In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful: January 2012

Salam aleikum dear readers,

I wanted to write this blog update about the Hijab, the modest veil Islamic women wear to cover up their beauty and therewith guard their virtues and gain respect. I chose today because I started wearing my Hijab on the 25th of March 2011 and have been proud ever since!

Before I start on this topic, I would like to stress that this post is not ment as an insult to the sister not wearing the Hijab or with a different dressing style. As we all know Iman (how much one adheres to one's religion) is personal and cannot be judged by any other than Allah swt. As Iman is based on inner beauty, it has relatively little to do with external beauty. The Hijab can however increase the inner beauty by covering the external beauty and making one more modest not only about physical aspects, also emotional and cognitive aspects of life. No one can force another person to wearthe Hijab, for it is a conscious decision and a right that can be taken or not.
First of all what is the Hijab, where is it mentioned in the Qu'ran, why don't all Muslim women wear it and what is considered modest, what isn't Hijab and my own experience?

The Hijab can refer to the headscarf worn by many Muslim women, it is a way to cover the beauty of your hair, your neck and your chest. This is however not all, the Hijab does not only mean covering the forementioned parts of the body. As we all know a women's body has more sensuality, therefore the arms and legs (therewith the buttocks, hips and thighs) are also covered. This can be done by either wearing long dresses, skirts or Jilbabs (see picture below).

The arms are to be covered up until the wrists and the legs up until the ankle. There are differences between the schools of Islam, so do some allow the top of the foot to be bare (as in sandals or flipflops) and others do not. This again all depends which scholars and therewith which school of Islam you follow, also whether you live in an Islamic country or not and if you notice that uncovering said body parts makes men (in general) notice you more or give you more (unwanted) attention.

The Veil (Hijab) is mentioned in surah 24, verse 31:
``And say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty; that they should not display their beauty and ornaments except what (must ordinarily) appear thereof; that they should draw their khimār over their bosoms and not display their beauty except to their husbands, their fathers, their husband's fathers, their sons, their husbands' sons, their brothers or their brothers' sons, or their sisters' sons, or their women, or the slaves whom their right hands possess, or male servants free of physical needs, or small children who have no sense of the shame of sex; and that they should not strike their feet in order to draw attention to their hidden ornaments.´´ (Holy Qu'ran 24;31)

Now as you might understand many scholars have interpreted this verse differently, most scholars will interpret this verse as being ment for all Muslim women and that they have the right the cover themselves. Other scholars have interpreted the verse to be ment only for the Holy Prophet's (a.s.) wives, again other scholars have said that covering the hair (and all forementioned body parts) is not needed. However all schools of Islam agree that during prayer the Hijab should be worn as was mentioned before.

The choice the wear the Hijab all the time or not therefore really lies with the women. However we see many different Hijab styles, not meaning the colours but rather what is covered and what isn't. As the body parts mentioned before can be either covered or not, this is again up to the woman in question. Again this blog is not ment to hurt the feelings of any sisters of brothers in Islam, it is merely to clarify and I am open to hear your opinions!

The women themselves are the judge of what they find modest or not. I myself also changed priorities a couple of times, I for one didn't use to wear sleeves up until my wrists, for I thought people won't look because we live in a Western country. However then I started thinking, its not that hard to cover my arms completely and I am actually doing it a 100 % then, why not? And I can therewith maybe be an example for an Hijabi struggling with her priorities herself and show her that it is not hard at all to keep to every aspect of modesty. My biggest concern when I first started wearing my Hijab was the heat, I thought that I wouldn't survive the summer, but thank God I have not had any trouble (actually I've experienced less heat problems). For when wearing lose fitting clothes, your skin can actually breathe properly and you don't sweat that quickly.

Of course there are downsides to wearing the Hijab. As you probably know there is a worldwide negativity towards the Hijab, the Western world believes this is a mere 'tradition', that is old fashioned and a way to surpress women. However when we look closely, this same standard is not kept when looking at a nun or Mother Mary (a.s.).

This 'double standard' is practiced all around the world. With this the woman wearing the Hijab is seen as uneducated, surpressed and in general inferior. The contrary is however true, Mashallah so many Islamic women go to universities. The question of suppression is answered by the fact that the Hijab is a woman's right and is decided by the woman herself. And when we think about modesty and respect, the Hijab provides a woman with both. As the modest dressing style does not make you better than other Muslim women, we should all be able to provide a good example for the world. In the form of being able to answer questions, discuss and explain Islam and the other monotheistic religions (Judaism and Christianity).
At first I was scared of being an example of my religion, but now I find it to be very stimulating and fun. I like explaining about Islam and my Hijab, especially since I came to the religion by myself. I love interacting with people and hear their opinions. I for one never knew that these religions had anything to do with each other, now I know that they are all based on Holy Books sent by Allah swt and that the basic teaching remain the same: to not kill or hurt, to have good and pure intentions, to live healthily, to protect our earth, to have equal human rights and to love all members of the human family (all ethnicities, all races and all ages).

We should stress our similarities rather than our differences, the most important aspect of these three religions, one God!

Hereby I am ending this rather long blog update, for this topic can be dicussed about for many hours and paragraphs.I wish you a pleasant evening and Insha'Allah this update provided some insight or extra information on the Hijab. Feel free to comment and share your opinion on the Hijab! For now, salam aleikum dear readers. May Allah forgive us our sins and multiply our good deeds.