The Whole "Hijab" Thing

Terms used:
Hijab: The Veil/ higab
Hijabbed: Wearing a Hijab
Hijabi: a girl wearing a Hijab
:)

Hello!

Today I'll discuss many of my thoughts on Hijab but whether it's an Islamic obligation on women is NOT one of them. Actually i will not be talking about Hijab as a concept but how people view it. I just think that the issue of Hijab is overrated, Yeah..I think people (either supporting or fighting it) are unnecessarily making a big deal out of it. Usually people in our beautiful Arab societies make big deals out of issues that are worth a chewing gum just to appear like they have some points but we seriously need to grow up and stop dividing the community into groups more than it already is because now there's a "Mo7agaba" and a "Mesh Mo7agaba"... I'll get to this division later but let me start the discussion properly.

In the last couple of years, some religious Muslim people started encouraging girls to wear the hijab and thus devoted Muslim girls started wearing it (which is not bad). However, almost all religious discussions were then directed towards the Islamic dress of women and ignored anything else (like the basic principles of the Islamic faith, the behavior of a Muslim, the purpose of our life....and more important issues).

This lead to a huge gap between the people's attention to their appearances and their realization of their spirits, they became separated. That's a huge problem because being disconnected from your true self means that you're unbalanced which means that you're not able to think clearly! With time, people unintentionally began relating the personality of a girl to what she's wearing. They could even judge the strength of her faith and the more covered she is, the more respected she became even if she doesn't even pray, she is to be considered a good Muslim.

Consequently, Hijab became more of a cultural thing ...which is not the point. But group A which i was talking about in my post "Muslims in Egypt" appeared.

As more girls started wearing the hijab, another group of Muslim people (group B) noticed that and were upset, either because they're against the idea of Hijab in general or because of how group A prioritized it over other things. As a result, they considered themselves against the Hijab Movement and started fighting it!

They developed some opinions like: Hijab is a backward step in the society!, Men force women to wear it, it's against women freedom....!

Accordingly girls are being judged again according to their clothes. If she's hijabbed then most probably she was brainwashed by men to do so. She must be uneducated or narrow minded and she can't think on her own. She definitely needs help!

Hundreds if not thousands of groups and events on facebook calling girls to take off their Hijab because they're "free". Many websites and campaigns against wearing the hijab. Slogans, articles and pictures making fun of the Hijabis and offending the hijab calling it things like ignorance and retardation...But they're still calling for the "freedom" of girls. Do i smell contradiction?

Despite the fact that i do wear the hijab, i'm not taking sides here. As a matter of fact i'm against both sides! lol. No really, I totally respect those who support the hijab and those who fight it. But don't you think that there are MUCH MORE important things to talk about? In our society: drugs, sexual harassments, real ignorance, poverty...but we're still discussing whether a girl should cover her hair or not. Why don't we all act upon our beliefs. If you believe in Hijab, just put it on and leave the others alone. If you believe Hijab is pointless, forget about it. It's okay to share your opinions but you guys are spending too much effort and time on something that won't really make a difference!

Actually what's truly and personally pissing me off is not only the way people think of hijab but the pressure both sides of the debate are putting on the girl wearing it. It's like everybody is waiting for the Hijabbed girl to sin...

Hijab-Supporters are criticizing her actions that are not "suitable for a girl who wears hijab"!
Hijab-Fighters are criticizing her actions that "prove that the hijab she's wearing is pointless"!

In the end, you're always going to hear this sentence from both sides:
"Shoof ya akhy mo7agaba we bet3ml eih!"

It's like the day i decided to cover up i announced to the world that i'm perfect...
Everybody is expecting me to dress in the perfect modest way! (I'm not saying i'm not supposed to dress modestly, that's what the concept of Hijab is all about to most people but it still doesn't give you the right to assume i was intentionally wearing my slightly tight jeans to drag attention). Not only that, but i'm expected to ACT in a certain way as well. Come on! I mean it's a piece of cloth not a halo or a sensor that's supposed to electrify me whenever i'm about to commit a sin!

I'm wearing the hijab for my own personal reasons. Girls have brains, remember? I am able to judge for my own self and make my own decisions. I'm not waiting for you to brainwash me about how i've been brainwashed my whole life! You don't even know what i'm thinking. You don't know what Hijab represents for me and how my life is affected by it.

I'm not giving excuses for myself or for any Hijabi who makes mistakes, I know some silly mistakes are sometimes done which contradict the concept of Hijab but so what? You sometimes pray your daily 5 prayers perfectly and sometimes you're mind is thinking about something else, some other day you miss the duhr Prayer but usually you're doing your best to wake up for Fajr. You see...we are all human beings we are all doing our best. And seriously that's the most important thing of all, that we make sure that WE are doing our best and not Others!

Don't you see that Satan himself is satisfied with this division? Can't you see how weaker and weaker we become each day? How we're being humiliated in front of the whole world!? There's incredible technology in the real world but in our world we're still concerned with the hijabbed girl that smokes shisha.

Let's bring back the Glory of our beautiful faith.
Let's learn to love each other and focus on our similarities and forget about our differences. And direct all our energy to something useful.
I hope i was able to deliver my message correctly...

A Great Stanza From an Arabic Poem

ولـــدتك أمك يا ابن آدم بـــاكياً

والناس حولك يضحكون سرورا

فاحفظ لنفسك أن تكون إذا بكوا

فى يوم موتك ضاحكاً مسرورا

الأعشى بن قيس