Defining freedom, a lecturer once told my class a short story: a man was walking on the street with both his hands outstretched on his sides. As he walked, his right hand accidentally hit a passer-by. This passer-by became  enraged and asked him why he was walking with his hands outstretched. The man replied, “I’m exercising my freedom.” The passer-by said, “Your freedom stops where my nose starts!”

This is a practical example of how all of us really want to co-exist. But, what do we tell the world? The people, who are so concerned about the rights of certain groups of society, usually forget to acknowledge the other half of the story. In other words, they would like to give unlimited freedom to one, while deliberately ignoring the rightful freedom of the other.

While women’s rights activists emphasize the freedom of today’s women, do they also give a yardstick of the “limits” of their freedom? I don’t think so. And while doing this, they prove to the world the limited scope of human intellect. Because on one hand, there are people who’d like to oppress the weaker groups, snatching away basic rights. On the other hand, in their call for freedom, these activists forget anything and everything beyond “rights.”

Many people fail to recognize these two extremes. This is perhaps because they’re not aware of a middle path, which has existed for centuries. It’s not so much about being unaware as much as it’s about choosing to be ignorant despite seeing it happen all the time.

There is a moderate way, which respects the rights and freedom of everyone. That way is called, Islam. Islam acknowledges the rights of men and women, while protecting them. Islam doesn’t let one group be more dominant than the other. It is about balancing the rights of all to create harmony in coexisting, the concept of a cohesive, cooperative Ummah. To create this balance, everyone has been assigned duties, which in turn, become the other’s rights and thus, a chain is formed.

In Surah Noor, Ayah 30-31 of the Qur’an, Allah has decreed laws for men and women: “Tell the believing men to reduce [some] of their vision and guard their private parts. That is purer for them. Indeed, Allah is Acquainted with what they do. And tell the believing women to reduce [some] of their vision and guard their private parts and not expose their adornment except that which [necessarily] appears thereof and to wrap [a portion of] their head covers over their chests….”

These laws are duties of one, resulting in rights for the other, and vice versa. For example, the duty of men is to lower their gaze and that, in itself, is a right for women. In other words, the right for women is not to be looked at as commodities. While women lower their gaze and observe hijab, that is their duty. In Surah Ahzab, Ayah 59 of the Qur’an, Allah decrees, “O’ Prophet, tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to bring down over themselves [part] of their outer garments. That is more suitable that they will be known and not be abused. And ever is Allah Forgiving and Merciful.” Women’s obedience to Allah makes it easier for the men to avoid the temptation to gaze, thereby avoiding dirty thoughts.

Moreover, wearing a hijab liberates women from the fear of being judged based solely on their looks. Meanwhile, non-hijab women are forced to pay the utmost attention to their outer appearance rather than their intellect. However, hijabi women are sure that their brain and heart (conduct) speak and show even when their body remains hidden. The importance of inner beauty in Islam is evident by the du’a for looking in the mirror: “O Allah, just as you have made my external features beautiful, make my character beautiful.”

The change we’re expecting from the men’s side, that of giving us respect as women, will have to start from within us. We have to elevate ourselves first. Stop being a commodity and you won’t be treated as one. Stop beautifying the outside for outsiders and your inside will beautify you, the real you: “Be the change you want to see in the world,” said Gandhi.

In other words, liberate yourself internally, in the real sense of the word. Give it a try, give yourself the right to be respected.

The post Hijab: Freedom or Oppression? appeared first on World Hijab Day.

My dear sisters, do not be afraid of criticism and prejudices because these two things will follow you whatever you do, whatever you wear and wherever you go.

The day you start to wear the hijab Incha Allah, step outside both humble and proud.

Humble for we are humble creatures, proud because we only bow to the Creator, not His creatures. Embrace the crictism and prejudices that will come your way at that time, they will forge you to be a strong woman that can stand alone against the world.

