Happy Hijab World Day!

I’ve always found it silly, these “world days” events like “sandwich world day”. However, for some reason this “hijab world day”, I feel compelled to speak about it. With all that is happening around the world when a non Muslim sees a hijab, it’s natural that negative thoughts may cross their minds. Therefore, I wanted to share a different light and my experiences with hijab and my faith.

If you know me very well than you know that I was not a Muslim all my life. My conversion to Islam deserves a separate post but to put it simply, being a Muslim to me is acknowledging that there is only One God who is all Powerful, all Merciful, all Knowing, the Creator of everything and only Him should I worship and submit to in supplication.

I started wearing the hijab from the day I converted to Islam in 2008. At the time if you had asked me “why do you wear the hijab”, I would be shy to tell you “that it was as if a force led me to that decision”. It wasn’t something I really pondered deeply about before wearing it but yet it felt one of the strongest decisions I had ever made in my life. My hijab journey has by no means been a perfect one. I have struggled and had dark days with it but I am now ready to share some of my struggles.

Soon after having made the decision of wearing it, I began to face many challenges, such as loosing many friends, having many confrontations with my family members and the constant reminder that I was an ambassador to my faith.During this dark moment of feeling isolated and lonesome, I wanted to take my hijab off. However, a constant reminder would come to my head that “God loves those who are patient”. So I kept asking Allah to ease my struggle with the hijab and my journey.

Shortly after, I had an epiphany with the hijab. It wasn’t until one day that I decided to walk out of the house without the hijab on that I realized the importance of it. When I didn’t had the hijab, I felt exposed, naked even though I was covered from head to toe with the exception of my hair. A couple of hours later, I went inside a public bathroom and put my scarf back on. I immediately felt a sense of warmth and contentment in my heart. After so many years of struggling with the hijab, I had finally found it’s purpose. I realized that Allah advised the women of faith to cover and take steps towards modestly, because He loves us. You see Allah wants to protect us against harassment and he wants us to be treated with upmost respect and dignity. He wants us to preserve our beauty so that is not exploited and mishandled. It is no coincidence that diamonds or pearls are hard to find, it’s beauty and value are forth the sacrifice of finding it. If you have a diamond and a pearl at your possession you will not expose it and give it anyone to just exploit it.

If you ask me today, “why I wear the hijab”, the answer will be simple, “because my Creator advised to wear it”. The Creator loves us women so much, that he wants to protect us from any source of harassment. Indeed, every time I am out of the house with my hijab I feel a tremendous rush of confidence that I will be safe and protected. Moreover, I feel the most beautiful that I have ever felt before and not because of physical looks but knowing that every time I put that hijab on, it’s an act upon my faith, it’s an attempt to be a better person.