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Ayah, Why Wear Hijab?

Several people have asked me the same question over the years. I started wearing the hijab when I was a little girl, four years old to be precise. Earlier this evening, I opened my formspring account and got surprised that two questions are about my hijab. I am happy that someone really took time to ask. I was about to answer it in formspring but then I decided to make a blogpost out of it since it will be a long discussion.

WARNING: This will be a boring post for those who are not open-minded enough to handle the things that I will say. :)



This is actually a good step to explain to all the non-Muslims here in the Philippines the perception of hijab and why one should wear it. With the majority of the country's population being Christian, I think they should also get the point why a Muslimah wears a hijab. I have gone to Manila where people stared at me for wearing a hijab roaming around Mall of Asia with my mom.

I came from Tawi-Tawi where wearing a hijab is just an ordinary thing. Most of the girls I know wear hijab either because their parents told them so or because they wanted to wear it. I have friends who do not wear it at all too.
I used to wear it half-way. haha. What I meant was that, I used to wear it not fully-covered. Yes, my dad used to push me to wear the hijab when I was in elementary and high school level. I used to not understand the essence of wearing the hijab. I used to rebel from wearing the hijab. But, all of those were just a thing from the past. I am thankful that my father forced me to wear the hijab. If not, I won't be able to wear it for almost 16 years.

Actually, prior to my father forcing me to wear the hijab, I used to admire people wearing hijab when I was four. I imitate them by wearing the hijab too. Until my father decided that I should not take it off. It was a good thing. You see, parents know better. They have known the cruelty of the world before we do. That's why we should abide by the things they say. As what is stated in the Qur'an, our paradise lies in the feet of our mother (three times more important), and father.

So, why do I wear hijab? Why do Muslim girls wear and must wear the hijab?

Let me start with why Muslim girls should wear a hijab. It is one of the compulsory things to do for women in Islam. As far as I know, even other religions does so. A Christian and Jewish woman in the past can never go to church without a headscarf on.

Many call it oppression of women. I beg to disagree. Hijab, more than anything in the world, gives me a source of security. Wearing a hijab avoids temptations that could result into unwanted things. As a woman, we are more vulnerable. Once the glass is broken, we can never patch it all up to the original form. Prevention is better than cure. Hijab is a prevention.

I wouldn't want to just state my opinions without proof. That is why I have looked for some explanations in the web for this as well. All of which are taken from the Holy Qur'an. So, forgive me if I bore you.

 

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Here's a further explanation from www.muhajabah.com

So, what do the Quran and Sunna say about hijab? There are two ayat of the Quran that deal with hijab. These are Surah an-Nur ayah 31 and Surah al-Ahzab ayah 59. Let's look at what these ayat say, and how the Prophet (sAas) has explained them.
Surah an-Nur ayah 31 says:

Wa qul li al-mu'minat yaghdudna min absarihinna wa yahfazna furujahunna wa laa yubdina zenatahunna illa maa zahara min haa wal-yadribna bi khumurihinna ala juyubihinna; wa laa yubdina zenatahunna illa li bu'ulatihinna aw aba'ihinna aw aba'i bu'ulatihinna aw abna'ihinna aw abna'i bu'ulatihinna aw ikhwanihinna aw bani ikhwanihinna aw bani akhawatihinna aw nisa'ihinna aw maa malakat aymanu hunna aw at-tabi'ina ghayri ulu'l-irbat min ar-rijal aw at-tifl alladhina lam yazharu ala awrat an-nisa wa laa yadribna bi arjulihinna li yu'lama maa yukhfina min zenatahinna. Wa tubu ilaAllahi jami'an, ayyuha al-mu'minun la'allakum tuflihun

And say to the faithful women to lower their gazes, and to guard their private parts, and not to display their beauty except what is apparent of it, and to extend their headcoverings (khimars) to cover their bosoms (jaybs), and not to display their beauty except to their husbands, or their fathers, or their husband's fathers, or their sons, or their husband's sons, or their brothers, or their brothers' sons, or their sisters' sons, or their womenfolk, or what their right hands rule (slaves), or the followers from the men who do not feel sexual desire, or the small children to whom the nakedness of women is not apparent, and not to strike their feet (on the ground) so as to make known what they hide of their adornments. And turn in repentance to Allah together, O you the faithful, in order that you are successful





Surah al-Ahzab ayah 59 says:

Ya ayyuha an-Nabiyy qul li azwajika wa banatika wa nisa al-mu'minin yudnina alayhinna min jalabib hinna; dhalika adna an yu'rafna fa laa yu'dhayn. Wa kana Allahu Ghafur Rahim

O Prophet! Say to your wives and your daughters and the women of the faithful to draw their outergarments (jilbabs) close around themselves; that is better that they will be recognized and not annoyed. And God is ever Forgiving, Gentle.

Together, these two ayat lay out seven commandments for Muslim sisters:

  • "to lower their gazes"

  • "to guard their private parts"

  • "not to display their beauty except what is apparent of it"

  • "to extend their headcoverings to cover their bosoms"

  • "not to display their beauty except to their husbands or their fathers..."

  • "not to strike their feet (on the ground) so as to make known what they hide"

  • "to draw their outergarments close around themselves"


It can be seen that three of these commandments relate to behavior. These are:

  • lowering the gaze

  • guarding the private parts

  • not striking the feet on the ground so as to give knowledge of what is hidden

  • Lowering the gaze means not looking at what is forbidden to be seen of others. Guarding the private parts means that only the husband is allowed to see or touch them. Not giving knowledge of what is hidden means not posturing or strutting around so as to jangle hidden jewelry or make men think about hidden body parts. All of these are part of what Allah SWT has commanded in regard to hijab.


