I had to run down to The Hill area close to downtown St. Louis this morning. On the way back I passed a compact, maybe a subcompact vehicle. I did not notice what brand it was as I was focused on the vanity license plate which read MN’TALA. I was busy trying to decipher what that meant in license-platese. I finally decided it must be a name which piqued my curiosity.
As I passed the vehicle I peeked over from the high peak of my pickup truck to see who was driving the subcompact. It was a smallish, Arabic looking women dressed all in black with a very covering, very tight, black hijab. While it is not common to see Muslim women with veils (niqaab is the name…I believe) covering their face around the St. Louis metro area, it is not unheard of. A couple times, I have even seen a burqa, once a half burqa and encountering a woman wearing a chador is not surprising. In addition to her other garments, this woman had on a black COVID mask.
This brought up a couple interesting points to me. It is common to see folks driving alone in a car with their COVID mask on. Why? Secondly, while a niqaab might not be required of our lady of the subcompact, I wondered if an Imam somewhere had pronounced COVID masks as an acceptable substitute for them? Dressed as she was I am assuming she is from one of the countries most restrictive to females, like Saudi Arabia. At least the man in her life had given into the reality that for an adult living in a city such as St. Louis, driving is almost an absolute necessity. I would think a conservative Muslim man would have a huge problem with his woman taking the public transportation here in St. Louis.
And so it goes.
For another posting along these same lines check out: Muslim Modesty