Success Stories For Proper Hijaabed Sisters

What to Wear ?

Should we or should we not dress differently ?
To Veil, or Not to Veil, that is the Question ?

So many Muslims think it is wrong for Muslim women to veil their faces while they are in America.

I must ask, why? Why is it OK somewhere else, and not here in America?

- Some people say it is wrong cause people stare and look at the Muslimah, when she is veiled. I ask you, can those people looking tell you anything about that veiled woman, other than the color of her veil?

- Some people say that the veil SCARES off people because they don't understand about it. I say, why not teach them? I say.....some people like pork and alcohol, but we wouldn't change that for those individuals. As for scaring off possible Muslims, I would like to tell you a story.

The story is real & happened to me, while attending a university in South Dakota. For several years I had lived in South Dakota, and had "STOOD OUT" in the crowd as the only Muslim woman wearing hijab. Then we began to have an increase in the number of wives of international students, in which many wore hijab. But they where never seen in public, so most people didn't know they even lived in the town.

As time went on, I became accustomed to being stared at and pointed at and even whispered about. It really never bothered me, because I realized those individuals' opinions don't matter, only Allah's matters.

- One October morning, as I was preparing to dress to leave for college classes, I walked past my rack of hijabs and proper hijaabs. I grabbed my hijab and placed in onto my head, and was about to depart, when I got this feeling I should wear my proper hijaab. It was a strong feeling & so I followed the "advise" and donned my proper hijaab, which I hadn't worn since I lived in New York. A few people asked me why I was wearing it, and I just told them for religious reasons. This answer, sounding so simple, was more than enough for almost everyone.

- I had people stare & point, and I would just wave at them & acknowledge their gestures. This was usually enough to quickly correct their rude behavior. However, I have to admit, the pressure I received to not wear the veil was not from the non-Muslims, but from Muslims who seemed embarrassed by me wearing it.

I still had no understanding to why I felt the NEED to wear it, but I continued wearing it for the rest of the semester.

- It wasn't until the Friday before Thanksgiving break that I came to understand the importance of that proper hijaab. While talking with a close friend & waiting to get something to eat, at the student union, a fellow student walked up to me. He asked me if I was Muslim, and then went on to tell me that he had spent the past year trying to identify the Muslim Brothers on campus, so that he could get information about Islam, but had failed. He said it was because of my veil that he felt certain that I was Muslim, and so he felt safe in asking me more about Islam.

I asked him why he hadn't asked me prior to me adopting proper hijaab and he explained that other religious groups have women wear scarves, but no other group wears the veil. It was due to this veil that he knew for certain I was Muslim.

We spoke for a little while that day & shared phone numbers. Then I helped him get in touch with the Muslim men in our community.

Later on that year he took shahadah. Al-humulillah!

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* source: hijabsahih

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