Why Muslims are cognitiviely SMARTER than atheists. This is PROOF!

[kılıç_mehmet]

The exact nature of the burqa/niqab/hijab is a social one.
Pre-Islamic arabs of the cahilliye were people that were not really fully developed in terms of...clothing. As with most people in their time, arabs had nobleman, commoners, and slaves. Female commoners and slaves wore few clothing: just like in Africa, some women would go around only wearing a loincloth, with their breasts in the open, and most free commoner females would not bother to cover their heads.

The concept of headcovering, on the other hand, was an imported custom from mesopotamia, where it was the way the "daughters of Baal", a sacred institution of women would dress. These women would also perform the services of a prostitute, and would cover their heads in public to be recognized for their devotion to the God Baal.
In Arabia, headcovering and full body covering was the way noblewomen dressed. The prophet Muhammed, at first did not tell the women how they should dress themselves, however, some of his friends were in the opinion that his wives should cover themselves, and only talk to other men behind a curtain, as to "distinguish" themselves from the females of the commoners, whereas Muhammed was not a noble by blood, he was the leader of the moslems, and would have to act in accordance with it. The arabs at the time were a bestial people, they would harass any women they knew was not of noble heritage(which was probably punishable by death), and as commoners and slaves did not wear full-body, or head covering, they would frequently harass them, to which the prophet himself was said to have been witness to.
I'll explain: He saw a group of man, who were harassing a woman who was returning from the well. The prophet asked them in fury, why have you harassed this woman? They replied, that they thought that she was a slave/concubine. The prophet than decreed that all free, moslem women, commoner or noblewoman, should cover themselves(although no true description exists in the Qur'an on how women should cover themselves.).
Since then, the head or body covering has been a staple of female moslem dress, however, it was rather a loose one: There seemed to be no real standards on how to dress oneself.

I'll give an example of my own country. In the countryside, women would mostly cover their heads, while wearing loose, comfortable and baggy clothing, suited to working on the fields, riding horses, or tending to everyday life, whereas, in urban areas, women were seen to wear the niqab/burqa, although some would wear the dress that the people in the countryside would wear, but mostly of better fabric(silk), and would also wear a veil, equally of better fabrication, and great detail.

The women in arabia had no such need, as they were not needed in the fields(men would work the fields alone, if they had any), did not have the rich resources that Turkish women had access to(the silk road provided Turks with better quality things of everything), and did not have the same public, social role that Turkish women fulfilled in pre-moslem times, all to which amount to the way most arab women live today(except for Lebanon, where they are rather...).
Still, in Turkey, the word "arab" mostly refers to a lazy person, be it man or woman, and the fact that women in some arab countries like Saudi Arabia cannot leave the house without wearing that ninja costume has no real effect on their lives, I guess. They're too lazy to leave it anyways.