M A Q A S I D - مقاصد

Who is more likely to suffer from depression, a teenager in shalwar kameez and a scarf, or the one in western clothes?

It seems expected that traditionally dressed Muslims will be prone to mental health problems as we are told that “cultural integration is the healthiest outcome for young people living in multicultural societies”.

However, a recent study found girls preferring traditional clothing to be less prone to mental health problems later in life. Adolescents who dress in an “integrated” fashion do not develop to be mentally healthier than those who adhere to traditional garments:

“A preference for traditional clothing among Bangladeshi girls appears to confer a lower risk of mental disorder, perhaps mediated through a restricted or traditional upbringing that is protective for mental health for girls in early teenage years. This traditional upbringing may include greater religious adherence and perhaps less exposure to unfamiliar and therefore culturally challenging life events.”

Clothing is an essential component in a person’s identity, particularly for adolescents. The clothes our girls choose have long-term effects on well-being. Strangely enough, holding on to our roots proves to be wiser than trying to shed our backgrounds. Wearing traditional clothing during the testing teenage years is a healthy option.

For many Muslims this means adhering to modest clothing such as shalwar kameez and head coverings or jalbab. It seems a shame that people speaking on behalf of Muslims are often calling for the opposite of this, believing hijab to be a matter of lifestyle choice, one that is ideally abandoned in order to appease non-Muslims.

Take for example, Ghayasuddin Siddiqui’s welcoming of the High Court judgment on Shabina Begum’s jilbab controversy. She had her appeal to compel her school to let her wear jilbab turned down. We should realise that support and encouragement in choosing modest, traditional clothing is what is needed, not calls to abandon it.

Recent hype around clothing as symbols of religious identity among Muslims has fed debates on multiculturalism, immigration and integration. It is readily assumed that greater integration is the ideal we should all aspire for. This study identifies that, at least in the case of these young girls, monoculturalism is riddled with problems.

The study also suggests that maintaining ties within close-knit families and communities may help protect teenagers. Again, the push should not be for the abandonment of such social structures. We often have the image of a suppressive, intrusive network when it comes to Muslim families and wider communities, yet here we have signs indicating how Islamic values and the importance of family ties manifest themselves as healthy outcomes for our youth.

In the words of the authors themselves, “Policies and practices that encourage young people to move from traditional forms of identity to integrated ones require further development, research and evaluation.”

Back-home culture and tradition ain’t all bad after all.

Written by Shazia Patel. Taken from: www.ummahpulse.com