Anti-Violence . Hate Crime . Hair, Head covering (veil) and Turban References in many faiths.

Many thanks to Lily, Randall and Gopal for sending in the pictures of Jesus Christ used in this section.

• The Turban:  a figure of authority
• The Turban:  a symbol of purity
• References and quotes
• A token of respect to superiors
• Christian women standing up for their right to cover their head
• Articles of Interest
• Click here to see more artists renditions of Jesus

The Turban:  a figure of authority.

• Joseph, a Jew, who honored the Sabbath, had a very rich neighbor, who was a firm believer in astrology. He was told by one of the professional astrologers that his wealth would become Joseph's. He therefore sold his estate, and bought with the proceeds a large diamond, which he sewed in his turban, saying, "Joseph can never obtain this." It so happened, however, that while standing one day upon the deck of a ship in which he was crossing the sea, a heavy wind arose and carried the turban from his head. A fish swallowed the diamond, and being caught and exposed for sale in the market, was purchased by Joseph to supply his table on the Sabbath eve. Of course, upon opening it he discovered the diamond.   Rabbinical Ana (9), Page 309
• "The rest of the composition is not very unlike other examples of prehistoric Egyptian carving in low relief, but here attitude, figure, and clothing are quite un-Egyptian. The hero wears a sort of turban on his abundant hair, and a full and rounded beard descends upon his breast. A long garment clothes him from the waist and falls below the knees, his muscular calves ending in the claws of a bird of prey. There is nothing like this in prehistoric Egyptian art." 
  

  THE BRITISH ACADEMY LEGENDS OF BABYLON AND EGYPT IN RELATION TO HEBREW TRADITION BY LEONARD W. KING, M.A., LITT.D., F.S.A. Assistant Keeper of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities in the British Museum Professor in the University of London King's College THE SCHWEICH LECTURES 1916

The Turban:  a symbol of purity.

• In the Bibile, Zechariah 3:4-9, read the following reference.  Now Joshua was dressed in dirty clothes as he stood before the angel of God.  The angel said these words to those who stood before him:

In Latin: qui respondit et ait ad eos qui stabant coram se dicens auferte vestimenta sordida ab eo et dixit ad eum ecce abstuli a te iniquitatem tuam et indui te mutatoriis.  et dixit ponite cidarim mundam super caput eius et posuerunt cidarim mundam super caput eius et induerunt eum vestibus et angelus Domini stabat.  3:4-5

 "And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment. And I said, Let them set a fair mitre upon his head. So they set a fair mitre upon his head, and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the LORD stood by. 3:4-5

• For Joshua filthy garments were a sign of captivity, exile, misery, physical humiliation and harm. Filthy garments also represented the sin of people. The turban is worn as a sign of respect.  It is the opposite from modern English tradition where you take your hat off when you enter the room. Hair was grown by all in India.  Since many had long hairs, Turbans were worn to prevent the hair from becoming filthy. So therefore to wear a turban was to keep the hair clean and preserve the hair.

Hair, Head covering and Turban references in many religions

Jesus, Mohamed and mosses are examples of prophets who kept their hair.   Hair covering has been mentioned many times through the bible:

• "A razor has never come upon my head for I have been a Nazarite to God from my mother's womb." (Judges 16:17).
• "Belts were round their waists and on their heads turbans with dangling ends; All seemed to be high officers and looked like Babylonian natives of Chaldea."  Ezekiel 23:14-17
• I am endeavoring to show myself a workman approved (2 Tim 2:15), who examines herself daily to see whether she is in the faith (2 Corinthians 13:5-6).
• I love Jesus and my desire is to show Him my love through obedience (John 14:15).
• "If I don't wear it, I'm dishonoring God: First Corinthians, chapter 11:1-16.
• "According to the custom of those days a veil on the head was a token of respect to superiors; hence for a woman to lay aside her veil was to affect authority over the man. The shaving of the head was a disgraceful punishment inflicted on women of bad repute; it not only deprived them of a great beauty, but also of the badge of virtue and honor."
•  The context is Isaiah prophesying against Isreal, making the analogy of Isreal to a woman, naked in shame without her hair covered and in immodest attire.  (Isaiah 47:1-6)

Hair and covering ones head as a token of respect to superiors.

• Epistles to the Corinthians xi. 3-15

But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head. 

For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man.

For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man.

Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man.

For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the angels.

Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord.

judge in yourselves: is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered?

Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?

But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her; for her hair is given her for a covering.  ()

• Verse 5

"And every woman praying or prophesying with her head unveiled puts to shame her head, for it is one and the same thing with the one shaven."

This statement concerning the praying and prophesying of women in public tempers the absoluteness of Paul's directives In chapter 14:34-35 and makes it clear that she could 'speak forth publicly' (which is the literal meaning of the word (propheteia), but not in the assembly In such a way as to teach and have authority over man (1 Tim.3: 12; see also Acts 2:17:21:9). Prophecy is a public proclaiming, and clearly she is to prophesy at appropriate times. Among the Jews, an adulterous woman was to have her head shaved (Is.7:2). "Among the Greeks, only the prostitutes, so numerous in Corinth, went about unveiled; slave women wore the shaven head - also a punishment of the adulterous." (Findlay).

Although the cultural context could lead one to think that Paul's directives were meant to be merely a temporary social custom so the sisters would not be identified with the harlots of Corinth, one need only remember the foundational principles which under gird the practice of the woman's veiling and that it is upon these that it transcends social customs throughout the world in any nation or culture. A sister who prays or prophesies without a veil, then, Is rejecting the authority of her head, man, by rejecting the sign of it, and in so doing is dishonoring God's governmental design arid Word.

Peggy, Founder of Simplicity Ministries, on-line groups for Christian Women  hostetler7@superpa.net

Christian women winning their right to cover their head

• Bus Driver's Job At Risk Over Head Covering
• Idaho woman wins right to cover head for photo

Articles of Interest

• A Discourse on the Sikh Articles of Faith
• Why Sikhs Wear a Turban
• Understanding Turbans
• Idaho woman wins right to cover head for photo: Christian times
• When symbols of faith become targets of bigots
• Once Appalled by Race Profiling, Many Find Themselves Doing It
• Find the terrorist in your neighborhood   (Used with Mark Fiore's permission) 
• Arabs removed from flights; airlines investigate

Translate: Français | Italiano | Español | Português | Deutsch | Japenese | Korean| Simplified Chinese

info@sikhwomen.com | Terms of use | Privacy | Support | January 31, 2006