braceletofnoor:

14noor:

Why do Muslim women cover their head?

wonderful perspective. absolutely wonderful.

[Flickr] Bread ready to bake in Morocco. 

[Flickr] Expressive

[Flickr] Muslim women learning art at a local Muslim Art School (somewhere in South East Asia).

[Flickr] Vibrant Muslim woman sitting at a coffee lounge. 

[Flickr] Muslim woman in Istanbul 

fadumodiriye asked: salam.I have a question i have been wearing the hajab for most of my life but being a teen it;s hard to explain why i wear the hajab do you know how to explain to my friends why i wear the hajab with deatail instead of saying its part of my religion

Peace and many blessings,

we received a similar question like this, which you can read here. However, I don’t mind providing you with questions you can ask yourself as bullet points that can be used as some what of a starting point for some self reflection:

• does the physical hijab help me? can the physical hijab help me? 
• how does the physical hijab help me? what are some ways that it helps me?
• what are the dimensions that the physical hijab uplifts me? does it make me closer to Allah? to Allah’s message? Does it help me understand myself?
• who do I see when I see myself wearing the physical hijab? Do I find myself in the physical hijab?
• what are some good characteristics the physical hijab allows me to further exercise as a human being? charity? salah? peaceful behavior?
• Do I feel complete observing it? Do I feel incomplete when I neglect it?

When you answer these questions on a personal level for yourself, you begin to further investigate the physical hijab and what it means for you. And inshaAllah, I hope it enables you to be able to answer questions about it.

Much peace. — Dee.

csidgaf asked: assalamualaikum,how if a guy asks me "why do muslim girls weare hijab?" how can i answer it w/ a simple answer with a perfect explanation and he can understands it. tq

Peace and many blessings,

That’s the glorious thing about hijab, it can not be performed in vain. You need to find your own personal reasons to understand  why it is that you wear the physical hijab. When you come to explain it to yourself, and convince yourself that these are important reasons as to why I should continue struggling in upholding this physical hijab, then Allah allows you to be able to explain to others why it is that you wear it. 

Some reasons that many Muslim women have stated about wearing the headscarf is that it allows them to keep their modesty, ego, and faith in check. This is a really important concept because when you are aware that you physically cover your body with this entity called the hijab, it repeatedly forces you to assess your level of faith in God.

Another important reason I like to use is that it liberates me from this sexualized image of women that is compounded and continually stored by society. My physical hijab affirms that my sexual life is not suit for discussion, and that I do not permiss anyone to identify me as a woman that takes part in dehumanizing or demeaning women in any physical form. 

But most importantly, it allows me to detach myself from given areas of the dunya (or this worldly life) that would spiritually shackle me and cause much harm to my state of Taqwa, or God consciousness.

By being able to detach myself from the dunya, I am more focused in becoming an intellectual, modest, and wise being for the sake of Allah (so that I may educate my family and my community for His sake as well). Being able to detach oneself from the dunya is critical because when one recognizes that the hijab is an extremely important part of one’s spiritual and psychological development, one begins to understand how and what it means to depend solely on Allah for guidance and support.

I hope this helps inshaAllah. — Dee.

[Flickr] Trafalgar Square London.

[Flickr] This photo was taken on October 5, 2010 in Al Iskandariyah, Al Iskandariyah, EG.

[Flickr] Black Chador

[Flickr] Woman wearing a chador in Takht-e Jamshid, Persia, Iran

subh4nallah asked: is it absolutely mandatory to wear a hijab?

peace and many blessings,

it’s important that we find time to sincerely reflect and read Quran and genuinely decide whether or not the given Text suggests so.

InshaAllah you are well. 

forgetaboutthescarythings asked: Salaam! I have a quick question. I was told by a friend that you are supposed to have your neck covered if you are wearing hijab but I see many women who do not have their necks covered. Is it okay to not have it covered? Thank you so much for reading! :)

Peace and many blessings,

If we had to explore such complex phenomenon’s like the physical hijab by observing how other sister’s wear it, we would be very confused people. Muslims observe idioms in light of their culture, the way in which they were raised up (and where), and several other factors that vary from person to person.

