When female adherents of Islamic movements advocate the higab-the headscarf or veil-they simultaneously rework the concept of higab and the category of the Muslim woman. This can be seen as part of a wider objectification of the Muslim consciousness following the dissemination of mass education in the modern Middle East. This paper analyzes the discourse of female Islamists as expressed in a recent publication in which the higab and Islamic activism are described as matters of self-education.

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... e Muslim woman and her level of education are represented as pivotal to the integrity of the society, and the higab is subsequently rewritten to signal an ethical and responsible woman serving this purpose. The paper argues that this discourse promotes a modern approach to education.