“You’re very well spoken,” she said, as she handed me my cheddar croissant “for…” Her voice trailing off before she could say the words.

But sometimes, words don’t need to be said to see what someone’s thinking, her eyes screening my attire, and somehow it not making sense to her that someone who looks like me could speak so well, could in one moment articulate that I wanted a croissant, that I’m from Florida, about the politics there, and a whole series of different things in the five minutes we spoke.

The truth of the matter is society today puts a lot of thought into what we look like and what we should look like. Appearances, first impressions, that profile pic on this app and the latest fashion etc. There’s nothing wrong with that ofcourse, except when everything is flipped to the other way when the superficial becomes the precedent, and then everyone is clamoring to be part of the chase. Lest we reflect.

Thus, the hijab, the veil, the covering, one of the many aspects of the layers of hijab, is seen as a political tool, or even as a demonized entity downplayed or overplayed by the media to a point where a woman who looks like me, asking for a cheddar croissant in English is surprising.

So you see, it is not our hijab that is the problem. It is the eyes that are broken to have perceived a most beautiful thing in our lives, that gives women like me utmost freedom to be ourselves, to be unimportant, so much so that they tend to speak for us.

Please don’t speak for us. We do that very well ourselves.

About Author

Zainab Merchant is a journalist, author and entrepreneur. She is author of the books “To Be a Muslim” and “Princess Siyana’s Pen”, with a third title underway. Zainab is more commonly known by her blog name ZainabRights where she speaks about social justice issues, current affairs and God centric activism. She is in the final semester of her master’s program at Harvard University in Journalism and International Security, as well as co-founder of the independent media outlet The Muslim Journalists. Originally from Florida, USA, she currently resides in Canada with her husband and three children. (IG/@zainabrights)

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