This relativity can be understood with regards to idioms such as hijab. Some women decide to fully cover their face, body, and hands because they feel most convinced that this is the best and most complete form of physical hijab — and that is fine, as I believe it is (although I don’t wear niqab or burqa). Other Muslim women may decide that simply covering their hair is what defines the physical hijab with regards to what Quran deems necessary. We also have sisters who uncover their arms, thighs, and feet and yet wrap their hair in a scarf. Without passing any form of judgment, it is up to our intellect to sort out what would be most appropriate and relevant in light of Quranic text that defines this hijab It speaks of.

We need to bring Quranic text back to its original context, and when one studies the context whilst studying the message displayed within the verses, we find that there is more to the physical hijab than simply covering the hair.

During the Pagan Era, Arabian women had their hair covered. In fact, they were long clothes of silk and other expensive material to draw over their heads and face. If you ever watch the movie The Message, you’ll find that quite obvious. Hind, the wife of Abu Sufyan, was one the most elite and rich women in Makkah; her expenses were mainly spent on the silk industry in which she bought material for her dresses and head scarves. In this Pagan culture, it was as if the most rich of women were the ones who could afford x amount of material to be used for their hijab and dresses and the less fortunate women were those who only could afford one piece of material to cover up and look elegant. 

When the ayahs (or verses) were revealed about “covering the bosom,” it wasn’t merely a signal to cover our breasts by wearing bras, but a recollection of the way in which Arabian women observed their outer modesty. These ayahs suggest that yes, you are covering your hair, but extend that khimar over your bodies and chest. Therefore, it no longer became about class and the elite and who could afford covering themselves up in such lovely material; rather, it was set as a moral obligation to extend this form of cultural practice to a religious one in which all forms of egoism and signs of higher class were dismissed so that every woman felt they had a legal and religious obligation to feel the comforts of such a practice.

Hence, to suggest that uncovering your neck is a part of physical hijab is quite silly, for it goes against the very basics of rationale when placing the whole notion in light of Quranic text and context. There is no indication that the neck can be uncovered, for if you measure the logistics, you’ll find that it is almost impossible to go around from covering the hair to covering the entire body without passing the cloth to cover your neck.

InshaAllah this helps. — Dee. 

your-beeautiful-deactivated2013 asked: asalam o laikum, jumma mubarik! wanted to start wearing the abaya, I already practice the hijab..but i have this fear what if i take it off later on..I need good advice! please! Jazak'Allah Khairun

Salaam wa rahmatullah,

I wish there were guidelines I could give you, or in this case, steps that you can take that will strengthen your confidence about the purpose of wearing the full, physical hijab, but there aren’t. It’s all intuition, or ideals that you feel most personal and connected with. 

I don’t think there is one Muslim woman who would deny that the physical hijab does come with several struggles. It does, and I think it always will involve some form of struggle or hardship. 

But there are things that the physical hijab entails that I think many people fail to recognize. For one, it’s a physical reminder that you choose to identify as a practicing Muslim woman in front of hundreds of thousands of people you come across every day. Do you know how amazing that is? Do you know how hard that is for many? Do you know how much confidence that involves? It involves confidence in yourself, in your religion, in your practice, and in your understanding of the world. And not many people have that confidence.

Two, it is a physical representation of your identity — an identity you feel comfortable sharing. Sometimes when I sit down and remind myself why I should continue wearing the abaya and hijab, I come across an important point which never fails to uplift me. When I wear the hijab and abaya, I am presenting my values and my morals in a fashion that involves a lot of critical and unbiased thinking. The hijab and abaya repels ignorance, and it draws in the curious. I appreciate that; I value that. I don’t want to deal with people who do not understand nor care about my values, I want to work and talk to people who are curious and smart. 

Furthermore, the hijab and abaya excludes me from participating in society’s culture of sexualizing the female gender. I will not allow society to dictate to me what is glamorous and what is not, and because of my physical hijab, I disallow the discussion of my sexual life to be part of normal conversation. Coming from the West, this is a really important point, and I think that although the hijab is not a protection, it is a reminder to society, to my nafs, to my peers, and to ideals (that try to spiritually bring me down) that I choose this form of lifestyle.

InshaAllah this helps. — Dee.