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Things I’ve Learned Since I Started Wearing Hijab
It is extremely difficult to change your life completely at the peak of your youth. At this phase of your life, your emotions and hormones are in frenzy. All the illegal and risky things excite to the level that it becomes the sole goal of your life to discover it all. I started my journey as a hijabi girl at the age of sixteen.
In the amidst of all that was happening around me, controlling and restricting myself from the excitements of the world was not easy. As most of the young girls think, in order to liberate themselves from the restrictions of their parents and society, they need to show off their body.
However, this thinking is totally toxic and immature, you can be confident and free even without revealing your body. But all of this should be your own choice and decision and should not be derived by rebelliousness.
Like any other belief and faith, the will to follow Islamic teachings should come from your heart and soul and should not be forced. In fact, everyone should have the right to decide their choice of clothing, and they should never be judged for it.
I’m going to share my experience and things I’ve learned since I’ve started wearing hijab in this article.
1. Getting judged at every corner:
In spite of living in a Muslim community, people judge you non-stop. It does not matter if the person that is judging you is Muslim or not. As in most scenarios, the judgment is passed by fellow hijabis and by those who do not wear hijab alike.
Other hijabis judge you on the amount of hair and skin you show or reveal, and non- hijabis assume that you must be forced or oppressed to wear hijab. Furthermore, if you carry a hijab whilst wearing jeans or some western cloth, then people call you names. But it does not matter what other people think as long as you are wearing hijab for yourself and for pleasing Allah.
2. My hijab is my shield:
Wearing a hijab gives me a sense of security that I never thought I could feel. I believe it protects me from evil eyes and unnecessary attention.
The feeling of security that I feel when I wear hijab is unimaginable and unexplainable. It shields me from the lust of evil men.
3. Source of Strength:
As far as I can remember, the hijab has always given me strength. Before I started wearing the scarf, I spoke very little and did not have the courage to stand up for myself. But my hijab gave me confidence and a mind of my own.
Now, I am not afraid to raise my voice against bullying and inappropriate behavior. I freely talk about my thoughts on women wearing hijab. In addition, I also don’t tolerate any unfair or unjust behavior against anyone anymore.
4. Showing off my identity without saying anything:
My hijab speaks a lot about me and my identity as a Muslim. Now, I am a walking advertisement for Islam and my manners and behavior represent Islam. I am not afraid to show off my religion and my religious beliefs.
No one can misunderstand me as a Hindu Indian girl, as most western people think that anyone who has brown colored skin tone is from India. I am proud to be recognized as a Muslim.
5. My dedication to my faith will remain firm:
Our relationship with needs constant maintenance and growth. Sometimes, our faith might waver due to the excitement of the world, as the new meaning of “beautiful” is to roam around half-naked and show off your beauty. These new standards of beauty might cause some cracks in your faith. But I feel in my heart that I will not feel beautiful just by showing off my body.
I hold great pride that my body is not open to everybody’s satisfaction, instead, it is a prized possession that only my husband can see. My beauty should be reflected in my actions and manners, not in my clothes.
6. Dressing modestly does not make me oppressed:
It is a common belief that the hijab makes us oppressed, and it is practiced to shun our voices, but it’s the other way. Hijab gives us a huge sense of empowerment and freedom. In fact, in a world where women are asked to stand on the sidelines while others make their life decision, the hijab gives me the right to choose.
Wearing hijab and dressing modestly has been my choice since day one. The amount of freedom Islam has given women, is hardly given in anywhere else in the world. If people have assumed that by wearing fewer clothes and showing our skin, women feel a sense of empowerment, then they are wrong.
7. I will get treated differently by others:
I never thought that I would be discriminated against by my friends and my colleagues because of wearing hijab. Not only that, but I thought that they would support me in my decision. Instead, as a woman who has been wearing hijab for a very long period, I have always been treated differently. Even if I’m doing groceries at a superstore and an incident of robbery occurs, then people assume that the person in Islamic religious attire would be involved in it.
8. Journey is different for everyone:
Every woman has different reasons to wear a hijab. Their struggles and journey are different from the other women. They experience different hardships and challenges because of just changing their dressing style. Still, the thought we as hijabi women are not alone, we will always have each other’s back.
9. Hijab is a lifestyle:
Hijab is more than just a piece of clothing, it is a lifestyle. The process of getting used to wearing hijab should be first started from your heart and soul, then from your attire. Just dressing modestly does not mean anything if you are not modest in your actions. If your hijab does not reflect in your words and in your personality, then the meaning of hijab will suffer.
10. Hijab is not the only way to worship Allah:
Hijab does not make instantly righteous. You still need to work on other aspects of your faith. It is not the ultimate means to worship Allah. I used to believe if I start wearing the hijab I will instantly follow all the other teachings of Islam, but that is not the case. To completely follow the teaching of Allah, I will still need to put in a lot of work.
