Archival - Saudi Cleric Abdullah Daoud: Girls Should Wear the Hijab from the Age of Two

Following are excerpts from an interview with Saudi cleric Sheik Abdullah Daoud, which aired on Al-Majd TV and was posted on the Internet on April 1, 2012:

Sheik Abdullah Daoud: The prevalent custom among Muslims of the countries of East Asia is to make girls start wearing the hijab in the second year of their lives. This has motivated us to compete with them, and we will start our girls wearing the hijab even earlier.

We should not consider this to be without precedent. In many countries, in East Asia, for example, Muslims are distinguished by their hijabs and the hijabs of their daughters. Some of these countries have more than one religion.

Let me say to the viewers: We want this too. We do not want to see revealing and shameful clothing, especially when girls start to develop and fill out, and show signs of beauty, and so on. You find that she is in a state of exposure and nudity. I think we know that there are fatwas that forbid this, even if they have not yet reached the stage of puberty. Whenever the girl is an object of desire, the parents have the duty to cover her up with a hijab.

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