egypt - but now they're back in fashion with a vengeance. In the Arab and Muslim world, facial hair signifies a lot more than personal style, writes Cairo-based journalist Ashraf Khalil. A couple of years ago, I was with my parents in a mosque near Chicago. They introduced me to an old family friend - a lady who'd known me since I was a kid but hadn't seen me for years. She embraced my mother and shook hands with my father, but when she turned to me she stood about a foot away from me, didn't offer to shake my hand and instead sort of awkwardly waved. My father asked her why she had been so distant and she said it was because of my beard. She assumed that my facial hair was symbolic of a deep Islamic religiousness and was afraid that if she offered her hand to shake, I wouldn't take it. My father, who knows exactly how non-religious I am, still LOVES to tell this story. In the Arab and Muslim world, facial hair means far more than just style and grooming. It's a sociological signifier, a shorthand that often tells you who you're dealing with and what they're all about before they can even speak. There are a couple of different styles in play, and as a journalist you learn to develop a sort of internal chart. In Egypt, Muslim Brotherhood members generally tend to go with the full but well-groomed beard and moustache. However Salafists - the ultraconservative fundamentalist Muslims - like to let their beards grow long and wild, often leaving their upper lip clean-shaven as a nod to how the Prophet Mohammed wore his own beard 1,400 years ago. Some within the Salafist camp take things an extra step and dye their beards with henna, producing a range of colours from maroon to bright pumpkin orange. In a post-Hosni Mubarak Egypt, beards have made a big comeback. For years, beards were frowned upon as symbolic of the Islamist movements that Mubarak considered a threat to his reign. Government employees, ranging from police officers to EgyptAir pilots, were forbidden from growing a beard. But now, civil servants across the country are are calling for the ban to be lifted. Suddenly wearing a beard in Egypt has become an issue of civil rights and freedom of expression. The beard has even become a political reference point as well. The last few months have seen mounting protests against President Mohammed Morsi - a long-time Muslim Brotherhood official. One of the common protest chants translates as, "Shave off Morsi's beard/and you'll find Mubarak underneath!" It's not just a Muslim thing either. Most Coptic Christian priests and monks wear long beards as well. In fact when the new Coptic Pope Tawadros ll was chosen this year, it spawned a beard-related internet joke. Tawadros' beard looks EXACTLY like the beard of Emad Abdel-Ghafour - former head of the largest Salafist party. ----------------------------- I would like to discuss the bolded part. Now, I have always been taught by my parents that you should not judge a person by their looks, but by how they are as a human being. That being said, looks are also a statement. We all - consciously or unknowingly - judge people when we see them. E.g., if someone wears certain clothes, it can signal that they want to belong to a certain group which stands for certain attitudes or values (e.g. punks, bikers, rappers, etc.). Looks can also be a political statement. For instance, "surprisingly", this type of beard has pretty much gone out of fashion: If you were to run into someone with a beard like this nowadays, wouldn't you wonder if you are dealing with a Nazi sympathizer? Now, do you feel uneasy when you run into someone who wears a beard exactly like those the ISIS people in Syria are wearing? Or not at all? Do you think this type of beard will eventually go out of style as well and people will be ashamed to look like people whom all reasonable people would think of as despicable?
The campaign of hate continues. Now anyone with a certain type of beard is a member of ISIS! When will the mods do something about this xenophobe?
Anyone with a certain beard is as much a member of ISIS as anyone with a certain beard is Adolf Hitler - obviously, you are once again changing what I said - I never said what you claim I said. What I am saying is that appearance can be a statement, very often a political one. I am not saying they are members of ISIS if they look just like them and dress just like them, but I am saying that their look suggests that they might support some of the same ideas. This obviously does not always have to be the case, and it would be wrong to treat people improperly just because of the way they look. But what I am asking people to answer honestly is whether it makes them feel uneasy if the appearance of someone they are dealing with is exactly the same as that of people all reasonable people would agree are despicable. I will be honest and will say that yes, I don't feel entirely comfortable or would not feel entirely comfortable when I encounter someone with a Hitler beard (which I cannot remember ever having happened) or someone with a Salafist-style beard (which happens from time to time with taxi drivers in London and also in Berlin and elsewhere). I treat everyone politely, but considering that looks are a political statement, I usually try to avoid talking about politics. Once, I had a driver in Palo Alto who was from Pakistan and was extremely rude/in a bad mood. I tried to be polite and asked him where he was from originally and when he said Pakistan, I said that I had seen photos of Pakistan (I believe s land balla posted them) and it looked like a beautiful country (which is true, from the photos s land balla posted). He didn't really react to that. As that ride was just a few days after Salmaan Taseer had gotten murdered, I mentioned that I had just read that a politician had unfortunately gotten murdered in Pakistan. The guy said "yes, but that was completely right, he had to die, he had insulted Islam" (Salmaan Taseer was murdered by his own security guard because he was opposed to the ridiculous "blasphemy laws" in Pakistan). I didn't really continue the conversation after that. But that was one case where the appearance exactly matched the ideological beliefs, and it was a very unpleasant experience.
Perhaps when middle-Eastern women don't need a quorum to file a rape charge, assuming they don't want to risk being hanged for adultery.
I don't find it so invective or rhetorically unsound that board moderators should "do something" about it.
Would you feel comfortable if someone you meet has a Hitler beard as a political statement, yes or no?
oh yes, after I establish their motivations, character, and political beliefs after a brief glance at their hair, I am comfortable with the notion that I know not a f**king thing about the person in question.
Which is why you should treat everyone politely at all times, which I do. So you are completely unaffected by the appearance of people you talk to? You do not make (subconscious) conclusions about them the moment you see them? Congratulations - you must be one in a million. As to your cute little meme photo: http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/buddhistworld/faqmonks.htm I doubt your monk would have a car. But nice (unsuccessful) try to be witty.
HELL NO I judge people like all the time, consciously and unconsciously god/spaghetti monster grant me mercy. I just don't do it on the basis of like, deliberately conflating facial hair with murderous extremism. that's pretty harsh. You keep on preaching fear, I suppose you'll deeply imbue it as well. Keep at it, ATW. For the record, I don't let beards put me off. I'm glad the meme made you search for more knowledge. Not everything is as the surface looks
hahaha. I love how the beard-sniping man automatically makes personal aspersions on a line of text. using your thinking, for the record, are you also including yourself in our?
did you just edit the post because you made a typo? I guess this is why you don't judge people based on flimsy information.
I've learned two things from this thread. 1. My beautiful beard signifies I'm an ISIS supporter 2. ATW is a ragging closet homo
I can't wait for the next thread that tells us how to determine if a woman is submissive, religious and sexy based on how she wears her burqa.
