How Hijab Became my Strength…
Passing out from school and entering the high school was very exciting. I got in the college of my choice and was ready to explore the new world with expectations of having lot of fun and new friends.
Fun is NOT fun without friends, and making new friends was never a problem for me. However, the people around me were so different that it made extremely different for me to comprehend them. I was always very courteous towards other students, and always ready to help them no matter what their problem was.
Soon, however I realised that not even a single girl was interested in being friends with me. One day I was walking towards a group of students who were busy in chit chatting, when I reached at them, suddenly they stopped talking and whispered,
‘don’t discuss it in front of her, she is total moulvi’.
In my society, moulvi is a person who brings in Quran in every matter of life. I could not really figure out what was wrong in it. And very soon I realised that it was the veil I took to cover my head that alienated me from them.
My whole existence was shouting out loud but in whispers that how my veil makes me unfit for this liberal society in which I breathe. I did not lack in intelligence as my veil was covering my head not my brain, in fact, I was an A* student. Still no one was ready to be friends with me. I tried hard for 6 months to make new friends, but that was of no avail. Many times, I experienced the devilish thoughts of giving up on my veil and enjoy that time with friend and fun. However, every time I came back stronger because if my faith and my understanding of the Quran.
I let go of my expectations of making new friends and started spending most of my time in library because books did not judge me because of my veil. I finished my high school with good grades but no friends.
The stigma that came with my veil never stopped me trying in making my space and clearing the mindsets that girls who opt to take veils are totally sane. So, during my course work in graduation I started covering myself more rigidly and then, things started changing… With same outlook, students started befriending me due to my intelligence and manners. I became popular because of my sincerity and hard work. By the end of graduation, I had lots of good friends, amazing memories and lots of achievement. On top of everything I had the satisfaction that I did not make my Allah unhappy to make people happy.
We should believe that it’s not the beard or veil that takes away opportunities from us. Its Allah’s planning to bless us with the best!
