In Western culture, it is taboo to be covered from head to toe, excluding the face, at in the middle of the summer heat, but it is a reality that Muslim women know well in their daily lives. The Muslim religion is very strict and governed by the Koran. Many consider it oppressive, but those who practice it see it as a religion that frees them from the temptations of the world. Modest dress is intended to protect Muslims who practice it faithfully from adultery and other forms of unlawful sexual relations that lead to the breakdown of families and the corruption of society. “The Perforated Sheet”, written by Salman Rushdie, humorously addresses this very concept of wearing the hijab in Islamic culture, told from a man's point of view, while “The Women's Swimming Pool”, written by Hanan Al- Shaykh, raises a serious point of view on the treatment and practice of veiling women, from the perspective of an Indian Muslim woman. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay “The Perforated Sheet” is a short story told from a man’s point of view. The story of the sheet begins when Aadam Aziz, a doctor, breaks his nose while praying to Allah. Allah is the name of God in the Islamic religion and requires Muslims to pray five times a day. Additionally, when Muslims pray, they sit on their knees on a mat and bow to kiss the ground. As Dr. Aziz prays, he bends down and hits his abnormally large nose, thus breaking it. After doing this, he “resolved never again to kiss the earth for any god or man” in a rage of anger and renounced his religion (Rushdie 1712). This absence of religion creates a lasting “hole” that leaves the good doctor vulnerable and gives him an intense need to fill it. The story continues and Dr. Aziz begins treating a young woman named Naseem Ghani. The downside, however, is that he is only allowed to nurse her through a sheet, and "in the very center of the sheet a hole had been cut, a rough circle about seven inches in diameter" ( Rushdie 1721). This sheet was required by Naseem's father, Ghani, to keep her covered and modest. This sheet symbolizes the hijab, as it hides the entire body except the face, which measures approximately seven inches in diameter in women. Naseem honors her father, his family and God by keeping her body covered and following her father's wishes so that she can marry a doctor. While this seems positive, this analogy mocks the idea of ​​wearing a hijab, as it would be silly for a doctor to treat their patient through a small hole. The irony of the situation lies in the fact that Naseem is very religious and is considered by her father to be a "good" and "decent" girl, while Dr. Aziz is more than likely an atheist (Rushdie 1721). This is a plausible idea since Salam Rushdie is an atheist, Muslim and student of Islam. This leaf is very symbolic in another way. It is stained with blood, representing the line from the Quran: “Recite, in the name of the Lord your Creator, who created man from clots of blood” (Rushdie 1712). Rushdie humiliates Muslims by continuing to mock the hijab by making it comic relief for Rushdie's audience, as shown by Dr. Aziz entering Naseem's room and the sheet being held by three "female wrestlers [who]... have tightened their muscles, just in case he was planning to try something extraordinary,” which confused Dr. Aziz and made him frantic about how he was going to do his job, but Ghani reassured him about the fact that this way would keep it “modest”.For three years, Dr. Aziz treats Naseem through the sheet and "[falls] in love", but not with her mind, morals or values, but he took care of her in a different way. He desires her in the parts of the body he has seen and in the parts he wishes to see. He is fascinated by the mystery that the cloth provides, as many people do with religion. Many people follow a religion because of the mystery it provides. It gives a possible explanation for what happens when we die and gives us rules and guidelines for how we should live our daily lives. Dr. Aziz is captive to the thought of what lies behind the sheet and what could be his own kind of heaven. Aadam Aziz visited Ghani's house several times to see Naseem and he would carefully and thoroughly examine his body in seven-inch sections, going from the bottom to the top of his body, excluding a few sensitive areas. Aziz began “to regard the perforated sheet as something sacred and magical,” satisfying his thirsty desire to fill the hole he had inflicted on himself by abandoning religion (Rushdie 1723). This shows an objectification of Naseem by Dr. Aadam Aziz, since he fell in love with her for her smell and for the softness and beauty of her skin, not for her intelligence or thoughts - which makes us human. It was a love for parts of a body and mystery, but not for a person as a whole or for the way Naseem Ghani thinks or acts. All this leads to Rushdie's final shot at the Hijab which was the exclamation "what a nose!" », launched by Naseem Ghani when she can finally see the doctor who treated her all these years (Rushdie 1723). The doctor was a very ugly man and was not comparable in appearance, mind or power to Naseem since she was a very beautiful, young and gentle girl. Unlike the previous male view of a hijab, the short story written and told from a female perspective, "The Women's Pool" shows the struggles faced by many Indian Muslim women. The story begins by being told by a narrator, old enough to work in the tobacco fields, who is "exasperated" and had to "wear [a] long-sleeved dress, [and a] head covering" in the heat intense summer in Lebanon. (Sheikh 1728-30). Her grandmother is her guardian and is very devoted to Islam, yet she is against the trip to the women's pool by the sea but goes there anyway to keep an eye on her granddaughter. The narrator wants to go so badly and this intensifies when she recites in her head “I can't wait, I won't eat, I won't drink, I want to go now, now” (Sheikh 1732). Then the narrator rushes her grandmother to leave so that they can go to the women's swimming pool, located in the town of Zeytouna. This idea of ​​an exclusively female pool is a culture shock for the grandmother. She considers swimming in public with the chance of being seen too big a risk to take. When submissive to Muslim women, they must be covered in such a way that only their face, hands and feet are revealed, and clothing must be loose enough so that the shape of their body is not obvious, which is not possible. to be respected if a woman wishes to go swimming. The grandmother insisted that she accompany the narrator to the women's swimming pool instead of her friend Sumayya. It was Sumayya who told the narrator about this pool and got it into her head that she should go and visit it, expressing how incredible it was. The grandmother in this situation defends the strict Muslim rules of this story and does not want to see the narrator go down the wrong path..