Sisters around the World,

Here I stand, an #UnapologeticHijabi

I started wearing the hijab in January, 2022 and cannot be more proud of myself for it. I did it for Allah and Allah alone. I was born Muslim سبحان الله but it took me 30 years to realize what wearing hijab means. It also took me being diagnosed with stage 4 cancer to push me in the right direction and I truly believe Allah showered me with infinite mercy by making me sick. I call it my miracle.

I attempted to wear hijab twice before, once after my parents took me for Hajj الحمدالله at the young age of 17 in 2008. The second time I tried to wear hijab was during my university years, eight years later during medical school in 2016. I was going through a hard time, mentally, dealing with anxiety and thought it would help me overcome my issues. Of course, those were all the wrong reasons for my wearing the hijab which is why it didn’t last. What I didn’t realize was that wearing hijab means changing everything about one’s self, one’s personality, one’s personal fashion sense and an increase in modesty both inside and outside. So, I was not ready for the hijab yet.

As mentioned earlier, being diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic breast cancer is the push I needed to wear hijab with complete conviction. I underwent all the treatment necessary including chemotherapy, surgery and radiation after my initial diagnosis in 2020 at 29-years-old. I naively thought I was done with cancer and going back to living my life. I made plans, however Allah made better plans for me.

I thought about continuing my registration to move to the UK and continuing my career as a doctor. My faith had increased after diagnosis, however now that I think of it, I may have lost my faith, lost my connection with my Lord if I had moved. Because being around my family was also the driving force to help secure my connection to Allah. The brain tumor has returned and caused my first seizure. My incredible doctor fought for a last ditch chemotherapy, but The All-Protector has been my savior, working through my medical team and family. It has been a difficult journey, however, The Most Merciful has blessed me with the faith and strength to overcome those difficulties. Becoming a Hijabi is what I truly believe helped solidify and strengthen my iman (faith in Arabic): “And indeed, when Allah loves a people He subjects them to trials,” Tirmidhi 2396.

All in all, I have been blessed to come from and grow up in three different countries that allow hijabis to live freely: South Africa, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. There, the hijab has been attributed to being a cultural symbol. Regardless, culture has zero role in the religious symbol that the hijab presents. Encouraging Muslim women’s rights and religious freedom can provide the confidence that young Muslim girls need, to please their Creator rather than to please the created.

Hijabs have been getting a bad name for too long, people think it is oppressive and use it as a means to push their own agendas for Islamophobia and Hijabophobia. My hijab is my strength. My hijab is my dignity. It is my identity. It is me. I am a proud Muslimah and a proud hijabi.

Love,

Noshin

About the Author:

Noshin Saloojee is a Medical Doctor who graduated from Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland-Medical University in Bahrain. She joined the General Medical Council in the UK however gave up her registration as she has been diagnosed with Stage 4 Breast Cancer to her brain. She has been living in Saudi Arabia for the past 25 years except for the years she studied in Bahrain and the first 6 years of her life. She is a proud South African. Her parents still live in the Eastern Province in Saudi Arabia where she resides with them now for treatment, however her dear sister and family live in South Africa.

Instagram @pinkribbonmountains

Twitter @nosh09

Blog https://3rdculturedoc.wordpress.com

The post Letter from an #UnapologeticHijabi appeared first on World Hijab Day.

Touched by a stranger’s sincere and eager public Facebook post, on Wednesday February 1st I visited her house to help her and her non-Muslim friends style themselves in hijabs, in honor of World Hijab Day. Kim Mulligan’s World Hijab Day photo shoot was a beautiful, unique initiative by non-Muslim women to reach out and support Hijabi Muslim women. Upset about the Muslim ban and refugees’ plight, these women embraced me with hugs, smiles, and well-intentioned questions about my faith. They repeatedly thanked me for bringing hijabs and styling them, but it was I bowled over with gratitude for their support and courage. Their acceptance of the hijab warmed my heart. Their effort was reassuring and comforting, because typically it’s us Hijabis that have to overcompensate and reach out to others. This nonjudgmental group made me feel welcome and normal. We were a group of women having fun; enjoying fashion and getting to know one another as humans. It was not about lecturing one another.

The post Sisters in America: World Hijab Day Photo Shoot Supports Marginalized American-Muslim Women appeared first on World Hijab Day.

I wasn’t a born Muslim.  I was raised as a Christian, Seventh- Day Adventist to be exact. And some things in Christianity that I found to be very similar to Islam were: We preferred eating halal/kosher, valued modesty and stayed away from alcohol, unclean meats (pork, etc.) and these were very relevant to me.

So, as a practicing Christian, I had no intentions other than to please God. I abided by all of those morals.  One Sabbath morning, I came to Church with an ankle length dark purple dress accompanied with a simple tan colored scarf covering my hair which was my personal idea of what modesty was but to others, it seemed  way too extreme and offensive for Church.