Tear down the prejudices simply by being who you are, unapologetically. People are scared of standing out, but we live our whole life standing as soon as we step outside our homes. This builds you, and shapes you, if you allow it to do so.

You won’t be afraid of people, people may actually be afraid of you. Because you look at the standards imposed and you gracefully spit on them. And it may be a little bit scary to do so, but it’s so amazingly freeing.

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What’s it like wearing the hijab every day in Italy? What’s its meaning? For World Hijab Day, we discussed this with Aya Mohamed, better known as her online persona, Milan Pyramid, an Italian activist, politics student and fashion lover.

Hi Aya, welcome. I’d like to start by asking you to clarify something. There are so many words for the scarf you’re wearing. Which ones are the most used in the Italian Muslim community? And what’s the meaning of hijab?

According to Islam, the headscarf refers to two different concepts. When it was first introduced, it was a symbol of religious identity. In this way Muslim women could be recognised as Muslim. Islam originated around 600 AD in Saudi Arabia. That society was almost tribal and, in that time, different religions coexisted. Being part of a tribe, especially the strongest one, meant being protected. Moreover, hijab is part of the Islamic dress code, both for women and men, albeit with some differences.

The word “hijab” in the Koran does not refer to the scarf itself, but it means “separation”. The scarf itself, used as a garment, is called “khimar”, and is a piece of cloth that covers most of the body but not the face. Today when we talk about the headscarf internationally, we use “hijab”, because it means not only the cloth that covers your hair, but also a whole lifestyle. It’s a way to express your own religious identity, a spiritual exercise that keeps you connected with God and faith. This is very beautiful and allows you to reclaim your religious background.

There are lots of words and scarves. The Hijab, the chador, the niqab (which leaves the eyes uncovered), the burqa (which covers the eyes too). These differences depend on the region you live in and the religious interpretations. There’s a lot of freedom to adapt the tradition to your personal life and the style that makes you feel comfortable.

People often use the words “Islamic” and “Muslim” incorrectly and/or interchangeably. What is the difference?

The word Islamic is used for places, literature, countries, but not people. People who practice the Islamic religion are Muslim. There’s another word, Islamist, which was coined 10/15 years ago. It comes from the right-wing language used to associate the Islamic faith to words like extremist, terrorist, etc. It’s not a positive word.

The Islamic dress code isn’t just about wearing the hijab, is it? There are other rules as well. Can you describe them to give us a more complete picture?

The Islamic dress code is strongly related to modesty and sobriety. When you decide to cover your body, you prevent society from sexualising it. In this way, you gain so much power. Your body won’t be judged and criticized by society anymore. In general, Islam talks about modest clothing, not tight or see-through and that doesn’t highlight the curves of your body.

In our society women are criticized whether they’re wearing too many layers or not enough. I believe that women should be free to wear what they want and to express their femininity and life choices as they desire. Covering up or not covering up is an important choice when you’re lucky enough to be able to make it for yourself and it shouldn’t be judged.

Many people think that women must wear the hijab to cover their beauty and not to cause men to sin. Is really like this for Muslim people?

It depends on you and your interpretation of hijab and Islam, but I don’t think so. We believe that God is beautiful and loves beauty. When you read about dress code in the Koran, God says that men must drop their gaze in front of a woman, so the responsibility is not on her, she shouldn’t hide. Then the aesthetic reasoning behind the hijab, if true, must be valid for both genders. So, if a man is handsome, he should cover up, shouldn’t he? It doesn’t work like that. The hijab goes beyond beauty, it’s about identity.

You said earlier that there’s a dress code for men too. What are the rules?

There are many rules, I’ll just tell you a few. Men should cover their body from the belly button to the knees and shouldn’t wear gold. Some Koran surah talk about a specific haircut, covering your head and measuring the length of your dress. It’s important to consider, in addition to the dress code, other rules that are different for men and women. It’s not all about the dress code.

Why is wearing the hijab a feminist choice? I remember a video of yours with some Muslim women talking about their relationship with the headscarf. I was really impressed by how they talk about it as a symbol of their identity.

