By Rumki Chowdhury
As February 1st, 2022 nears us, we are already anticipating the worldwide celebration of the hijab on World Hijab Day. While some of us are excitedly awaiting the day, others are undeniably hesitant…questioning. And that’s okay with us! We welcome those questions, all year round!
Consequently, this one fabric, garment, hijab, khimar, headscarf, or whatever you choose to call it, can be as graceful and soft as a feather or a thread. Yet, it can also be made into something as suffocating and heavy as an avalanche or a sandstorm. That depends on a number of circumstances…or questions. Those questions, like pelicans, circle a mountain of previous ones, already piled up:
The World Hijab Day Organization is blessed to have received and shared so many beautiful and inspiring hijab experiences. However different the journeys might be from one another, they all share one thing in common according to The Central Masjid of Jamaica: the hijab is a direct command from Allah.
It is stated in Verse 31 of Surah An-Nur in the Quran:
“And tell the believing women to lower their gaze and guard their private parts and not expose their adornments except that which [necessarily] appears thereof and to wrap [a portion of] their head covers over their chests and not expose their adornment [i.e., beauty] except to their husbands, their fathers, their husbands’ fathers, their sons, their husbands’ sons, their brothers, their brothers’ sons, their sisters’ sons, their women, that which their right hands possess, or those male attendants having no physical desire, or children who are not yet aware of the private aspects of women. And let them not stamp their feet to make known what they conceal of their adornment. And turn to Allah in repentance, all of you, O’ believers, that you might succeed.”
In life, we sometimes end up trying to please others and seeking things like love and understanding from them. However, we eventually realize that we are not responsible for other people’s emotions; people will feel and think what they feel and think at a given moment in time. If there is one certainty in the life of a believer, then it is this: Allah’s love and acceptance of you as you are. Therefore, we wear the hijab for the simple fact that it pleases Allah and this, in turn, is sufficient enough for us.
According to The Central Masjid of Jamaica, the hijab is much more than a headscarf; in other words, it is more than a fashion statement. It is the ultimate symbol of modesty and modesty is beauty for it highlights the beauty in our hearts and minds. The hijab is often worn with loose clothing, including the coverage of the arms, neck, bosom and legs.
Furthermore, the hijab is the veil of the heart: one should not love unlawful things nor think inappropriate thoughts. One should also have just or right intentions.
In fact, according to Verse 263 of Surah Al-Baqarah in the Quran, “Kind speech and forgiveness are better than charity followed by injury.” Thus, the hijab means being modest in thought and behaviour as much as it means being modest in the choice of clothing.
With that, we hope that the avalanches and sandstorms have subsided and that the pelicans have settled down to sunbathe.
About the Author
Rumki Chowdhury is Editor of World Hijab Day Organization. Moreover, she has her own editing services. She is an award-winning published author. She has an MA in English Literature from Queen Mary University of London, a BA in English Writing from William Paterson University of New Jersey and an English Subject Teaching Degree from Gävle Högskolan in Stockholm, Sweden. She speaks Bengali and Swedish fluently! She has years of experience in the media and publishing worlds. Rumki lives with her husband and their three daughters.