Islamophobia in education: perceptions on the wear of veil/ niqab in higher education

The purpose of this research is to determine the reasons and motivations for wearing the veil among female students. This research method uses a phenomenological approach as part of qualitative research. Participants in this research were female students from private universities in Yogyakarta. In-depth interviews using an interview guide instrument are a technique in data collection. Data analysis using semantic reduction is done by identifying important statements from the results of the interview, determining the theme of the discussion, and describing the significance of the whole experience of veiled students. The findings of this research indicate that there are five main themes in the wear of the veil in universities, namely the average age of female students who wear a veil, motivation and reasons for wearing a veil, perceptions from within themselves and their environment, constraints encountered, and consistency in wearing a veil. Some of the findings obtained are certainly new references that need to be further developed. Knowledge of Islamophobia, especially the perception of the veil phenomenon, is important for educational institutions in determining policy and for the community to be a reference in dealing with the phenomenon. Tujuan penelitian ini yaitu mengetahui alasan dan motivasi penggunaan cadar di kalangan mahasiswi. Metode penelitian ini menggunakan pendekatan fenomenologis sebagai bagian dari penelitian kualitatif. Partisipan dalam penelitian ini adalah mahasiswi dari universitas swasta di Yogyakarta. Wawancara mendalam menggunakan instrumen panduan wawancara menjadi teknik dalam pengumpulan data. Analisis data menggunakan reduksi semantik yang dilakukan dengan mengidentifikasi pernyataan penting dari hasil wawancara, menentukan tema diskusi, dan menggambarkan pentingnya seluruh pengalaman mahasiswi yang bercadar. Temuan penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa ada lima tema utama dalam penggunaan cadar di perguruan tinggi, yaitu usia rata-rata mahasiswi yang bercadar, motivasi dan alasan untuk bercadar, persepsi dari dalam diri mereka dan lingkungan mereka, kendala yang dihadapi, dan konsistensi dalam bercadar. Beberapa temuan yang didapat tentu saja merupakan referensi baru yang perlu dikembangkan lebih lanjut. Pengetahuan tentang Islamophobia terutama persepsi tentang fenomena cadar adalah penting bagi institusi pendidikan dalam menentukan kebijakan dan bagi masyarakat untuk menjadi referensi dalam menghadapi fenomena tersebut.


