Why do you think the concept of female modesty is controversial in gender rights debates? There has been great concern recently about the position of women in Muslim society, an issue of concern that may have been triggered by the current wave of Islamic revivalism. Female modesty was the main focus of this concern. While Muslims generally argue that there is an ideal gender prototype in Islam, non-Muslims tend to disagree and point out that Islam generally oppresses women. I will try to study the veil tradition regarding the modesty of the female body, placing particular emphasis on the new development of feminist notions in the Islamic framework, and I will try to understand why there is such a clash between Western feminist ideas ideology and the Muslim role of women . It should be noted, however, that the amount of external influences on modern thinking and personal concepts of faith means that it is virtually impossible to give a definitive answer as to why the concept of female modesty is controversial in gender rights debates. I will examine why the West might see the hijab as a sign of women's oppression using anthropologist Mary Douglas's theory of cultural boundaries. I then show that self-identifying Muslim women have only just begun to provide new readings of the Qur'an to rejustify the veil within the Muslim faith. Muslim behavior flows from the basic concept of hay'a, or modesty. The concept of modesty in Islam covers many different intersocial acts and is approached in Islamic teachings from a variety of different angles: physical modesty, marriage, humility, and clothing, all of which reference the wearing of clothing discussed in the Bible. Quran and Hadith. Modesty i...... middle of the sheet......6): 134-156. New Zealand Journal of Asian Studies. Network. February 13, 2014. Bullock, Katherine. Rethinking Muslim women and the veil: Challenging historical and modern stereotypes. Herndon, VA: International Institute of Islamic Thought, 2002. Print.Douglas, Mary. Purity and danger; an analysis of the concepts of pollution and taboos. New York: Praeger, 1966. Print.Guindi, Fadwa. Veil of modesty, privacy and resistance. Oxford, UK: Berg, 1999. Print.Haleem, MAS Abdel. The Koran. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 2004. Print.Kamalkhani, Zahra, Women's Islam: Religious practice among women in today's Iran, London: Kegan Paul International, 1998Makhlouf, Carla. Changing Veils: Women and Modernization in North Yemen. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1979. Print.Safi, Omid. Progressive Muslims: On justice, gender and pluralism. Oxford: Oneworld, 2003. Print.