Originally published in the 2017 HijabFest Magazine
Nowadays, it seems that my “Muslim-ness” is just another slice in my minority pie chart. I am a woman. I am a Muslim woman. I am an immigrant Muslim woman -- all that I appear as in the eyes of secular politics. Nothing more, nothing less. Similar to how my being is reduced to my political status, the most visible marker of my faith, my hijab, is also reduced to a political statement and stripped of its inner content.
Yet, wearing the hijab to make a political statement, or to broadcast some sort of identity defies how I can perceive the wisdom in the hijab and connect with my Creator. Seeking empowerment in my own victimization goes against who I am. Yet both acts are prevalent and embraced in the current socio-political climate despite their detrimental attitude and misunderstanding of the essence of the hijab.
The language presented for consumption through different media outlets feeds further into misplaced ideas of how the hijab ought to be treated by Muslim women. For example, in USA Today, Waseem Abbasi writes, “But like many young Muslim women across the U.S., the very independence that drove her to cast off the traditional head covering has since drawn her to don one.”
Just in one sentence, with words like “independence” “cast off” and “traditional”, the author has implied that in America (the land of the free), the independent and valorous Muslim women (as opposed to the oppressed and choiceless outside of the western world) have made the decision to cast off (to discard, abandon, or reject [usually something unwanted]) the traditional (common, taken-for-granted, and ancestral) garment from their heads. But not to worry! They can also decide to wear it! Just as freely!
Contemporary understandings and interpretations of the hijab and the practice of wearing it have failed Muslim women, for decades, maybe centuries at this point. It was first made into a custom, a cultural head-covering (thus “traditional”). My mother wore it and so did my grandmother and great-grandmother and so will I, because it’s just what we do. Then the hijab was brought into the political sphere and was transformed further from its prior, unlabeled practice. It became a symbol of political oppression, and then in response, a sign of resistance, and now simply a covering women wear to react or to comply.
However, we must reflect on the original command; it doesn’t come from the shah or the president, or the dictator in power. It comes from my Maker. It comes from the Creator of every cell in my body and every planet in the universe and every thought that has crossed my mind and every star that has sped past the earth. It comes from my Lord, the Creator, Commander, and Administrator of everything in this universe, in every dimension, in every space, in every time period.
Any human force (be it a dictator or a democratic government) is essentially inconsequential in determining my reasons to wear the hijab or not. It does not matter if it is banned or if it is made mandatory because, ultimately, my duty is to obey my Maker and fulfill a duty towards Him before bowing my head or showing off to anybody else. My duty, as a believer, is to read the verse, and ask, how does this verse, that was revealed 1400 years ago, relate to me, here and now?
If I claim to believe in the Maker of this universe, and in His Messenger, and in His Book, and if I believe that my Maker is infinitely wise and all-knowing, and if I believe that His book transcends the constraints of time and space and was a guide to the believers in Medina hundreds of years ago as much as it is a guide to me, now, then, how does this verse fit into my life? What is it teaching me? What is my Creator telling me? Why has He made this book the miracle of the Messenger, and preserved it through a millennium of time for it to reach me and for me to read this verse and connect with Him?
The spiritual value of the hijab cannot be depreciated into something as simple and subjective as a political statement. I make political statements through tweets and t-shirts and offhanded comments in late-night conversations. That cannot be the purpose of a physical embodiment of the guidance given to me by my Creator.
Many political tides have come and gone with the established presence of Muslim women. The believing women have worn their scarves all through those times.Yet, the reason the hijab has stayed is not because of changing cultural and political movements, it is because the command comes from the Source of my existence. I do not wake up in the morning and think to myself, how will I oppose the establishments that are against me today? It is not related to my existential purpose in the world. My responsibility, as a created being, is to read the book of the universe and try to know and understand its Author.
I am here for a limited number of years, and I am not interested in jeopardizing my eternity for the sake of politics in this transient world. I do not wear the hijab so that it shouts out at people, like a neon sign on my head saying, “Look here! I am a Muslim! Despite you and your oppressive policies!” and I do not wear it so that my great-aunt twice removed will not tsk at me when I go to visit her house and kiss her hands.
Can other people think that those are my reasons? Sure. But I do not have agency over what other people think, so it doesn’t matter. That is on their account with their Maker, and my intentions are on mine. And “Verily actions are by intentions.”
On a final note, to equate my entire “identity” to one physically visible material is nothing but reductionist. Beards and hijabs do not make people believers. Identities are not stagnant – I did not become a believer at a certain point in my past and now I just remain as one -- lifetime guarantee. Being a believer, for me, means that I need to continually affirm my own convictions, about my own Maker, about my Maker’s commands and expectations, and about how I can get closer to Him and know and love Him more. Just because I made a declaration ten years ago and now call myself a “Muslim” does not make me a “Muslim.” Especially if I do not carry out what it means to be someone who is in the act of submitting to her Creator all her life.
Sociopolitical symbolism that is attached to the mainstream understanding and interpretation of the hijab is a byproduct of contemporary events and cultures. It can not define the hijab’s purpose or existence. Nor can it become a reason in my choosing to wear the hijab. I choose, every day, to wear it and have it be meaningful for me in my connection to my Creator. Every day is a renewal of obedience to my Maker, and a constant reminder to reaffirm my own convictions about God and His commands.
2017 HijabFest Cover