Introduction
Since the bombing event in the world trade center (WTC) building in 2001, the discourse on Islamaphobia has been an interesting discussion. Starting from the system of thought, ideas, thoughts that emerge and even a picture of the bombers then form a concept about the culture and behavior of a particular group. The existence of that event has certainly become a warning for the world community about the emergence of a violent movement that is used to achieve the goals of certain groups whether in the political, socio-economic field, or even what is related to the stigma against adherents of certain religions. A stigma and accusations were raised to Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaeda network as the main perpetrators. Even this stigma extends to all Islamic countries. One effect is the overthrow of the Taliban in Afghanistan, which is considered to protect the terrorist 1 . The accusation pinned to this fundamentalist Islamic extremist group then becomes a negative perception that is pervasive throughout the world. Islam is sometimes considered a terrorist religion and endangers the world. Islamophobia became a real movement in opposing Islam followers around the world. Islamophobia refers to a fear of everything related to Islam.
Islamophobia is a form of prejudice and enmity directed at Muslims, which is generally generalized by a multitude of western nations to the Muslim group. So in the context of social stratification, Islamophobia, according to Wolf, 2 entered into racial nature because of fear and hatred of Islam. This right has an impact on forms of discrimination against Muslims in the social, economic, and religious fields. After the WTC incident, Islam around the world was really in a pinch because of the emergence of terrorist stigma. Huntington's thesis 3 about the existence of a clash of civilizations seems to be justified. There will be a clash of civilizations from the west and east that are represented by the Islamic world. This condition has worsened with a series of bomb attacks in Istanbul, Madrid, and London 4 . John L. Esposito 5 stated that the story of the dispute between East and West is not a contemporary issue but has a root of a long dispute and can be traced back in the past and not something unintentional. When talking about the relationship between East and West, historical aspects must be put into perspective. The history of the crusades in the classical period that occurred between the West and Islam, the emergence of the Islamic revolution in Iran in 1979 that was able to overthrow the pro-western regime, the emergence of the conflict between Iraq and Saudi Arabia, the prolonged conflict between Israel and Palestine plus massive media coverage made the role important in the emergence of Islamaphobia in the United States and Europe 6 .
In the United States, the form of Islamophobia that arises is the presence of vigorous negative reporting about Islam. According to Lasswell, 7 fear or phobia is usually done by distributing information using symbols through the media in the form of words, pictures, music, films, reports, and other 3 Samuel P. Huntington According to the poll, about 46% of Americans have a negative view of Islam, which has increased by 7% compared to the initial months following the 9/11 incident 10 . The description of Islamophobia can be seen from the perspective of some non-Muslims conveyed by Alshammari 11 in his writings that Islam portrays a monolithic culture.
Islam has cultural values that are very different from other religions and cultures. To the West, Islam is considered inferior, has barbaric, oldfashioned, and relatively irrational behavior, and supports terrorism and violence in society. In Islamic politics, it uses the ideology of violence 12 . both in the socio-cultural, media, political, and even freedom of religious activities. The emergence of discrimination, negative views of Islamic religious symbols such as Muslim clothing, headscarves, veils is some examples. The most common and widespread discrimination in European Union countries is the issue of religious symbols, especially headscarves. In Germany, the issue of headscarves remains a heated debate. Half of the 16 states in Germany prohibit the use of symbols of all religions, namely Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Berlin, Bremen, Hesse, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, and Saarland. For example, the states of Berlin, Brandenburg, and Hesse implemented a "neutral law" by prohibiting teachers and employees in public schools and courts from using religious symbols. This neutral idea of religious symbols in the public and free space in the private space does not seem to make sense to Muslim women who consider the veil to be a necessity in the public sphere 13 . The headscarf problem is also experienced by many Muslims in the European Union in general who want to get a job or rent an apartment 14 .
The impact of Islamophobia is palpable not only in parts of the world of America and Europe, but also in Indonesia as a Muslim-majority country. Media in Indonesia itself also not a few who expose information about Islamophobia. This indicates that Indonesia is also on the alert for Islamophobia 15 The phenomenon of Islamophobia in Indonesia is one of the interesting places to study. Fear of Islamophobia in Indonesia can be based on a culture that tends to collectivity emphasize interdependence among individuals in the form of high social ties, plural society groups who like to maintain harmony. The existence of Islamophobia is certainly feared to bring up conflicts that can disrupt the stability and security of the country including in the political, social, religious, and even educational fields. The effects that emerge are not only for Muslims but can also impact non-Muslim groups. The emergence of radical groups associated with Al Qaeda networks and coupled with events of radicalism in Indonesia such as the Bali bombing case, riots in Ambon, bombings in many places will certainly cause concern in Indonesian Muslim community groups. According to Kowalski, 16 who wrote his opinion on Indonesian Islam, "People usually think that if a person is Muslim, he is linked to terrorism. But Muslims in Indonesia is very different from Western Muslims. Indonesians are very kind and always smiling".
Islam in Kowalski's point of view lies in the character of his people smiling or being friendly and behaving well towards others and carrying out the practice of diversity among adherents of a harmonious religion from a long time ago. Nevertheless, the issue of the existence of movements, networks, and teachings of Islamic fundamentalism and radicalism has infiltrated Indonesia. Even the news about the existence of terrorist movements and networks have infiltrated religious education and become very frightening for them 17 . The world of education also eventually experienced a shift in the view of groups that are considered as representatives of Islamophobia. Unlike ordinary people, the world of education, especially in universities and all other stakeholders should ideally be an intermediary in reducing the influence of Islamophobia in the form of providing education about understanding Islam, its teachings, the culture of each group or its adherents and even clearly different cultures in This aims to provide a deeper understanding of differences. With ethnic, religious, and linguistic diversity and more than 300 ethnic groups and 700 living languages, Indonesia is one of the most diverse cultures and languages in the world. Although religious diversity is formally supported in Indonesia, incidents of attacks and anxiety about the practice of religious pluralism are very likely to occur 18 . Education can contribute to building a tolerant and multicultural Indonesia 19 .
Someone who already has a high level of education (university) usually also has a high level of regulation and is already able to filter and share information obtained. Good self-regulation will affect one's thoughts and actions. The ability of self-regulation includes cognitive, metacognitive, behavioral, motivational, and affective aspects of learning 20 . It is not easy to give bad views to others and be wise in accepting new information and phenomena that occur. The provision of religious education in tertiary institutions aims to shape the contribution of a stronger understanding of the role of religious literacy in life 21 . The emergence of strong religious literacy would ideally foster a high degree of religiosity. One effect is the emergence of high tolerance, which can take the form of an understanding of what is believed by others in carrying out the understanding of worship. In Islam, it is also clearly conveyed in the Qur'an that Islam is not what is believed by adherents of Islamophobia. Islam strongly upholds peace and tolerance 22 .
On the other hand, subjects of religion (Islam) are part of integration and interconnection with social science 23 . Social science is specifically directed to improve one's competence to become a democratic, tolerant, responsible civilian, and make rational decisions based on accurate and comprehensive information for mutual benefit in society. This is in line with the opinion of Sakai and Isbah 24 about increased religiosity having contributed to the growth of socially involved religious organizations that are used to overcome social problems. Zidny, Sjöström, and Eilks 25 mentioned the purpose of contemporary Islamic education, not only changing the socio-cultural base and students' knowledge alone but Islamic education is expected to be able to solve the moral. The struggle about differences in the tertiary environment is a discourse to be discussed and find solutions not as a place to create views that can lead to negative stigma. Fear of the form of symbols in Islamophobia in the world of education needs to be corrected again about the good and the bad. But the reality in the field there is still someone who give a negative response to the symptoms of Islamophobia by making specific policies that are still being debated, such as the existence of regulations prohibiting the wear of the veil on campus 26 . On the other hand, the research findings mention that there is a strong or positive relationship between the achievement of higher education with the wear of headscarves, veils/niqab and other actions in the aspect of religiosity, especially understanding religious learning and the frequency of reading religious texts 27 . The existence of a variety of problems is due to the emergence of Islamophobia in the world of education. This research will reveal related views in the campus environment related to the wear of veils in the campus environment. The experience of female students as participants who wear the veil will be revealed in this research. Realizing the importance of the view of veiled female students in the campus environment, this research specifically tried to answer the following questions that emerged: a). reasons for wearing the veil, b). view of the surrounding environment, especially on campus and family environment, c). obstacles and obstacles encountered. The focus of this phenomenological research will describe the experience of students in the process of migrating wearing the veil.

