Walking Around Montreal In Niqabs

Alida and Aditi take to the streets of Montreal wearing Niqābs, the style of veil worn by many Islamic cultures. Not to be confused with the hijāb, which only covers a portion of the face, the Niqāb covers all but the eyes.

Join us on our exciting little adventure, while Olivia gives a play by play. The goal is to gain insight into the struggles of women who wear the Niqab in Montreal, as well as to keep record the reactions of the public.

Please note: We are all well aware that many Muslim individuals (and perhaps all Muslims), choose not to drink alcohol. This does not mean that they are not allowed to buy alcohol, nor does our experiment pretend to assume the roles of Muslim women. Self-identifying as Muslim does not place a restriction on the rights of an individual to enter a liqour store and purchase alcohol; a point that is moot given that our experiment is not expressly about Muslim people, but in fact shares a common struggle with those who have other beliefs.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Montreal
• Niqab
• Niqābs
• Walking
• Around
• Islam
• Islamic
• hijāb
• hijab
• Quran
• quebec
• veil

[hayataqwa]

if these women are muslim, then why did they buy alcohol?

[westaj1]

@hayataqwa Nobody said that they're Muslim. Also, nobody said that they were a sect of a religion that doesn't allow the consumption of alcohol. Also, from my understanding, traditional Muslims may buy alcohol as gifts or for purposes other than direct consumption, such as cooking. Furthermore, religious adherence isn't the objective of this observation.

[hevo1]

It would have been more interesting if they went to someplace like Afghanistan, or Saudi Arabia wearing normal clothes. And see their reactions..

[westaj1]

@hevo1 I agree, but I'm not sure I would call the clothing that I wear 'normal clothes' in Saudi Arabia. Unfortunately, we don't have the luxury of traveling that far, and as far as I know, it's illegal to wear such clothes anyway. Would be interesting though. ;)

[Arnosti]

I've only seen one woman wearing the niqab in the CDN area.

I don't know what you are trying to prove tough. I would get the same looks if I would go by Ste-Catherine wearing that green bikini thong in the movie Borat.

People heard about the niqab and it's so rare in America's it's normal they look at it.

[westaj1]

@Arnosti We weren't trying to prove anything... just observing. We also understand that just because people, "Look," doesn't mean they're being rude, and it's understandable that people's vision is drawn to people wearing the minority of clothing/styles.

[Tozzlez]

@westaj1 Actually, muslims arn't allowed to consume, buy, sell or serve alcohol. I'm a muslim and ALL major sects that i know forbid alcohol as all sects follow the Quran which clearly forbids it. :)

Fair play cos no one said they were Muslim , just wanted 2 correct you in this :)

Hope i didnt cause a problem inshAllah! Very Good video! :)

[MangoLuve]

Haha i got kind of annoyed that you didn't know how to pronounce it at first since it was a a project you were conducting. Anyway, this project was really insightful because i would have thought that a place such as Montreal would be more open about things. Also, i really enjoyed the final reaction after a mainly negative video. I didn't understand why people were following them though? Apart from that, the fact you went for an alcoholic beverage is misleading and shouldn't have been done.

[wesleyis16]

@westaj1 Religion'd.

[fromAllah2u]

@westaj1 in islam muslims cannot consume, buy or sell alcohol or even be in a place alcohol is served. all muslims believe this not just a sect. i don't think you really helped muslims by dressing up like a muslim then buying alcohol. this is going to give us a bad name.

[Modestlady1]

I am Canadian Muslim , i feel insulted that the women went to buy Alcohol because the shop keeper thinks that they are real Muslims and also Religious. Muslims that are Religious do not buy Alcohol , and we do not buy it for cooking at all

[iwantyou9944]

iam wondring why you look at women when she dress like that, and dont look to women who dress short and showing her boobs? dont you think women hair and her body attracted by men? just think

[ArtemisN1]

nice experiment, I like tat boy said: why dont you wear this :D

[MorningofMourning]

so people looked at them... so what? if i walked down the street in ninja outfit i'd expect people to look at me too. muslims that wear these stupid sheets wonder why the draw so much attention. take a fucking look in the mirror at yourself. you look like a cross between the grim reaper and a cartoon character.

of course people are going to look at you. if you don't want to stand out, then move to saudi arabia or stop dressing like a fucking primitive sand monkey.

[Jaggerx33]

lmaooo omg the more i watch this, the more fake this looks, some of my friends are niqabis and almost none of this has happened. theres been a few looks, but meerly out of curiosity. none of these stop and OMG LOOK AT THEM looks.