hijab

Community, Culture

Drinking, dating and hijabs: The perils of college life for Muslim women

I climbed out of the car and heard the raucous laughter and booming music spilling out of the open windows and doors of the house party. My Christian and Jewish friends and I were welcomed as the innocent, new freshmen on campus. Red cups full of beer were passed around; I shook my head when one came my way. The guy holding it glanced at me with hazy eyes. “What?! No beer?” he said incredulously. “No, not for me!” I yelled back at him over the music. He shook his head dumbfounded and moved on to a more willing participant.

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9/11, Culture

Hijabi for a day

February 1, 2013 marked the first World Hijab Day, a day organized by New Yorker Nazma Khan to allow women to experience the hijab firsthand. Citing discrimination from Muslims and non-Muslims alike, she conceived of the idea so that those who have never worn hijab themselves could walk in the shoes of women who have.

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Culture

“Hip Hop Hijabis”: An interview with Muneera Rashida and Mette Reitzel

This past month, filmmaker Mette Reitzel has been campaigning tirelessly to raise funds for a documentary on Muneera Rashida and Sukina Abdul Noor. These two female British Muslims are founders of the “Poetic Pilgrimage,” a movement involving the intersection of social justice, spiritual growth, and creative and cultural expression. Altmuslimah’s Sarah Farrukh asks Rashida and Reitzel about the history of the “Poetic Pilgrimage,” the challenge of being “hip hop hijabis,” and the significance of this film.

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Community, Culture, Mosque

On (not) losing my hijab

By the grace of God, I met the end of 2012 in a state of blissful contentment. However, this didn’t come without struggle. I was reminded of a particular difficulty I experienced when I was cleaning out my inbox and I came across an unsent email. My heart felt heavy at the memory of how I felt when I wrote it. “It’s been a hell of a year, Sarah,” I thought. “What a way to mark your ten-year hijabiversary.”

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9/11, Community, Culture, Politics

Hijab and Havaianas

I am someone who defies convention. I converted to Islam shortly after 9/11. But that didn’t mean I would become a conventional Muslim. I wanted to know God in a way that made sense to me. Every time I pick up the Quran, I’m in awe and feel even more sure that this revelation is how God wanted me to become closer to Him. But that epiphany is far from beautiful and inspiring for the majority of non-Muslims and Muslims I meet. There’s a simple explanation: I don’t wear the hijab (headscarf). My decision not to wear it is not out of defiance, but because it doesn’t work for me.

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Columns

Shaima Alawadi: Beyond ‘Hoodies and Hijabs’

The perplexing circumstances surrounding the brutal murder of a young mother, Shaima Alawadi, has had the Muslim American community abuzz recently. As her daughter purportedly found Alawadi’s body with a note stating, “go back to your country, you terrorist,” many rushed to label the incident as a ‘hate crime,’ even attempting to demonstrate a link between her death and that of Trayvon Martin, the 17 year old shot by neighborhood watchman, George Zimmerman.

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Culture

Many layers: Examining the complex meanings of hijab

<< From the AltMuslimah Archives >>
Writer Fatima Ayub examines perspectives on veiling in Muslim majority and minority contexts, both in the United States, where she grew up, and in Afghanistan, where she has lived and worked. She finds a surprising number wear it due to a combination of social expectation and cultural habit, rather than solely a religious act, illustrating the diversity of thought and behavior that surrounds the hijab.

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Politics

Little hijabi women: A questionable phenomenon

Baber Ibrahim, in his Guardian piece, “This Trend of Young Muslim Girls Wearing the Hijab is Disturbing,” propagates a hodgepodge of observations and speculations about why there is apparently a visible increase in the number of little girls (under the age of ten) donning the hijab. He claims that wearing one at this age leads to the sexualization of girls, which runs opposite the goal of observing modesty and humility. I would call that claim fair only because of the hegemonic sexualized worldview of typically everything related to gender issues in Islam.

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