The main theme of the wear of the veil among female students
Based on the results of data analysis, five main themes or categories of female veil usage were obtained, namely about the age of the veiled female student, motivation, reasons for wear, views or perceptions of herself and the environment, the obstacles faced and consistency in the wear of the veil. Of all those interviewed, the average veiled female student was between 19-24 years old. The age factor is the first main theme in this research. At this age, a person enters the early adult phase of development. In theory, the early adult phase is indeed the phase of someone looking for an identity. Someone will try new things. At this time a person has begun to think openly, flexibly, adaptively 28 . Besides, it is also usually characterized by conditions of uncertainty and instability in dealing with a problem. Early adulthood is a time when a person experiences physical and mental changes simultaneously 29 . This self-existence can be obtained when they have a clear self-concept, which will influence the best decision for someone. Mead 30 explains the concept of self as judgments and feelings of individuals about themselves that arise as a result of social interaction. The concept of self has a considerable influence on individual behavior, i.e individuals will behave following their self-concept. Thus, students with high self-concept will tend to have independent decision making. This is the following statement from WN participants 31 which states that "I realize my age is still unstable, so if we cannot find out about what I want, then in the future I do not know what I will do".

Reasons and motivations for wearing the veil
The second main theme is the motivation and reasons for female students to wear the veil. Almost all female students have a reason to wear the veil because, in addition to self-identity 32 , they protect themselves, guard their genitals 33 , and maintain relationships 34 and excessive views with others, 28  especially men. There are a few who want to reduce the burden of sin that will be borne by their parents. Some said that because they were afraid of death, they needed to learn more about religion and carry out what was ordered, one of which was to cover genitalia as one of the religious teachings or doctrines 35 . Some also wear the veil because of peer influence and a new environment 36 . Another reason that arises is that they wear the veil because it follows the trend in the context of fashion 37 . As stated by WR 38 , "I wear a veil because I remember death and I want to ease the burden of Mr. rahimahullah and I want to reduce sin by not uploading selfies. I wear the veil too because I want to be more closed and proud of Mr. Rahimahullah and Mother". ND Participants 39 conveys another reason for wearing the veil, namely because of the interference from someone who is harassing her, "Initially there was an incident, at that time when I was in semester 5 and there was an event where there was a male friend who spoke disrespectfully to me and that alluded to the matter of sex and I was not married so I was scared at that time and I was to eliminating my sadness I went to my friend's house in the boarding school that almost all students veiled".

