The trend to unveil had begun in Egypt in the early 20th century, set in motion by the writer Qasim Amin. Amin had argued that "gradual and careful change in the status of women," including women's casting off their veils, was now an essential step in the advancement of Muslim societies and "not contrary to the principles of Islam." Although Amin's ideas had been met with great resistance, how they gradually gained acceptance and spread among the "more advanced Arab countries," first in Egypt and then "Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq. " By the 1950s, the veil had virtually disappeared in Egypt, except among the "lower middle class, the most conservative of all classes. " It was only in the Arab world's "most backward regions," and specifically Saudi Arabia and Yemen, that the "old order" and along with it such practices as veiling and polygamy "still persists unaltered."…