By Elisa Belotti
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 1st 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.