Everything we’ve said just now shows that wearing a hijab can be feminist. We, in Italy, think about feminism as white, colonialist and often with only one vision, which makes it difficult to open it up to differences, but we should understand that the world isn’t just European or Western. There are many ethnicities and religions, and so there are many ideas of feminism. In my opinion we should talk about intersectional feminism, which recognizes and tries to achieve gender equality in many fields and, especially, for every single woman: White, Asian, Black, Arab, Native, Indigenous. It’s important to listen to women, empower them and validate their choices.

I truly believe that wearing a hijab is a feminist choice. We live in a capitalist society that profits off of women’s insecurities, so I decide to reclaim my body. I choose who can see it and what to do with it. This doesn’t make the choice to live and perceive feminism in a different way any less valid. All choices are valid. Every one of us makes a call on how to live their feminism and all of these decisions are part of a global feminism. At the same time, I understand the need of European movements to shift away from the Catholic tradition. And this often leads to a hypersexualisation of the female body. It’s a valid way but we shouldn’t think that it’s the same for all women.

I remember a beautiful article on the Huffington Post about Islamic feminism. If we analyse Arabic society before and after Islam, we notice that within this religion there have been many reforms in favour of women. For instance, before Islam, when a baby girl was born, they believed that she brought dishonour. Then the Prophet made a speech, saying that baby girls were a blessing for the family. There are lots of empowering elements for women in Islam and there’s so much equality. I’m talking about religion itself, of course. You could say it’s not like this in countries where the Muslim population constitutes the majority, but human beings aren’t perfect. We make mistakes and these dynamics depend on geopolitical reasons. The situation in each individual country is unrelated to what the Koran says.

You work in fashion. What is the link between wearing hijab and working in this field?

In my opinion, the link between these two elements is a union between my religion and being a girl with a Western lifestyle and upbringing. In fashion I find a way to express my religion and artistic identity. I really like the social and political impact of fashion: the way you dress conveys a message. When I walk in the street with jeans, sweatshirt and hijab, people understand I’m a girl both Muslim and Western. The name of my online channel, Milan Pyramid, is also a union of these two traditions. I choose it because I wanted to describe who I am through the city where I grew up (Milan) and a strong symbol of my origins (Egypt).

How did your life change when you chose to wear hijab? Did you notice that people who don’t wear it have different privileges?

Unfortunately in Italy, hijabi girls have lots of troubles finding a job, a house for rent and so on. It’s like society tells us: “If you’re Muslim it’s ok, but if you wear the scarf it’s not ok anymore”. I think that laicism is not the refusal of religions but their acceptance. In a lay country such as Italy, every religion should be respected.

Which are the hardest obstacles you face in coming to terms with your faith with the society in which you live and with feminism?

It’s only recently that I started experiencing the difficulties of being a practicing Muslim in Italy. Bureaucracy, for instance, makes it extremely hard to build mosques – indeed in Italy there are only two recognized mosques – and this is a problem. If you don’t have a place of worship, a reference point for the community is missing. Moreover, in universities we don’t have a room for worship or meditation, while in Europe, USA and Canada there are places like these. The Muslim community in Italy is very new and not very well radicated, we’re only in the first generation. In the UK, for instance, they’re in the fifth generation and they’re discussing issues, such as the introduction of halal meat in supermarkets, that are still a long way away for us. We’re still reclaiming the basis for our faith and we’re still trying to break the walls that create hostility around the Muslim community.

About feminism, I believe that girls like me, who in 2021 are practicing Muslim and feminism, face two problems: a society that doesn’t see them as feminists and the Muslim community which is patriarchal. This trait isn’t a part of the religion itself, rather it has to do with the society in which the religion developed.

February 1^st is World hijab day, a chance to talk about women in Islam. This Day was born from a Nazma Khan’s idea, that exhorts women, of all faiths, to wear a hijab for a day. What do you think about it?

