Mariam and Laila are subject to the ancient, ultra-conservative laws of the Taliban during their period of control in Afghanistan in A Thousand Splendid Suns. Here, there are encouraged, rather coerced into following their regulations on how a female should properly dress. Covering themselves from head to toe in hijabs and burqas, Mariam and Laila suffer not only under the scorching Afghan sun, but from the beatings and violence from the Taliban themselves. However, in the West, prejudices and ignorant bigots, like those at Abercrombie & Fitch, deny and prohibit Islamic women, like Samantha Elauf, a job because their traditional hijab (a small veil that covers the head and neck, but leaves the face bare) does not comply with policy dress code.
In the United States, politicians, businessmen, and ordinary citizens boast and covet at our freedoms such as speech, press, assembly, and religion. Members of the company denied Ms. Elauf (who is being represented by the Equal Employment Oppurtunities Commission) the right to work their because of their assumption that she would wear the hijab to work everyday because of her religion. This, according to policy, violated their rule "requiring any employee should not wear articles that do not comply with the brands aesthetic" which includes head gear and anything black. Abercrombie & Fitch's lead counsel stated to Supreme Court Justices that her clothing "did not appeal to the Abercrombie "East Coast" style." Both liberal and conservative justices are expected to lean in favor of Ms. Elauf although historically, they have sided with the defendants who are being sued on the grounds that they have violated the First Amendment. For example, the Supreme Court under Chief Justice Warren Burger reviewed the case of Goldman v. Weinberger, 475 U.S. 503 (1986) where they ruled a Jewish Air Force captain can be denied the right to wear his yarmulke with his uniform as the Free Exercise Clause pertains less strictly to military members. Yet, Abercrombie & Fitch's cologned-self-centered employees could use a little diversity and potentially expand their market towards Muslim-Americans especially as their populations continue to rise in the early twenty first century.
