Here is another post in my Conversation Ideas series.
Converse about western women’s clothing fashions and Islamic women’s clothing fashions. Which women’s clothes fashions do you enjoy the most? Casual or elegant? Are clothes expensive in your country? Are they imported?
Discuss the abaya(long loose cloak) and niqab(face veil) and the hijab(head scarf). Do you think Muslim women will wear the hijab in Paradise? If she has some samples of her traditional clothes ask if you can try them on. Can women wear whatever they want in your country? Does your husband ever tell you that you can’t wear something? Does he tell you that you look beautiful in a certain dress?
Which stores do you like to buy your clothes from?
Muslim women often have every day clothes, indoor clothes and outside clothes and religious clothes used for prayer. Western non-Muslim women usually wear the same clothes inside the house and to the mall or to class. Discover why they have inside and outside clothes. If she has special prayer clothes ask if you could see them and inquire why she wears them.
The following discussion is for the purpose of encouraging your friend to think through some issues. Go only as far as she feels comfortable:
Did you know that Adam and Eve(Ah-dam and HA-wA)didn’t wear clothes in the beginning? Read/share Genesis 2: 25. They felt comfortable being completely naked. Why do you think they started wearing clothes? Guilt of disobeying God’s commands produced shame and awareness of their nakedness and fear of God. Guilt, shame and fear entered the world for the first time. Go over 3: 7,10-11. Guilt, shame and fear of God made them want to hide their nakedness so they sewed leaves together for clothes – just around their hips. Later God made(3:21) clothing for them out of animal skins. We don’t know how much of the body He covered. Why do you think people wear clothes today? To just cover beauty or because we want to hide because of shame? Would you feel guilty if you didn’t cover up completely? (This is only introductory but a very key concept of dealing with shame and fear and spiritual nakedness; not just physical nakedness. They seem to be linked).
