The story of the shemagh or keffiyeh was brought back to light when a Lebanese designer designed women's shoes inspired by the shemagh and its two popular colors - red and black, which annoyed some Arabs, who missed the fact that are different stories about the origin of the shemagh. The stories include that the shemagh was originally Turkish, known as 'yeshmek' which means a hijab (veil). It was also said that its origin goes back to the yeshmaagh, which was a priest's outfit during Sumerian times and the word originally comes from 'yesh makh' (head cover).

Ancient images about Arab men show that they used to wear headdresses of one-colored cloth. Another story suggests that the shemagh's origins go back to a popular type of British fabric that was used as a tablecloth, and when the Arab army was formed, Arab soldiers refused to fight without their headdresses, and thus they were allowed to wear these red tablecloths and fix them on their heads with egals to differentiate them from civilians.

Peoples' fashion migrates from time to time and many people believe that GCC societies borrowed the popular Indian outfit known as the 'lungi' and called it 'wizar' in Arabic, to become a GCC traditional outfit. Well, the truth is that the 'izar/wizar' had been known in Arabia long before Islam, and it seems that it was taken by Muslims to India. It was described in many Greek historian references on Arab outfits as 'zeira', that is izar.

Years ago, I met a respectable man from the Mutair tribe who exclaimed why I was wearing trousers. "How dare you lose contact with your folks' outfits," he said referring to traditional Kuwaiti garb. "I am not the only one who did so, uncle. You did the same," I spontaneously told him. "How?' he asked in shock. "Well, you are wearing an egal, while your folks used to wear turbans", I told him, of course referring to the Muslim Brotherhood turban. The man smiled in surprise and passionately hugged me! -Translated by Kuwait Times from Al-Anbaa

By Salah Al-Sayer