Throughout the day, I endured comments from Church goers including children and adults; “ISIS has arrived”, “You know you look like that lady, I think she was Mahatma Gandhi’s wife”, “Hey! Salam alaikum – aaaah! just kidding with you”, all followed by playful laughs.  That day, my grandmother received several complaints from sisters in the Church. I even got into a huge verbal feud with one of the sisters in my Church on my views on modesty. I always made sure to tell people that I was only doing this because the Bible said so:

According to 1 Corinthians 11:  “that you remember me in all things and keep the traditions just as I delivered them to you… Every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, for that is one and the same if her head was shaved…For this reason a woman ought to have the symbol of authority on their head, because of the angels.”

After that encounter with my Church, my confidence in following what the Holy Bible had taught me eventually ended up diminishing.  Often, people said things like: “Because times have changed we don’t participate in things like that”, “Jesus died for our sins so we don’t have to do that anymore”, “That was the old ways of Babylon so we no longer do that”, “Wrap it another way and not like a Muslim”, “It’s not good to wear it like that. People will think you worship Allah instead of God.”, “There are others ways to be modest. Why do you have to dress like that?”, “You are beautiful just the way you are. Just take that scarf off already.” Their comments didn’t really affect me much, but it did make me wonder, as Christians, why are we not modeling what the Bible taught us when the Muslims and even Jews were doing it and they don’t even claim the Bible as their Holy Book?

Eventually months later, on October 25, 2016, I started wearing the hijab consistently. However, before leading up to that moment, a couple of people played a major role in my life, when deciding if I should even look into Islam or not.  They were the ones who often cleared up most of my misconceptions of Islam, exchanged phone numbers with me, got to know me over milkshakes, a quick sit-down in the park or even dinner and referred me to so many of the resources to learn about Islam which still currently exist in my life today.

But I was convinced that I wanted to wear the hijab by mid- August but I just wasn’t sure how I could actually go about doing it. I confided in my mother, but I feared the rest of my family wouldn’t approve of me adapting to these new concepts of modesty and almost a foreign lifestyle to them. Transitioning into wearing the Hijab while in high school, was a bit difficult for me but it wasn’t anything that I couldn’t handle. By the first month, my family, school, and Church buddies all got used to it but the remarks remained.

The post Kiara’s veil experience at her Church appeared first on World Hijab Day.

I was born in a mixed-religious family (my father is Jewish and my mom is a Christian). I was a Christian in the eyes of the Jews and a Jew in the eyes of the Christians…So I decided not to label myself and just started to tell people that I believed in God and I didn’t need a religion to prove it. Back in high school, I had to do a research on the topic of women in Islam, though at that moment the only image I had was of a woman getting beaten up by her husband thanks to my neighbor who used to do that. I later found out that I was wrong, women do have rights in Islam, perhaps a lot more than in any other religion and that there are bad men everywhere regardless of their faith.

4 months later, I woke up one day wondering what would happen if I became a Muslim. So I decided to go to a mosque. When I was there, I heard the most beautiful thing I had ever heard in my life. I asked the Imam’s wife what that was and she told me it was her husband reciting the Quran. That day, I came back home as a Muslim, Alhamdulillah. I thought converting was the hardest part, but it wasn’t.

I tried to follow Islam correctly, but no matter how covered I was or how much I studied, it seemed it wasn’t enough for some people. After a year, I got tired and took off my hijab. I started to walk away from my faith. Somehow the hijab was a constant reminder of who I was now and kept me closer to my faith. I tried to wear it again but my parents won over this and I failed.

Last year I met this wonderful guy who was so religious, generous, and wise…I felt I had to try harder. I thought that if he could do it then I could do it too. I started to pray and study again. And most importantly, I now feel the same way as I did when I first listened to the Quran. He is now my husband, and I could never thank him enough for being so supportive and for making a better Muslim. Alhamdulillah (All praise to Allah) for him and for many other things. Thank you for reading this. May Allah SWT (All-Praised and Exalted) bless you.

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Imagine walking along a path. It is full of bumps and rough edges, but otherwise goes in one direction. You continue to walk along that direction until you come up in a fork on the road. Left or Right, you wonder. You have no idea of telling where each path might lead. Either direction that you may choose however, will undoubtedly affect your course because you have deviated from your original path. If only life was this straightforward, with only two choices then we all would have an easier time. As it is, life is all about the forks in the road, not just one, not just two but a million possibilities. And only you can choose where to go. These forks are the “turning points” of life. I want to share with you this particular turning point, the time when I made a decision that would have a major impact on my life. My experience during a debate competition which prompted me to wear my hijab was significant because it paved the way for my spiritual and emotional development as a person.

