Today (World Hijab Day) was a beautiful day. I am so grateful for the opportunity to walk a mile in someone else’s life, even for just one day. There are very few people that are indifferent to the hijab and I experienced both sides today.

Major life lesson- My eyes are opened to subtleties of racism. In my mind, racism is big hate filled gestures. I saw today that those incidents are rare. It takes the form of passive actions. It’s opening my own door a lot more than normal. It is someone’s eyes to the floor in the elevator. It’s the lady behind me at Kroger stepping back and white knuckling her cart when I turned around and smiled (what did she think I was going to do, attack her with my Flonase?!?!?!). It breaks my heart to know that people experience actions like this everyday. It has strengthened my resolve to choose love and be kind to everyone.

The counter energy to the racism is love. There are a lot of kind and gentle people. This was also very subtle but obvious. It was a girl catching my eye and giving me a warm smile. It was a compliment on my beautiful scarf. It was a thumbs up as he walked by my cube while I was on a call. It strengthened my resolve to be visible in my activism (this is soooooo hard for me. I want to be kindness to be anonymous).

The best part of my day was lunch. After I hid all my crazy hair, my eyebrows were all like, “OMG, look at me!!!!” So I went to have them threaded. Once the lady realized why I was wearing the hijab, she told everyone else in the salon. We talked a little about right of choice. She asked to take a picture with me and to post it. She was so happy to have a champion for her rights and they were all very gracious for support. I could see the worry and tension on their faces melt away, if only for a few moments when they were in the presence of an ally. This strengthened my resolve to be kind, always fight injustice, #RiseUp and #Resist.

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I am a Muslim revert from the Philippines. I was almost 17 when I reverted to Islam last year during the last day of Ramadan, alhamdullilah. Before I became a Muslim, I had faith issues. I stopped believing in Christianity due to many questions that popped up in my head that nobody could answer. I eventually gave up the idea of religion. I was almost at the edge of being an atheist until I found Islam, Alhamdullilah.

My family is devout Christian. I can say that my father is really against Islam, so I really have to hide it from them or else something might happen. Eventually, my family (except for my father) confronted me if I became a Muslim because they caught me praying at some occasions while wearing the hijab. I told them that I became a Muslim. They were so upset and told me so many bad things. They threatened me that they will tell my father if I don’t leave Islam. I was very afraid of that time so I told them that I will stop practicing Islam, but it is only to avoid any danger inshaAllah. Alhamdullilah, after what had happened, Allah has helped me to get through it. I only pray secretly as much as I can so they wouldn’t find out that I’m still a Muslim.

I’ve never been this happy and complete during my jahaliyyah (days of ignorance). Alhamdullilah Islam answered all of my questions. Knowing Allah is such a great honor to me and I couldn’t be more grateful to be one of His servants.

I am planning to wear the hijab in my university, insha’Allah. I know that this won’t be easy for me as it is my first time to wear it in front of everyone. I will be removing it when I go home, so my family won’t know it. Please keep me in your dua’a (prayer) that I can do it for Allah’s sake.

May Allah guide my family and the other non-Muslims as well to Islam, Ameen.

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I started wearing hijab at sixteen years of age.  It was the first day of Ramadan and the best day of my life. It was hard in the beginning but things became wonderful afterwards. First, I lost two jobs and some friends. I also had a hard time with my family. I had no support and I learned Qu’ran and Islam all by myself. With time, I realized that God was protecting me and He had better plans for me. Islam saved me from a lot of things. I felt myself more protected, more respected, simply a better person, and more comfortable with myself. and Alhamdoulilah (God-Graciously) today, I’m more than just happy.

Hijab is necessary, Yes. But the most important thing is one’s relation with Allah and the way one tries to be a better person and a better Muslim. No matter what media says, Islam will shine anyways. I wish blessings, happiness, and love in life for everybody.

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