Originally, World Hijab Day (WHD) was set aside to bring awareness to the fact that there are ladies, girls, and women of the Islamic faith who follow Allah’s religious commandments by using the Hijab. This was not done to rub the Hijab in the face of anyone, but as a move to encourage its acceptance.
Invariably, what we are trying to pass across is that; the world has, in one way or the other, accepted nudity as a way of life for some people. As such, it really shouldn’t be hard to accept the Hijab as a way of life for others.
How exactly can “Free the Nipples” be in vogue, yet the Hijab is treated with disdain? The height of it all is the discriminatory, or rather insensitive, biased and prejudiced approach of the so-called feminists, who insist that a woman can dress as she wants, and expose as much as she wants of her body, but are the same people who attack women who cover.
How is it known that they did not choose to cover? Have they genuinely asked and verified the reasons why a woman would choose to live the Hijabi way and not believe that they already know why?
Their views might not be totally faulty, as there abound several stories of girls who are forced to wear the Hijab.
Countries like Iran force their ladies to wear the Hijab, but we don’t see the feminists attack France for banning same though. While I am not trying to justify forcing its use, I’ll just remind every scholar, family or friend that does this to remember that there is no compulsion in religion as, stated in Suratul Baqarah (Qur’an 2 vs 256).
Forcing people to wear the Hijab is a form of oppression, and doing such could cause the reason it was ordained to be lost on Muslim females.
We shouldn’t be committing sins because we want to encourage a law, after all: “Religion is an advice”, as reported in a Hadith.
However, it is appalling, inhumane and totally uncivilized to discriminate against a lady or girl for the sole reason of her choice of outfit.
More often than not, Hijabis face violence outside their homes. It is saddening that countries with an agreed heterogeneous society have the highest levels of intolerance and aggression towards Hijab-wearing females.
It really is a different thing if you do not understand the purpose of the Hijab, but it is absolute idiocy to believe that everyone who chooses to wear the Hijab is oppressed.
As a Hijabi myself, I find such a suggestion appalling, and this is the message several other Hijabis want to pass on this occasion of the 2019 World Hijab Day. The Hijab is basically an act of obedience to our Lord, which doesn’t affect us or make us less human.
Rather, it ensures that we don’t become slaves to society, and actually makes us responsible humans because we represent a general identity. We work, we reason, we love, we are loved, we can speak (eloquently and freely), we hurt (yes, we actually have feelings), we have hair like everyone else, we need air to breathe free like everyone and we believe.
To all who have been oppressed one way or the other because of the Hijab, I pray you find succour. To those who continue to oppress people because of the Hijab, I pray Allah guide your heart to more productive things and keep you busy from harming others. To those who abuse the Hijab, I pray the light of wisdom reflects on the error of your ways. And to those who are raising the awareness of the plight of the Hijab and Hijabis, I hope you know your reward is with Allah. I pray it be a good Hujjah for you (Amin).
AbdurRazaq Zaynab
Abuja, Nigeria
Sponsored
What a comprehensive review of what hijab stand for and the morality benefit, while opposition to its use embraced immorality as a norm or how could it be best described if groups of ladies take it upon themselves to agitate for the freedom of nipple , what VI’s the life turning to ?. we are gradually going back to stone age while there was no fabric to covered nudity , which to some extent is excusable. Thanks for the moral lesson send across.