This all happened when I was in my fourth year of high school in La Salle Academy in Iligan City (a Catholic school). Every year there is an inter-school debate championship held in Iligan City called YAPIS ILBRAVE challenge (Youth Advocate’s Productive Integrated Service Iligan Brainwave Challenge). As far as I can remember, our school’s debate society (LANTUGI) has always joined the competition and won every year. The LANTUGI Club sends teams composed of three members, each to battle it out with other schools for the prize. I have always had memorable experiences during YAPIS. During my first time when I competed as a freshman, I won top 2 Best Speaker; during my second time as a second year, I experienced crying because of a loss for the first time. During my third year, the championship round was an all-LaSallian battle with our school taking both Champion and First-runner up. Even with all these memories, I chose my fourth year experience and you may be wondering why. My reasons include it being my last year on the team therefore it was my last competition, not to mention that we had to defend our title as Champions for four years in a row with this year being the Grand slam championship for us. These are not the main reasons however, as you will soon find out.

It was during the semi-finals round. After all the sweat and tears, my team mates and I had finally reached that far. The announcer was to announce the winner for the semi-finals round (It was between La Salle Academy Team 1 and Integrated Development School Team 2, and if we were to break, we were to face Integrated Development School Team 1 during the Championship Round). His lips were moving as if in slow motion, “And the winner is……….” I could not hear anything else after that. I had plugged my ears and shut my eyes tightly. I could hear the erratic beat of my chest. “Breathe deeply”, I told myself “breathe deeply.” After a moment, I could hear cheers erupt around me. Who were cheering, IDS’ or ours? Slowly I opened my eyes and I found my team mates absolutely ecstatic. They were telling me, shouting actually “We won Alex! We won!” I could not help myself. I clung to them and bawled my eyes out. We actually won! But it was far from over. The Championship was up next and I could feel the pressure from my seniors catch up to me. We could not tarnish their legacy, and so I made a bargain. Looking back, I see now how desperate I was. I prayed to Allah (swt), “I beg of you please let us win. We can’t lose. I’ll do anything whatever it might be. I’ll even start wearing the hijab.”

The hijab is the traditional headscarf worn by female Muslims signifying modesty. I originally planned to wear mine the following year as a college student, but here I was making a bargain with God. And then I stopped, and my life literally flashed before me in the remaining time we had left. Every time I had a competition, I would always pray fervently to Allah and He would always answer my prayers. Not only during competitions, but at every major point in my life He was there. I revised my prayer, “I’m sorry for trying to bargain with You. No matter what happens I will accept Your decision and I will wear my hijab not because of payment but because I am proud that I am a Muslim.” After praying I went back to my team mates. We were given thirty minutes of preparation time to brainstorm, after which we went inside the room that would be used for the championship round. We were afraid, but we could not let our school down.

We won that day, but I gained more than just a trophy – I gained my identity. I wore my hijab to school the day after and I was a bit afraid. Turned out, there was nothing to fear. Some were curious and asked me the cause of this change, but generally they treated me the same as always. Now, whenever someone asks me when I started wearing hijab, I tell them it was during a moment of enlightenment. When they ask me why, I tell them I choose to and because I am proud of my faith.

The post My Hijab, My Choice – A Life-changing Decision appeared first on World Hijab Day.

Although I live in India now, as a teen, living on a remote island with almost no Muslims (let alone Hijab-wearing women) my struggle with the hijab was a difficult one. Although I always had love for Allah in my heart, the guilt of not obeying Him to the best of my ability was always in the back of my mind. At the time I never thought about it, but now I see and commend my mother’s bravery and spirit to stick with her decision to never stop wearing it even though I know it wasn’t easy.

I thought putting on the hijab would change who I was completely, and I was right. I’m not saying it was this magical cloth that changed me as soon as I put it on, but slowly it started to influence my decisions without me even realising it. I started to think about how my actions would affect the image of my Muslim sisters and I found myself saying no to anything that would show Muslims in a bad light, which at the same time helped me sin less.

This year’s going to be the first time I go back to the island where I grew up with a scarf on my head. When I first started wearing the hijab, I lost a lot of confidence & I couldn’t imagine going back there for years to come. Somehow, mysteriously Allah’s strength found me and I’m now looking forward to go back to my home.

Most importantly it got me closer to Allah and my Deen (religion), and I know this is just the beginning.

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I don’t wear hijab. I practice hijab. My hijab reflects in my attire, behavior, and speech. It’s important to practice hijab, rather than make it a part of everyday apparel. It’s common to simply think of a headscarf when a woman states that she wears hijab. The reality is, men and women are under Islamic measure to practice hijab- which translates to “modesty.” It’s belittling to the beauty and grace of Islam to refer to hijab as only the head covering for women. Hijab, for men and women alike, is a blessing from our Creator. He has ordained the most effective way to protect ourselves from the haraam (forbidden things) that this dunya  (world) holds.

