"Tired of what?"
"Of all these people judging me."
"Who judged you?"
"Like that woman, every time I sit with her, she
tells me to wear hijab."
"Oh, hijab and music! The mother of all topics!"
"Yeah! I listen to music without hijab. haha!"
"Maybe she was just giving you advice."
"I don't need her advice. I know my religion. Can't
she mind her own business?"
"Maybe you misunderstood. She was just being
nice."
"Keeping out of my business, that would be
nice..."
"But it's her duty to encourage you do to good."
"Trust me. That was no encouragement. And what
do you mean 'good'?"
"Well, wearing hijab, that would be a good thing to
do."
"Says who?"
"It's in the Qur'an, isn't it?"
"Yes. She did quote me something."
"She said Surah an-Nur, and other places of the
Qur'an."
"Yes, but it's not a big sin anyway. Helping people
and praying is more important."
"True. But big things start with small things."
"That's a good point, but what you wear is not
important. What's important is to have a good
healthy heart."
"What you wear is not important?"
"That's what I said."
"Then why do you spend an hour every morning
fixing up?"
"What do you mean?"
"You spend money on cosmetics, not to mention
all the time you spend on fixing your hair and low-
carb dieting."
"So?"
"So, your appearance IS important."
"No. I said wearing hijab is not an important thing
in religion."
"If it's not an important thing in religion, why is it
mentioned in the Holy Qur'an?"
"You know I can't follow all that's in Qur'an."
"You mean God tells you something to do, you
disobey and then it's OK?"
"Yes. God is forgiving."
"God is forgiving to those who repent and do not
repeat their mistakes."
"Says who?" < BR>"Says the same book that tells
you to cover."
"But I don't like hijab, it limits my freedom."
"But the lotions, lipsticks, mascara and other
cosmetics set you free?! What's your definition of
freedom anyway?"
"Freedom is in doing whatever you like to do."
"No. Freedom is in doing the right thing, not in
doing whatever we wish to do."
"Look! I've seen so many people who don't wear
hijab and are nice people, and so many who wear
hijab and are bad people."
"So what? There are people who are nice to you
but are alcoholic. Should we all be alcoholics?
You made a stupid point."
"I don't want to be an extremist or a fanatic. I'm OK
the way I am without hijab."
"Then you are a secular fanatic. An extremist in
disobeying God."
"You don't get it, if I wear hijab, who would marry
me?!"
"So all these people with hijab never get
married?!"
"Okay! Wha t if I get married and my husband
doesn't l i ke it? And wants me to remove it?"
"What if your husband wants you to go out with
him on a bank robbery?!"
"That's irrelevant, bank robbery is a crime."
"Disobeying your Creator is not a crime?"
"But then who would hire me?"
"A company that respects people for who they
are."
"Not after 9-11"
"Yes. After 9-11. Don't you know about Hanan
who just got into med school? And the other one,
what was her name, the girl who always wore a
white hijab.ummm."
"Yasmeen?"
"Yes. Yasmeen. She just finished her MBA and is
now interning for GE."
"Why do you reduce religion to a piece of cloth
anyway?"
"Why do you reduce womanhood to high heals
and lipstick colours?"
"You didn't answer my question."
"In fact, I did. Hijab is not just a piece of cloth.
It is
obeying God in a difficult environment. It is
courage, faith in action, and true womanhood. But
your short sleeves, tight pants."
"That's called 'fashion', you live in a cave or
something? First of all, hijab was founded by men
who wanted to control women."
"Really? I did not know men could control women
by hijab."
"Yes. That's what it is."
"What about the women who fight their husbands
to wear hijab? And women in France who are
forced to remove their hijab by men? What do you
say about that?"
"Well, that's different."
"What difference? The woman who asked you to
wear hijab. she was a woman, right?"
"Right, but."
"But fashions that are designed and promoted by
male-dominated corporations, set you free? Men
have no control on exposing women and using
them as a commodity?! Give me a break!"
"Wait, let me finish, I was saying."
"Saying what? You think that men control women
by hijab?"
"Yes."
"Specifically how?"
"By te lling women how and what to wear,
dummy!"
"Doesn't TV, magazines and movies tell you what
t o wear, and how to be 'attractive'?"
"Of course, it's fashion."
"Isn't that control? Pressuring you to wear what
they want you to wear?"
Silence
"Not just controlling you, but also controlling the
market."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, you are told to look skinny and anorexic
like that woman on the cover of the magazine, by
men who design those magazines and sell those
products."
"I don't get it. What does hijab have to do with
products."
"It has everything to do with that. Don't you see?
Hijab is a threat to consumerism, women who
spend billions of dollars to look skinny and live by
standards of fashion designed by men.and then
here is Islam, saying trash all that nonsense and
focus on your soul, not on your looks, and do not
worry what men think of your looks."
"Like I don't have to buy hijab? Isn't hijab a
product?"
"Yes, it is. It is a product that sets you free from
male-dominated consumer ism ."
"Stop lecturing me! I WILL NOT WEAR HIJAB! It
is awkward, outdated, and totally not suitable for
this societ y ... Moreover, I am only 20 and too
young to wear hijab!"
"Fine. Say that to your Lord, when you face Him
on Judgment Day."
"Fine."
"Fine."
Silence
"Shut up and I don't want to hear more about hijab
niqab schmijab Punjab !"
Silence.
She stared at the mirror, tired of arguing with
herself all this time.
Successful enough, she managed to shut the
voices in her head, with her own opinions
triumphant in victory on the matter, and a final
modern decision accepted by the society,
rejected by the Faith:
Yes to curls or blowed dried hair, no to hijab
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