lotusflowergems asked: I am definitely a believer in hijab and believe it to be compulsory but at the same time, its still a personal choice people have to make :) and I loved your post on it, MashAllah. Especially the bit with the candy.. I hate that comparison, its so rude!
I agree with you totally! You can’t force a person to adopt religion and adhere to it. It just doesn’t work that way. They have to be willing to by choice and by full understanding.
Thank you for the compliment but it’s not necessary at all. I hate all those comparisons and analogies because they demean someone or other in the process. Hijab is hijab. It’s not some candy and non-hijabi girls aren’t dirty and men aren’t flies that are attracted to ‘candy’ and nothing else. Those analogies demean men too.
alessandraalmannie asked: Do you believe that wearing hijab is mandatory for Muslim women? I have read the Qur'an and I believe that the Prophet (PBUH) really liberated women and provided them a way to move around without being molested. Men should have more restraint and treat women equally. I don't believe that a woman should have to cover her head or face to dress modestly which is required of both men and women. I don't believe that it is Allah's will to have made women invisible and thought to be less than man.
You know, I can totally see where you’re coming from. My thought that wearing hijab is compulsory comes from how the wives of the Prophet (pbuh) and women in his family dressed. They wore hijab. Since those are the best of women in Islam, women should follow their example.
Saying that, I’m no scholar and I’m not going to think less of a woman just because she doesn’t cover herself. If you choose to believe the spirit of Islamic teaching applies that way to you then you follow it as such - whether you are right or wrong is between you and God.
I agree with you 100% when you say that men should have more restraint and should treat women equally. It’s a cornerstone teaching of Islam and is one that is often overlooked. Women are too often degraded. It’s disgusting. May Allah guide us all to the straight path.
Anonymous asked: I've got an idea for those people saying what a woman should or shouldn't dress like... get a life. It's not anyone's place to say someone is more religious or isn't based on what they wear or don't wear and shouldn't be treated differently based on that. Whatever happened to being respectful?
Exactly! It’s certainly not my place to judge another Muslim. The most I can do is offer advice to a person if what I feel they are doing is wrong and that’s not by slut shaming them either. There are ways of offering advice in Islam. If they choose to follow or disregard it, it is between them and Allah. I can’t force someone to do such a thing. Only God knows who is righteous amongst us and where we will end up in the hereafter.
Treating someone with respect is paramount. People forget that all too often. Learn from the examples set by the Prophet (pbuh) in how to deal with people who don’t agree with you. Islam, as always, shows the way.
Anonymous asked: I don't agree with the photo at all, but I don't agree with parts of your reply either. So... dressing like a slut is between me and God? I can go around naked and tell men to "lower their gaze"? Hijab, IS a problem in the Muslim Ummah. Who are you telling to get over themselves?
I’m telling men who compare women or candy to get over themselves. I believe a Muslim woman should wear hijab but if she doesn’t I’m not going to think of her as less of a person, let alone Muslim. Allah is the only one who knows our hearts.
On top of that, men shouldn’t comment on hijab and hijab related issues because we will never really understand the plight of women in the west because our hijab isn’t the same.
Dressing like a slut is between you and God. It’s not up to me to call ANY WOMAN a slut, whether she’s Muslim or not. Men should be taught to respect women. Men should be taught to be aware around women. Men should be taught that rape, spousal abuse, and inequality between the genders are bigger problems than what a woman does or doesn’t wear.
I agree it is a problem but there are FAR MORE pertinent problems.
I’m telling men to get over themselves. I’m telling hijabis who slut-shame women to get over themselves.
because I’m not a woman and I will never really be able to fully understand the mindset behind it. I know men have their own hijab to maintain but I’m not talking about that today.
There are Muslims who believe Hijab is compulsory. They believe that a woman must cover herself and present herself in a modest way. My own sisters and sister-in-law wear hijab.
The thing is that how a woman chooses to behave is between her and God. She knows it is and isn’t a sin and she’ll be judged with that on the day of judgement.
Islam tells people how to give advice. Islam tells people how to interact with others. Islam doesn’t tell you to compare women to candy with wrappers, it doesn’t tell you to compare women to apes and chimps. If a woman chooses not to wear a hijab, for whatever reason, it doesn’t make her less of a woman.
Allah tells you, in clear terms to “tell the believing men to lower their gaze” (24:30). Men shouldn’t look at women in that way regardless of how they’re dressed. It doesn’t matter if a woman is wearing an abaya and a hijab or a mini-skirt and a low cut t-shirt. Respect each other. Respect women.
“If to be half naked is to be Modern than Animals are the most modern creatures on Earth.”
This shit pisses me off. What a woman wears and how she dresses is between her and God and no one else. If it pisses you off then don’t look, lower your damn gaze! Equating a woman with an animal is damn right disrespectful and disgusting.
Another thing, if a person wants to pick at what a person is wearing… where is the niqab for the left-most woman? Someone will always have issue with what a woman is wearing - even other women. It’s so damn stupid.
Muslims need to get over themselves when it comes to issues like this. We need to fix our iman first. We need to unify the ummah first. We have far bigger problems as people of a religion than how some women choose to dress.
thehalalpeniswhisperer asked: While on the subject of life in Saudi, do these rules apply to non-Muslim diasporas as well? I was under the impression that there are sizable minorities from the subcontinent and elsewhere who work in Saudi, but didn't know if those women also have to wear abaya.
The abaya is a must for all women. They have to wear black ones. There’s no way around it if they want to go out in public. If the religious police see them in public without an abaya on I believe they can get arrested. The hijab.niqab is optional but the hijab, at least, is strongly recommended for Muslim women in public.
Minorities from other Arab countries, South Asia, Far East Asia, and Western countries actually make up a huge minority as a whole - as much as 30% of the population by some estimates.
Anonymous asked: I've gone through about ten pages or so of your blog and love everything so far. Sorry if you've been asked this or something similar before (I haven't been through everything just yet) but could you tell me what life really is like for women in Saudi Arabia? I mean you here all these things in the US, where I live, but what is actually true if you don't mind sharing? Thanks a lot in advance :)
Oh my God! I love it when I get messages like this. It means so much when a person takes time out to go through my little blog.
Well… it’s strange here for women. I mean, they can go out and do whatever they want but they all have to wear an abaya. Muslim women really have to wear hijabs too but not all do. They’re not allowed to drive. When they go to restaurants they have a separate area for women and families and a different area for single men/groups of men. In all honesty, life here is pretty boring for men and women but people find things to do. You either get used to it or leave. If you have any specific questions then I’ll try my very best to answer from my knowledge.
Okay, so, as some of you know… I went to Umrah last week. Mainly because I’m lazy, I haven’t shaved since then. That means I have a 10 day stubble/beard hybrid thing going on and I’m reaching that point where I have to decide to keep it or shave it off. I’ve been thinking about it for a couple of days now and it’s brought up all these thoughts I’ve had about beards, hijabs, and the image we project to the world.
