What is Hijab anyway? Headscarf, veil, whatever anyone wants to call it. It’s not mentioned officially in any religious texts, it’s not mentioned in the old books. It’s this idea that has become more cultural that religious, mainly imported from gulf countries, although adopted by so many Muslim women all around the world out of piety and modesty. In Egypt, a girl is decent if she is covering her hair, not necessarily dressed decently all over, but there is a higher level of respect for a girl wearing a piece of cloth over her hair and a tight pair of jeans than there is to a girl not covering her hair, even if she is dressed more modestly. In my opinion, this isn’t right, and there are huge misconceptions around this area.
Hijab in itself is a representation of modesty. A girl can be modest by wearing wider clothes, longer sleeves, showing less skin, and maybe, if she wishes, to cover her hair. She could be wearing a pair of jeans and showing a bit of her hair or she could be wearing a long incredibly baggy Abaya. She could wear a headscarf that covers her bosom or she could tie a small scarf around her head and her neck could be showing. It’s not 0’s and 1’s, at the least perspective, it’s a wish from the girl to attempt to be more modest. We are not here to judge anyone, lest they be better than us with their faith. a girl could be wearing very modest clothes and always wears her hair in a ponytail or a bun, never wears makeup and she could be more pious than a girl who covers her hair but let's a few strands loose, wears a lot of makeup, and tight clothes, because she believes that society forces her to wear Hijab to maybe fit into the norm or escape harassment on the streets. And the girl with tight clothes, makeup and a few strands of hair showing could be more pious than a girl covered in a black Abaya from head to toe. Even though Hijab is an external demonstration of Islam, it is still something between a woman and her God, so as God Almighty says “O ye who believe! let not some men among you laugh at others: it may be that the (latter) are better than the (former): nor let some women laugh at others: it may be that the (latter) are better than the (former): nor defame nor be sarcastic to each other, nor call each other by (offensive) nicknames: Ill-seeming is a name connoting wickedness, (to be used of one) after he has believed: And those who do not desist are (Indeed) doing wrong.”[ Al-Hujraat (THE PRIVATE APARTMENTS, THE INNER APARTMENTS) 49:11]
“ياأيها الذين آمنوا لا يسخر قوم من قوم عسى أن يكونوا خيرا منهم ولا نساء من نساء عسى أن يكن خيرا منهن ولا تلمزوا أنفسكم ولا تنابزوا بالألقاب بئس الاسم الفسوق بعد الإيمان ومن لم يتب فأولئك هم الظالمون” (11) سورة الحجرات
For a muslim woman to wear Hijab in a non muslim country would mean she would look flashier and attract more attention to her than were she not wearing Hijab. But that’s the thing, she’s still dressed more modestly, which is something no one can argue, so in the end, she is fulfilling her duty and following her heart and her faith.
Do some people force their children/wives to wear Hijab? Yes they do, out of the feeling of obligation that they will be held accountable for the people in their families, which is correct (the belief not the forcing), but I believe in two things; the first being that a parent should raise his girls to be modest and shield them from the temptations of the glittery glamorous world, and that a husband should pick his wife according to the same concept that she is stronger than falling prey to the glittery glamorous world around her, so it shouldn’t be that hard to convince her to be modest, which doesn’t necessarily mean cover her hair with a piece of cloth, or to be harsh on her, forcing her into a state of religious hypocrisy, where she and the person who forced her would both be held accountable for that state. After all, we can’t lie to God when He sees into our hearts.
As for my personal experience, I wore Hijab right before my 14th birthday. My mother wouldn’t let me at first because it was a huge responsibility; it was commitment to a higher level of religiousness which I admittedly wasn’t at. One day, I woke up, and I told her I’ll go to school wearing Hijab and borrowed one of her scarves, I even remember that it was a Monday, it was before Ramadan, and it was completely weird and I didn’t know how to tie it, but it felt right at the time. I wanted to take it off that same day because it was difficult for me to commit to. I fought that urge off though. My family kept asking me later when they saw me during Ramadan if it was only during Ramadan, if I was trying it out, an American cousin who so normally used to grab me and toss me on the couch out of playfulness told me that he wouldn’t speak to me when I was wearing it. I stood by my decision, probably out of stubbornness, but I held on to it.
I had my reasons too, which I think were very sound for a 14 year old. First, I was not that committed religiously, I didn’t pray regularly, and I definitely didn’t do all the Amr Khaled tapes and seminars that preached Hijab, with all due respect to him. But I believed that to wear Hijab would bond me to a higher level of religiousness that I would need; how could a girl wearing Hijab not pray regularly? How could she walk around gossiping all the time? She didn’t, and I tried my best to abide by those rules. It didn’t work so well, but by time it did. I wasn’t a model muslim girl, nor am I now, but it definitely was a strong incentive. For a 14 year old girl, Hijab is God’s gift to women. Beginning of puberty, body changes, and huge self consciousness issues make a teenage girl feel like it’s time for her to go invisible for a while as this transformation is complete. This is where Hijab comes in. it gives her permission to cover up, she is no longer worried about how people see how her body is changing because she is dressed modestly. She can so bravely hide behind her religion and continue –more –normally and less self consciously with the rest of her life. Most importantly, she can focus on growing up instead of growing into a different type of body. The other side of me wearing Hijab at 14, which probably made it a lot easier for me, is that I was a bit of a tomboy already, I didn’t wear skirts or tight clothes, I didn’t care about my hair being tied into a braid or a pony tail, and I knew I was changing, I knew that at some point the life of a young adult would get glamorous. I’ve seen it with my friends; the makeup, the tight clothes and short skirts, and the false notion of looking good to be noticed, maybe by boys and maybe just to look good in the eyes of society, and I didn’t want that. I tried to resist it as much as I can and so at that point I believed that to wear Hijab would be the best option. The best thing is that it didn’t mean I don’t have to look good or wear elegant clothes, it just meant I do it for me, not for the world to look at me, judge me, and make comments I don’t care about. If they admire my clothes, then they admire my taste and things I own, they don’t look beyond it, they CAN’T look beyond it. I am still a human being.
So why do I still wear my Hijab, since I’m far older than 14? Because once, I went to meeting (wearing my Hijab) or a volunteer thing with very decent people, wearing a tight blouse, and two or three men, whose ethical behavior is not in the least questionable stole a glance at my chest before looking at my face. They had never done that before, nor did they ever do it again. At that moment, I understood what it meant to be modest in my clothes, and that’s not to prevent people from checking me out, rather to have them see as who I really am; a human being. I wear Hijab because my Hijab makes me feel more human and makes everyone treat me as a human, no objectifying me there. It makes the world seem less important. Even if every once in a while when I am preparing to go to a wedding, I wish that it would be just easier to wear a normal evening gown without going through all the trouble of fixing it to fit my Hijab, or when I have a good hair day and would like to show it off. It is nice to be admired for the way I look sometimes. But then I think, I have covered myself in order to be me for so long, to wear Hijab has become a part of my personality, it defines me that I am not someone who shows off her hair or her skin or her body, so why ruin it all now to be admired for a day? The floral skirt isn't really worth it that much, effort lost is the worst feeling for me, doesn’t everyone just hate something when it goes to waste? I wear it to please God, because God asked us to be modest, and I think to come to that belief is the greatest thing about it.
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