Artilce Response- The De-Hijabization Movement

This article about how many muslim women who have been hijabi's for a long time are abandoning hijab recently was interesting to me. Just yesterday, my huband joked with his sister and with me there that I wouldn't 'keep up' wearing hijab after a couple of years. My mother feels I'm reacting to a crisis in my life in an extreme way. Even still, when I wondered aloud to my huband if I should wear a 3/4 sleeve shirt without covering my forearms, he reacted in alarm.

The article points out that "...Like most women, I often think to myself that men should learn to control themselves, and how perhaps if they did, women would not be obliged to conceal their sexuality in public, and dress any way we would like. But in the final analysis, God has hikma or wisdom as to why He created men this way, and why He asked women to cover themselves - He Knows best and He is All-Knowing..."

This was comforting because I do have a lot of thoughts about the traditional reason for hijab- to control sexual thoughts. My husband noted men are more sexually stimulated than women and perhaps that is true. I appreciate the ability to wonder about God's plan without being disrespectful

Also noted was this: "...Some women had originally decided to wear the hijab to counteract serious sins they had committed in the past. Ironically, some women also removed the hijab because they felt they were sinners, and were therefore unable to live up to what they felt should symbolize a woman in a hijab..."

I can admit to wanting to cover as a response to a sinful past- but why is that a bad thing? I cover for so many reasons that are truely internal: to remind myself to submit to God in all daily actions, to feel beautiful in my own terms that don't involve revealing all, to feel I have transformed my life for the better by changing my daily dress.

At times, I wonder about altering my hijab- not wearing long sleeves, not being all that mindful of certain clothes. And at times I may have worn outfits that could have been more modest- but hijab is my jihad that I accept and want to work at- I see no negative for it in my life and welcome this opportunity to grow and develop as a Muslim


http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&pagename=Zone-English-Family%2FFYELayout&cid=1237706119307