I love the idea. Wearing it for a day is useful to understand how, with a hijab, you’re not invisible anymore. People treat you in a different way, when you walk in the street they stare at you, they associate you to an idea of Muslim woman. It’d be interesting also to see the family’s reaction.

Can you point us towards other Muslim women who wear hijab so we can listen to their story?

Of course! I’m thinking about Linda Sarsur, an American activist and one of the organizers of the Washington women march in 2016. Then Ilhan Omar, arrived in USA as a refugee and now Representative for Minnesota, and Sumaya Abdel Qader, an Italian politician. Finally, Tasnim Ali, an Italian influencer who, on social media, encouraged non-Muslim women to try the hijab to understand what life is like when you’re wearing one.

By Elisa Belotti

About Author 

Elisa Belotti lives in Italy and has a degree in Literature. She works as a journalist and as a teacher, dealing with books, information and social justice. Then she also loves trekking and TV shows. She can be reached on Instagram.

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I have been wearing Hijab for approximately four years and I am proud to say “I am a hijabi!” At times, wearing the hijab was challenging and felt degrading to my confidence, but the few challenges that I faced made me bond stronger to my head scarf. Some may say “the head scarf is oppressing women!” But, let me tell you, as someone who is currently wearing the hijab, my head scarf makes me feel stronger and empowering; and I guarantee that other ladies who wear the hijab can say the exact same. Wearing the hijab, however, is not just covering our hair, it can be thought of as a verb. We act upon it everyday when we put a piece of fabric on our head and head out the door. We look up to our role model Marriam (Jesus’ beloved mother), and follow her footsteps by acting with kindness, acting with modesty, and acting with humility – just like the famous saying “kill them with kindness.

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I’ve been wearing Hijab for almost my whole life. I have pictures of me wearing Hijab when I was only 6 years old. I have worn it with full contentment. My parents even tried to convince me into leaving it by telling me that I was quite young for it but I always insisted upon wearing it. Yes, I used to take it off occasionally when I was younger, but that was rare. What made me wear Hijab was seeing my older sister donning it, so I was just copying her. Also the beautiful religious environment that I was raised in helped with my positive decision. Once I understood the true, beautiful, and deep meaning of Hijab, I never regretted wearing it at such an young age. I enjoyed my childhood as normally as any other kid. My parents would take us to the beach, swimming pools etc. So wearing Hijab didn’t steal away MY FREEDOM. Actually it was totally the other way around.  Hijab gave and still gives me the complete freedom that I deserve as a Human being.

A lot of our friends (mine and my two sisters’)  have worn Hijab because they were inspired by us and that is something that I really thank ALLAH for, that He chose us to deliver such a beautiful message.

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My reflection on hijab:

I find it absurd that the world thinks of Muslim women as oppressed due to the way Islam tells us to dress.

Putting religion aside for a moment….what is the definition of oppression?  It is “to burden with cruel or unjust impositions or restraints; subject to a burdensome or harsh exercise of authority or power.”        (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/oppress)

To imply that hijab or niqab (choosing to cover your body and/or part of your face with loose clothing which doesn’t reveal it’s shape) is oppressing we would need to say that it is cruel or unjust or is a burden on Muslim women and as a collective, we would like to tell you that this is certainly not the case.

Myself, and most (but not all, of course) of the Muslim women who choose to wear the hijab do so because of the way it makes us feel. The hijab gives me and many other women, the confidence to be ourselves, say what we think and actually demand to be taken seriously because it is not our bodies and beauty on display but our mind, our personalities, our intelligence and that which we choose to share with people.

There’s nothing more liberating than being covered. Women in Western (and non-Western) film, music, and media are constantly portrayed as sex objects and women all over the world are paid to be naked or scantily clad! Talented or educated women such as sports stars and even politicians are scrutinized based on their appearance above other things and the (so – called) feminists who claim that liberation comes from removing your clothing only aid this patriarchal society in ensuring that women allow themselves to keep being objectified!

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