Looking back at our history we find a young boy named Moses help two young women; sisters trying to water their animals as their father was too old and weak, he volunteered to help by asking the girls to step back and letting him do it for them. Thereafter, when the father sent the younger daughter to collect Moses requesting a meeting to thank him for helping the girls, he chose to walk in front of her as they walked against the wind towards the village, to maintain a mental and physical screen between them.
Such an occurring is not just of the past but of relevance even today and an example that says loud and clear that Hijab is a lifestyle, you either live it or leave it. Hijab is not just for one gender but for both to observe. And yet it beckons for one gender; women to commit to it to a degree no man possibly can. Presumably it is through this very acceptance and adornment of hijab that a woman’s beauty is sanctified and celebrated equally, and not the excuse for women to be pushed into the dark ages. No my dear ladies it is not the enemy that holds you down in fighting for your rights rather, through its very acceptance you shall find yourself winning far better than just your rights.
You have to let yourself be identified by it once you choose to walk its path. Choose to let its drape "define" you as an object of attraction or define you as a woman worthy of respect and honor. Look back at the women we know through our history and question 'have those women been looked up to, for their choices of lifestyle?’ and if they have, then is this lifestyle one of 'putting themselves out as women commanding respect through their speech, attire, attitude, and choices’ or as ‘women who beckon society to look to them for how they display themselves and then proceed further or sometimes even ignore their winning attributes of who they are and what they stand for’.
In the Holy Book of Moslems, it is clearly stated that women of the household of the Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H) as well as other true believing women, be advised to lower their gaze and cover their heads and private parts and true believing men to lower their gaze as well. There are historical instances where the optimum way of how a woman is to interact with the opposite gender through this hijab and as a significant member of the Moslem community are best shown by the women of the household of the Prophet (P.B.U.H). No, we cannot compare our sinful selves to these revered personalities but we can aspire to better understanding and observing their characters and teachings.
To a hefty number this draping of one’s beauty may seem as a burden and a cultural obligation in many Moslem countries, why do you think then that certain women of the faith have been recorded in history as pioneers of examples of how a Moslem woman should be in her daily life as well as in pressing times. Women have fought injustice in times of oppression through veils and screens and fought for their right of hijab.
To a hefty number this draping of one’s beauty may seem as a burden and a cultural obligation in many Moslem countries, why do you think then that certain women of the faith have been recorded in history as pioneers of examples of how a Moslem woman should be in her daily life as well as in pressing times. Women have fought injustice in times of oppression through veils and screens and fought for their right of hijab.
In the past few years, the Islamic dress code, and specifically the hijab observed by Moslem women, has been the subject of a number of controversial laws and regulations in European and majority Moslem countries. In France, young Moslem girls were banned from wearing the hijab in public schools as of 2004. In Turkey, an overwhelmingly Moslem country, women are prohibited from observing hijab in schools, universities, and government offices. An observant Moslem woman, who was democratically elected to the Turkish parliament in 1999, was prevented from taking her seat in parliament because she observed the hijab.
Women need to observe the hijab for their own protection and modesty and do so in response to the commandments of God, not those of any man. It is also worth pointing out that the hijab has a basis in Jewish and Christian scripture as well, and it is as a result of this that Catholic nuns are seen observing a type of covering similar to hijab. The Moslem woman's hijab is a symbol. It is a symbol of her independence and liberation from the glares of strange men and an affirmation of her right to be treated according to her character and intellect, not according to her looks. We are stronger and steadfast through the choice of this lifestyle in representing ourselves as members of the community commanding recognition for our attributes over physical attraction. There is no middle ground to it but a complete acceptance of the lifestyle, a choice that commands respect and though it is commendable for whatever little form of hijab women take up, it is incomplete till it is observed in its entirety; physically and mentally, because hijab is a lifestyle, you either live it or leave it.