Environmental perceptions of female students who wear the veil
The third theme is the view or perception of self and its environment. In this theme, two views emerge about the wear of the veil. Some groups consider wearing the veil acceptable, especially in the campus environment. While the 35  other view is that the veil is unusual for the culture in Indonesian society 40 . This was also conveyed by WN participant, 41 who stated "my parents disagreed with the veil, not because we didn't like it but because in our environment no one used it and when it was different from the community, in general, it became unusual in the community". The fourth theme illustrates the obstacles faced by veiled students when interacting on campus. The main obstacle faced by the majority of veiled female students is the existence of negative views that emerge from their environment, both on-campus or from the family and community 42 . The real form of negative views that appear as perceived as part of a terrorist group is a mysterious ninja, or the prohibition of families not to wear the hijab. This was reinforced by the results of the LT participant interview 43 , "I once stopped wearing the veil after graduating from Madrasah Aliyah, because there were negative perceptions from people who were still ordinary and still could not accept veiled people. Negative views because they are different from the environment are sometimes considered as a mysterious ninja". Added by HT 44 "If in my hometown there are still many laymen and negative people, my parents also forbid me at first, but because I was able to change for the better, finally my mother agreed, but with the condition, if you wear a veil if at home you adjust to the surrounding community". DT 45 also explained the obstacles, "Not all of my family's environment can accept the wear of the veil, especially the surrounding community, especially in my hometown who still thinks negatively that veiled people are related to terrorists". DG also told that "I am often asked why wear a veil? not only friends but also the family".

Constraints for female students wearing the veil
The fifth or final main theme is consistency in the wear of veils. The amount of experience of veiled female students during the veil wear process and views obtained from the environment then made the reasons and beliefs of most female students remain firm 46 and are still actively wearing the veil, but a small number have reconsidered about wearing the veil. There is prohibition from parents and the discomfort with the environment is a factor of two respondents not wearing the veil again. Besides of course the influence of other factors, such as the influence of the existence of fatwas from existing religious organizations 47 . This is evidenced by the results of interviews conducted with ND and WN participants. ND 48 explained, "After I think again, from all the incidents that I have experienced, I think I decided not to regain consciousness. This is more due to personal considerations and after consultation with immediate family and also understanding and fatwa that I believe. As a member of Muhammadiyah".
Besides, WN 49 has other reasons as to why not to wear the veil again, "there were so many obstacles, especially in the class, so many of my friends negated my presence in the veil, and some even thought that I was veiled only for fashion trends, veiled because my prospective partner told me, and many more. So that I am not strong with such obstacles and in the end, I decided to remove the veil and live as usual Not only that, from my parents and siblings, they were afraid that I would be judged as terrorism by the surrounding community". More detailed main themes from the results of the research can be seen in Table 1 below. Based on the explanation above, it can be concluded that in the process of wearing the veil by female college students is a phenomenon in the implementation of religious teachings. Students' understanding and beliefs about religious teachings are one of the reasons why this phenomenon emerges. Besides that, the reasons to protect themselves, avoid distractions, maintain the views of men and be devoted to parents are also other factors. This research also found a reason a female student wearing a veil for health reasons, which previously had the flu and then wearing a mask and after feeling comfortable continued wearing a veil. Another thing that needs attention is the readiness and consistency of female students wearing the veil. Some experience inconsistency because of special factors and considerations for their good. The existence of strong friction with parents and the surrounding community and the personal problems befall the underlying reasons for not continuing to wear the veil.

Conclusions
This research describes the experience and process of wearing veils by female students and the views or stigma received from the surrounding environment. The focus of this research is how the dilemma of female students when deciding to wear the veil. The interesting thing that can be concluded is the variation of motivation and reasons for female students to wear the veil. Some are due to religious factors, other people's influence factors, trauma abuse factors, and even health factors. Various experiences and reasons revealed and the existence of resistance from the surrounding community influence the consistency of students wearing the veil. The results of this research also found a relationship between the level of natural education in this case higher education, religious understanding, and decision making in wearing the veil.
Besides, the consistency of the wear of the veil can be influenced by the existence of a strong self-concept from students and also a high level of resistance from the environment. The majority of female college students who have strong self-concepts decide to keep wearing the veil despite the many obstacles they face, while those who are unable to elaborate strong resistance from the environment decide not to wear the veil anymore. The many findings obtained in this research can be a reference for other researchers to explore more about the same theme. Therefore, further studies are expected to be able to design specific research models to find out more about the veil associated with other variables. This is important for educational institutions and the community in dealing with the phenomenon of Islamaphobia.