Appreciation of the context of hijab in its entirety will bring back the full beauty hijab gives to Muslim women and men. Alhamdulilah, I began to understand the concept of hijab about a year ago. InshaAllah, I hope to stay strong in my imaan (faith) and pray for nothing but sincere piety and faith for my brothers and sisters in deen (religion of Islam) around the globe.

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I am a born Muslim who never practiced Islam before even though I still loved Allah more than anything! I always had an urge to wear the hijab but was never strong enough to go with it. Alhamdulillah, I started reading the Quran and  started to question my life style 24/7. It came to a point where I was listening to a lecture and this Sheikh (scholar of Islam) said if you were to die today and face Allah, what  you got to present in front of Him saying here I did this for you? I took a moment to think what I had to offer and honestly, I couldn’t think of one thing.

Yes, I’m a loving, caring, helpful person with a huge heart but I felt like this question had a deeper meaning. So I said if I didn’t have anything ’till today to offer Allah, I’ll start by this, and I wore my hijab  on January 26, 2015. And I have  never been happier in my life. My life makes sense now. I don’t feel lost anymore. I have a purpose now. I see how different I get treated by the brothers -with so much more respect, even from strangers. If someone offered me 50 million dollars to remove my hijab, I would never in a million years take it off. My hijab, my pride! Salam (peace) to every sister who is on the right path! May Allah be pleased with us. Ameen.

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I’m 25 years old and Caucasian. I was born in a Christian family.

During my high school years, I pursued a modeling career. I can recall thinking “This is what I want. I want to be a model.” So my father was active in assisting me in this career path. We made profiles online, went through a few agencies. After many searches, I finally found an audition to be with an agency. They signed me on and from there began the training and prepping. I made contacts with scouts from different TV shows, modeling agencies, and film. A few months after working with the agency, I decided I no longer wanted to pursue modeling. I look back now and I believe Allah had a better plan all along for me to be where I am now, and not modeling and showing my body.

I found Islam and took my shahada (Islamic testimony of faith) one year ago. My journey to Islam began when I became friends with a Muslim for the first time almost two years ago. I was practicing Christianity at the time but I was always eager to be closer to God. Prior to meeting my Muslim friend, I had no idea what Islam was or who Muslims were. I can recall seeing hijabis but I never saw them different from one who didn’t wear hijab. I was brought up to love people no matter how they dressed or appeared. Alhamdulillah.

This Muslim friend of mine began to educate me about Islam and from that moment on I did my own research. I fell in love with the religion, and I finally found what I had been searching for. I spent the next five months studying Islam and reading Quran. I began dressing more modestly and I embraced the hijab before I took my shahada, finding comfort in the protection it was providing me. Islam taught me that it’s ok to cover yourself and be appreciated for your intellect. I feel more beautiful in hijab and although I struggled with it at first, I grew to love it. Now, I can’t see myself living without it. My mother grew to be accepting of me wearing hijab and now she fixes it before I walk out the door and wakes me up for Fajr (dawn prayer). Allahu akbar (Allah is the Greatest)!

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Since High school, I’d been wanting to wear Hijab and I kept telling my friends that I will wear it next year, every year. But it never happened. I always felt like I was ready to wear Hijab but reality was contrary to my belief. My friend for ten years, Anis Syakirin, never gave up on me and constantly reminded me of my goal.

In 2013, during the month of fasting, I pondered upon the idea of wearing hijab. I laid out the pros and cons  inside my mind and I kept it to myself. I knew that if I wore hijab, I would have to slightly change myself, particularly my dressing. One morning, after I had Sahur (an early meal that marks the start of the fast) with my family, I tried to sleep but I couldn’t because my mind kept racing around the idea and my heart was beating very fast. The longer I thought of it that morning, the stronger my wish to wear it got. I called Anis and told her everything. To my surprise, she took me to a boutique to buy some headscarves that very day.

I finally tried it on and my parents were totally surprised. Especially my dad because he wanted one of his daughters to wear Hijab and was totally thrilled by what he saw. On that day when I went out wearing it, I felt like people were watching me or I was an alien who didn’t belong here. After I bought a few scarves, Anis chose one out of the stalk for me to wear and I went home with my head covered. It was the very beginning of this wonderful journey.

I was pretty nervous about it a week before Eid (Islamic celebration) so I gave myself time to really accept everything. I didn’t announce it on the social media either as I was still unsure of myself and I didn’t want to be the girl who changed from free hair to hijab and then back to uncovering again. Alhamdulilah (God-Graciously) after I told everyone about it, they were as excited as I was and they were happy for me, including my non-muslim friends.

It’s already been one whole year and I’m happy that I made this decision even though at times it does become hard to make my scarf stay in place because of the material mostly but that’s not a big deal. I wore the Hijab when I was 20 years old and now I’m 22. It’s never to late to wear the Hijab. Do it for yourself and for Allah.

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