BASRA, IRAQ — In Iraq, you don't know a man if you don't know his headband -- the seemingly ordinary rope, usually knit from wool, that is steeped in folklore.
If the country is divided along religious lines, the agal is a reminder of the intangible tribalism that Iraqis share: a cultural thread present from Baghdad north to Mosul and south to Basra.
Here, as in the rest of the Arab world where agals are worn, the color, thickness, material, intricacy of design and number of layers -- one band around the head or four, for instance -- reveal one's region and class.
Most are black and woven from camel hair, but there are brown ones and white ones as well, with varying degrees of silkiness or coarseness depending on the material used to weave them, and how tightly they are weaved.
There are agal designs worn by gulf emirs, Saudi kings and tribal sheiks that an ordinary man dare not wear, as unattainable as a $10,000 Versace suit or a pair of Jimmy Choos.
Rarely, for instance, will you see anyone but a tribal sheik or king wearing a white one or one with multiple layers. Iraq's first King Faisal favored this elaborate look. He wore an agal created with reeds woven tightly together into four bands, which were then bound to create a crown-like headpiece.
Like the people who wear the agal and for whom it is a crucial part of daily dress -- everyone from rural farmers to Arab kings -- the headband's history is intriguing for its mix of tragedy and toughness. Some say it evolved from the collapse of Islamic rule in Andalusia. One version says the caliph ordered men to wear black headbands in mourning. Another says that distraught women tore their hair out and hurled it at men to show their rage at the men's inability to protect Islam. The men then wrapped the locks of black hair around their heads in shame and sorrow.
In the most practical version, Bedouins carried the black bands on their heads in case ropes were needed to secure their camels.
If an agal is knocked off a man's head, it can ignite a war among tribes. If a relative is killed, family members will remove their headbands until they take revenge. If a woman has an affair, the men in her clan will not wear the agal until they have killed her and in their minds restored honor. Sometimes, a father will beat a mischievous child with his agal rather than a belt.
