Apparently my pants were too tight to meet the dress code. (Thanks to all that fabulous Turkish food!) So the staff lent me a skirt. Not all the mosques we entered were this strict. Doing a bit of research on the topic, I learned that the Quran encourages modesty but does not define it as wearing a robe, headscarf, or face covering. Different branches of Islam interpret modesty in different ways. Christianity is much the same; some conservative sects believe that scriptures indicate women must wear long skirts, long hair, and caps, and cannot wear makeup or shave their legs.