Wearing the veil - from the perspective of a 16 yr old girl

Zaynab - Future Gems

I once heard a woman comment to her friend, ‘Those Muslim women are just hiding behind that cover.’ This utternace gave me the urge to explain to you that rather than the veil being a limiting and unsociable barrier in society, it in fact allows me much more freedom than I can imagine without it.

As a 16 year old Muslim girl, I feel that wearing the veil is necessary for me as a religious obligation. Not made necessary by my friends, or my teachers, or even my parents, but rather by the author of the Quran; Allah. So, that’s clearing the issue with anybody who feels that I am forced, because I am not, it is simply a command of my Lord, to my advantage which I gladly carry out.

The veil allows me to step outside my house, with my body and identity covered, whereby no person can judge me on my appearance. They have no knowledge of my facial features, my clothing taste or even my expression. I am simply a person, plain and without any excess baggage which could allow anyone to form an opinion about me. Why do I feel that this is so important? Because I know that I am safe from the prejudices of the shallow people who would judge me without any knowledge of my level of intellect.

As a nameless, faceless person, I have an edge over the people walking uncovered. They laugh, and people say they are happy, they look miserable, and people say they are upset, or maybe they wear a suit, and people say they are a business person.

But I have the edge.

I am nobody to be judged, until I open my mouth, and give my opinions, my feelings. Of course, many people even then speculate openly about me. Amongst their opinions are; ‘oppressed’, ‘unsociable’, ‘blank’ and sometimes even the laughable title of being known as a ‘ninja’.

I am not oppressed, nobody is sitting and telling me to cover myself or else be punished. I am not unsociable; I gladly participate in as many community activities as possible, and because people cannot run their mouths off at my simple appearance, in no way classes me as ‘blank’. Many a times, I find the stereotypical view being pointed at me of myself being a barrier in society. This view is not correct, because I can say that I am probably more socially active than my non-Muslim counterpart.

Why else is this so important to me? Because I constantly hear narrow-minded people point at non-veiled peoples’ clothes and say, ‘Does she think she’s living in the Middle Ages?’, or the famous one, ‘How can she even come out of her house dressed like that?!’. The veil brings an unquestionable full stop to these petty objections. I do not have to worry about peer pressure, about following the fashion or even about having to wear clothes to please others rather than myself.

No, I simply don the veil and step out.

How is it that men and women are generally attracted? Through appearance. Islam is a religion which does not encourage the free mixing of men and women without marriage, simply due to unnecessary problems caused. My veil protects me from this problem too.

So, in a nutshell, I choose the physical veil to cover myself rather than let the veil of others’ opinions suffocate me. I can say, in all honesty, that the importance of the veil to me is emphasised by the very simple fact that I have never felt so free.

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