Okay, so Alhamdulillah, most of us girls do wear Hijab. And by Hijab, I don’t just mean the cloth on our heads, but everything; full sleeve tops, long dresses, the baju kurung (had to look up the spelling of that!). For the boys, it means loose clothing and covering at least the area between the navel and the knees. It’s something nearly all of us have grown up with, seeing our mothers, aunties, sisters etc. all abide by the aurah covering rule. But have we ever stopped to ask, while making last minute adjustments to our hijab, before running off to that class we’re always late for, “Why on Earth am I putting all this on???”
There are some really good answers to this, but before we go
into all of that, I want to kind of emphasize the importance of asking this
question. There’s a famous Hadeeth, “Actions are based on intention, and every
man shall have what he intended” We’ve probably all heard this hadeeth quite a
few times. So we have to think and ask ourselves, “What is my intention behind
wearing hijab?” Am I wearing it because it’s a university rule, and I sooo
don’t want to get into trouble? Or is it because all my friends wear it and I don’t
want to feel left out? Or is it because wearing hijab is expected of me; I don’t
want to disappoint my family. Or maybe we’ve never thought about why we put on
hijab, it’s just something we have always done, no questions asked. We need to
know why we put on hijab, and we need to have the right intention. Imagine
wearing Hijab your entire life, but never getting any reward for it, because of
doing it with the wrong intention.
Why do we wear Hijab? Because Allah has commanded us to do
so.
"O Prophet, tell your wives and daughters and the believing
women to draw their outer garments around them (when they go out or are among
men). That is better in order that they may be known (to be Muslims) and not
annoyed..." (Qur'an 33:59)
This is our Creator we are talking about; if He orders us to
do something, we do it. Full stop. He is
the one who made us, gave us our mothers and fathers, and blessed us in
uncountable ways. We are totally dependent on Him for everything. He is our
Master, we are His slaves. He knows what
is best for us. Our intention while wearing Hijab should be to please Allah
alone.
The question still remains, “What is the point of Hijab?”
Pretend for a moment that you have tons of money. Are you ever going to walk
about on the street, waving it about, pinning to your clothes, and generally
displaying it for all to see? Of course not! Now why wouldn’t you do this? The
answers:
i)
You value your money; it’s
precious to you.
ii)
You don’t want anybody to
steal your money.
iii)
You don’t want anybody to
be tempted to steal your money.
iv)
You don’t want people you
meet to treat you differently because of all your money.
In the same way, we Muslims (men and women) value our bodies.
Our bodies are very precious to us. We don’t display them for everyone to look
at. We don’t want people to harm us, or be tempted to harm us. We want people
to treat us based on our moral character and intelligence, not on our physical
appearances. Hijab is also a distinguishing feature of Muslims. It’s our
identity. You go out to any mall and you know immediately, based on the way
that they dress that, yes that person is my sister/brother in Islam.
We wear Hijab to preserve our chastity, to be modest. Our modesty should not just be in the way we
dress, but in the way we behave and talk to others. There is no point in wearing
Hijab if it does not reflect what is in our hearts. We can’t be wearing modest clothes, but then
go around with boyfriends/ girlfriends, or purposefully try to attract members
of the opposite sex. This defeats the very purpose of Hijab. A big part of Hijab
is to lower our gaze i.e don’t stare at that really pretty girl/handsome boy in
your class! We should also be careful of the way we wear Hijab. Hijab, for men
and women should be loose coverings, covering what needs to be covered, and not
the kind of thing that will cause everyone within a one mile radius to stop and
stare at you (p.s excessive use of makeup falls under this category!)
I know there are times when we wish we could dress the way
we want to dress, with no restrictions. We may look at the non-Muslims and
perhaps even envy them. But we have to remember Allah at these moments, and be
grateful to Him, that He has guided us and chosen us. Inshaallah, whatever
hardships we endure in this world; we’ll be rewarded for them in the Hereafter
if we are patient. Please do ask yourself, “What’s better: a short eighty years
or so of pleasure, or a waaaay longer eternity in Jannah?”
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Please do leave your comments and feedback. If you would like to send in your articles for this site, please send to HennaMQ@gmail.com
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Please do leave your comments and feedback. If you would like to send in your articles for this site, please send to HennaMQ@gmail.com
“What’s better: a short eighty years or so of pleasure, or a waaaay longer eternity in Jannah?” = killer statement
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