Is it the ideological revolution, tribute to the fashion, a way to get married, or a paid flash mob? These are the motives behind the new phenomenon in Kazakhstan social media: girls with many followers on Instagram, so-called insta celebrities, started wearing hijabs. CABAR.asia is figuring out what or who could stay behind the ‘mass veiling.”
Dinara Satzhan, a Kazakhstan-based journalist, blogger, and founder of the clothing brand, became a newsmaker and said that Kazakhstan insta celebrities “were offered money for veiling and allegedly big money.” Later she apologised and said she did not want to hurt the feelings of the religious people.
The statement by Dinara Satzhan in the Kazakhstan’s segment of internet caused a serious scandal. She was bullied, threatened and cursed.
It happened because Dinara Satzhan was negligent enough to spread alarming rumours, used alarmism in her post, according to Tatiana Golubtsova, expert in media literacy.
“Dinara saw some bloggers wearing hijabs and noticed some consistency in it and draw a conclusion that they were incentivised financially. However, there were no supporting facts. I think it’s better to ask bloggers what affected their choice. Maybe, it is just a choice of comfortable wear? Then, there is no alarmism involved: no one paid anyone for it,” Golubtsova said.
Chingiz Saduev, specialist in Islamic studies, focused attention that the Islamic community reacted very negatively to the journalist’s statement and found it insulting. Therefore, girls in Astana organised a flash mob and wore national costumes similar to the hijab. It caused positive response in the society.
“Many Muslims have misunderstood Dinara Satzhan,” Saduev said. “She know what Islam is. I don’t think she has Islamophobic attitude. Her message seemed to me as focused on the Islam with cultural values.”
Satzhan started her scandalous post with the words, “I am personally for our traditional Kazakh Islam. Shelpek (fried flatbread – editor’s note) on Fridays. Quran beyittin basynda. Kyrkynan shygaru zhene tusau keser (from Kazakh – Reading an excerpt of Quran in honour of the deceased, celebrating 40 days of the child’s birth and cutting the fetters). We have our own culture and traditions. Our own history that we should pass to next generations. What if our Kazakh women will be wearing black hijabs in several decades or even years?!”
According to Chingiz Saduev, the word ‘hijab’ has become a trigger for the society. Although, its meaning in Arabic is harmless, just ‘a veil’. A Muslim woman covers certain parts of her body that need to be covered, according to Islam, with it.
“Maybe, we should revise the word ‘hijab’ and use the word ‘oramal’ (from Kazakh, a headscarf), which sounds more Kazakh, instead,” said Saduev. “People fear particular terms, some Arabic words.”
However, Dinara Satzhan wondered not about hijab as such, but about the fact that social media celebrities changed their wardrobe, views, lifestyle so fast, in one day. The saddest thing, according to the journalist, is that insta celebrities do not care about reputation risks.
“No one knows the origin of money of Kazakhstan-based insta celebrities,” Satzhan said and noted the regularities of behaviour of some insta celebrities: yesterday they wore revealing clothes, and today they teach others how to pray correctly.
The journalist said that “true veiling is a gradual process” and specified that it was the key message of her post.
“Suddenly covered insta celebrities never show books, other hobbies and interests. Their every post is about how to pray, what clothes to wear. This simultaneous veiling looks like a flash mob. It’s surprising that I, being a secular Muslim woman, was perplexed about it, while true Muslims did not even react,” Dinara Satzhan said.
She reminded that she was a part of the blogger market. “And I’ve heard that some people offered money for veiling. Back then, I thought it was nonsense. And when I wrote the post, I understood it became a trigger. This is the problem that people are afraid to speak about.”
Aida Alzhanova, expert in gender equality and strategic development, saw political technology and promotional campaigns in the “simultaneous veiling of insta celebrities”, which are usually used during elections. Previously, famous singers and athletes were involved, and opinion leaders from social media are involved now.
“Why insta celebrities? Because many young girls are under pressure from relatives and communities, where they are told how to behave. They are looking for some behaviour models, and they want to look great, instead of wearing a hijab and sitting at home. And a girl in hijab, who travels, who looks beautiful, wears expensive clothes, etc. would cause different emotions,” said Aida Alzhanova.
According to Aslan Kabegenov, expert in youth issues, it would be great if it was a conscious, internal decision of girls to wear a religious head covering.
“But today it’s more like a fashion trend, a desire to get married successfully. Many young men look for veiled young girls because there is the opinion in the society that if a girl is veiled, she fears the Creator, and would be a good wife. Girls started to use it, but they take off the hijab once they get married. It’s more like a hijab for the sake of hijab,” said Aslan Kabegenov.
However, the headscarf does not mean piety and goodness, said Rasim Chelidze, PhD, expert in Islamic issues. “Behaviour and attitude towards oneself and people is the only indicator of the moral core of the person,” Chelidze said.
“There is a high risk that girls wearing hijabs could be used by both politicians and particular groups, just anyone. It depends on the situation,” said psychologist Aleksandr Pak. “Once there is a critical situation, the people would divide into those who are ‘for’ and ‘against’ and it would be easier to bring discord and destabilise the situation.”
What should the state do?
Veiling of women is one of the tools of the patriarchal society, said Aida Alzhanova. According to her, the patriarchal way of thinking comes not from Islam, but from the USSR.
“What happens now is the reflection of our economy, our sociocultural development,” Alzhanova said. “The state must develop ideologemes, which will be equally perceived by all citizens of Kazakhstan. We have so many superficial and fake things today. The state must be concerned about people feeling lost and interpreting Islam in a way that is comfortable to them. Many people calling themselves Muslims are very aggressive towards people with other views.”
Aslan Kabegenov believes the problem is that the country does not carry out ideological work with young people and they are left to themselves. According to Kabegenov, “Authorities should wonder why young people attend mosque, why young girls veil themselves, and how sincere it is.”
According to Rasim Chelidze, the issue of headscarf wearing is not only regarded sacred, but became politicised.
“Moreover, followers of various religious institutions take the headscarf not as tradition, but as religion. It should be noted that shapes and colours of the woman’s headscarf differ from each other depending on the religious community and indicate their belonging to a community. It is likely that the woman’s headscarf will always be an obstacle along with rapidly developing religious institutions in the country,” the expert said.
Main picture: Freepik.com