The other four commandments relate to dress, and can really be expressed as three rules:

  • not displaying the beauty beyond "what is apparent of it" except to the people listed in 24:31

  • extending the headcovering to cover the bosom

  • drawing the outergarment close around


What exactly is the meaning of each of these rules? For this, we need to look to the Sunna, because the Sunna shows us how the Prophet (sAas) explained the Quran.

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Here's a radio interview of a hijabi (Dr. Ambreen Nazir Juvale) talking about why a Muslimah should wear Hijab:


Ambreen talked about hijab in an splendid way. I adored her in this interview.

Here's what other hijabis have to say with the hijab:


I know there actually a lot of Muslimahs who do not wear hijab yet. I am not saying that they are bad. We all have battles to fight in this complicated world. One of the battles is living like a true Muslim. Somehow, I pray to Allah that they actually gain guts to wear the hijab out of their own will. No one should really get pushed to wearing the hijab. We should wear it out of our own will. Because if we did, we will have a better foundation than being pushed to wear the hijab. The intention of wearing the hijab is the most important element to embrace it.

I am not saying that I am a better person than anybody else because I wear the hijab. I commit mistakes too. Hence, I repented and I am moving forward to start anew. I had several battles myself. I thank Allah SWT for always being by my side whenever I needed IMAN and courage.



Again, hijab is never an oppression. As far as I know, it is a freedom of speech. With hijab, I am able to communicate things I want to say. I am happy with the hijab. Alhamdulillah, I hope many Muslimahs will wear the hijab. It is for our own well-being. Preserving ourselves here in earth for the beauty of paradise is important. Unless, we want to look all used-up and weary by reaching there. Worst, we won't be able to even step into paradise.

PS: To all non-Muslims (this goes to Muslims too) reading this, please understand that this is a religion stuff. I don't want hate speech against my religion in my blog. So, if you have bad things in mind, refrain. It is better to stay pure than produce hate. :)

11 comments:

  1. sabi nila nakakapangit daw ng buhok ung laging may saklob sa ulo. It's either babaho ulo mo pag napawisan, sasakit ulo at mapapanot kasi nainitan and other hearsays.. is it true? Isa ba ung factor bkt ndi lahat ng muslim may hijab?

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  2. This is a great post sis Kai. I actually feel normal when it comes to seeing hijab being worn by Muslims. Siguro dahil madami din akong kaschoolmate and professors na Muslim. ll along, ang alam ko lang is yung reason na " not to display their beauty except to their husbands or their fathers…"  Now I'm knowledgeable. :D

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  3. I actually wanted to ask the same question. Hijab pala ang tawag jan. Ang galing.

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  4. yey! sinagot mo rin yung tanong ko.^^ thanks for answering my question sis. learned something from your religion. :) now I know why you wear hijab.

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  5. I keep forgetting what its called... HIJAB pala, now i won't forget it lol. 
    I rarely see Muslims who wear hijab that's why they get my attention whenever i see one wearing, but i find it really cool.

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  6. Nice post about hijab here. Just recently I've decided to wear the hijab. If you want to know my story, here's the link The Time I Choose To Wear Hijab . I love to read this blog coz I am gaining new things whenever I'm dropping by here. Thank you sis.

    @anne: wgo told you that hijab ay nakakabaho ng buhok?. I beg to disagree. Kung muslimah ang nagsabi nun ay malamang alibi lng un coz she doesn't really into wearing it. Hijab is a choice, it should not be forced so that it can be appreciated. I started wearing the hijab when i was 23 now I'm 24. I don't like it before coz I am a fashionista and suki ng mga parlor every now and then nagpaparebond and I'm maintaining a chocolate brown hair. I'm still taking care of my hair now, and hijab protects it from the outside pollution and sun. So HINDING HINDI nakakabaho, nakakalagas, nakakapawis or etc ang pagsusuot ng saklob sa ulo. In fact, kung anong amoy ng buhok mo after mo ligo ganun pa rin ang amoy nya pagtanggal mo ng hijab based on my experience. Though I'm letting my hair to dry first before wearing the hijab. Now I don't have split ends like before :).

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  7. So anne? You are asking bakit ang ibang muslimah ay hindi nagsusuot ng hijab? Here's the answer

    -For the same reason some Christians don't go church.
    -For the same reason some Sikh's eat meat.
    -For the same reason some Jews lie.
    -Ignorance exists in every religion.
    Muslim women who don't cover will just make excuses of why they don't. So there's no specific answer. All of them have different answers and will try to make you sympathize with them. But there is no validity in them.

    I hope you it will help. Thank you :-)
    The Hijabers Index

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  8. Here's an answer from Dawn of why she wears hijab.

    For a period of time I myself didn't wear hijab. And I guess I didn't do so because I was too absorbed in my daily affairs; school, friends and things like that. I never had time to reflect. I never had time to question my religion - why do I need God? Why do Muslims wear hijab? And then in the summer holidays I researched into it a great deal. I listened to lectures, read the English translation of the Qur'an and met other practising Muslims. Doing all of this only made me feel even more secure in what I believed in. The difference now is that I know WHY I am praying, giving to the poor and and practising Islam. Not because "someone told me to" but because Allah (swt) commanded it. Alhamdulilah, I wear hijab now for the right reasons - to please and obey Allah (swt) and to protect myself from the lustful stares of men.

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  9. very Interesting, I learned a lot, I was not bored while reading this . so curious and have gained lots of information :) I'm happy I've known about this thing about hijab thing. 

    May I ask? is it the same reason why nuns have coverings on their hair too?

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  10. I learned something from reading all this!
    not my cup of tea, but I totally respect your religion :)
    It quenched my thirst of curiosity without offending anyone.
    or so i hope.

    best wishes
    x

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