Hijab wearing a Hijab

I, a 21-year-old female, have not always worn the hijab. It was only 3 years ago when I decided to cover my hair. However, I was not aware of the prejudice one might face when covering the head. Not only prejudice from the non-Muslims in the west, but even Muslims in Muslim countries. 

I genuinely did not expect to face such criticism for wearing a piece of cloth on my head. As with instances where one tries new things and gets compliments or appreciation, I expected to receive this appreciation for taking such a big step in my life. However, instead, I was welcomed with a series of scorns and unwanted advice on how to take it off. 

I think one of the worst instances of prejudice is when people think I am illiterate because of how I choose to dress. It is evident how differently people are treated based on how “modern” they look. One especially degrading experience included when I went to audition for a news anchoring job.  Right at the start, no one took me seriously, they did the bare minimum to help me feel comfortable and welcome. I felt out of place, as though they were only humouring me, expecting me to fail miserably. As soon as my audition started and I spoke people were shocked, I could see the shock on their faces. They were shocked because they had such few expectations of me, how could a woman with a hijab speak English coherently? After the revelation that I could speak English properly, their behaviour changed. They started treating me in the same way they were treating the candidates who did not cover their heads. They even suggested that it would be better if I took it off as it would look better for the camera.

Unfortunately, strangers are not the only people to treat me in a biased manner because of my hijab. Criticism also comes from close family members; at family gatherings, my relatives would question my mother. “Why do you let her wear that on her head?” “She’s too young to be dressing like that.” “She should only start dressing like that after she is married”.  Another lousy argument was how men don’t approach women if they wear a hijab and therefore I should not wear one otherwise I would not get any proposals. I wasn’t sure what was more degrading for me, for others to think that young girls dress up to get proposals or for them to think the hijab wasn’t good enough.

No one has ever told me when I can keep it on, that's never the topic, it's always different ways and different conditions where I would just HAVE to give in. I’ve been told at family gatherings to take it off so I feel “more comfortable”, but if you look into it with more depth it was the people around me who didn’t feel comfortable, they felt suffocated and they felt hot in the summer just by looking at me. It bothered them more than it could ever bother me.

It was not my mother's decision, nor my father's, it was me, I chose to dress like this because I wanted to connect with my deen, I wanted to learn more about it and become closer to Allah. It was a kickstart for me to do better and motivated me to do all the things I never would’ve imagined doing before, the simplest of them all was praying in public. 

As cliche as it might sound, women already go through a whole lot, let's not add more things and reasons to bring them down and question the positive decisions they’ve made in life. Just because a woman wears a hijab doesn’t mean she’s “backward”, that she has an “old mindset”, or even that she was forced to wear it. You need to open your mind and accept that we could be on the same level as you even if we don’t look the same.