Beyond the Veil Debate: Muslim Women, Feminist Standpoint, and the Politics of Interpretation

Abstract

Veiling is often seen narrowly as a symbol of submission, emancipation, or a lack of agency among Muslim women. The veil has been subject to competing politics of interpretation by liberal-progressive feminists, secularists, the state, and majoritarian forces. This paper moves beyond that binary by reading veiling through feminist standpoint theory, situated agency, lived Islam, and interpretive justice. Drawing on ethnographic narratives of Muslim women from Delhi and eastern Uttar Pradesh, it argues that the veil cannot be understood as a fixed religious or cultural sign. Women describe hijab, niqab, abaya, burqa, and other forms of covering through varied and sometimes conflicting meanings: devotion, upbringing, modesty, safety, respectability, belonging, stigma, fashion, and public negotiation. Their accounts also show that piety does not preclude critique; many women question patriarchal double standards while continuing to speak from within Islamic moral worlds. The paper, therefore, treats Muslim women not as symbols of community, secular failure, or feminist rescue, but as situated interpreters of their own lives. Its central contribution is to develop a context-sensitive feminist sociology of veiling that critiques both majoritarian saving politics and community patriarchy while remaining accountable to women’s lived standpoints.