How can a non-Muslim even hope to understand about hijab (modesty covering), when they are brainwashed by the media already that a woman dresses in this way because she is oppressed.
I am an English girl, reasonably confident (depending on the circumstances), opinionated with a healthy self-esteem. I'm not fugly. I'm above average looking and a size 10 dress. I'm also a revert (convert) to Islam. The reason I mention my physical appearance is that some people think it's only fugly girls who revert to Islam because they can get a husband easier as he can't see her. Lame, but I heard that one before.
Ok, oppression. No-one is oppressing me. I have a quick enough tongue and some skillful kickboxing moves and if someone tried to oppress me, I'd use them both. I don't have a Muslim family, I didn't grow up in a Muslim community and I don't have a Muslim husband telling me to wear modest clothes or he'll smack me with miswak.
I am Muslim because Islam is the haqq (truth). I wear hijab firstly because it is written in The Qur'an and secondly because I choose to. Some Muslim women choose not to and that's their business.
I grew up in a western culture that tells me I have liberty and choice and yet all of the women, with various amounts of their body on show, don't look to me like they are utilising that choice. They look like they are brainwashed by a over-sexualised culture. Ok, so I am using my choice, but the minute I take that choice opposite to the mainstream culture I live in, I am now considered oppressed. Too funny! But sad as well.
The reason women in Islam are instructed by Allah (subhana wa ta 3la), to cover, is not to keep us down and oppress us, anyone with even a elementary understanding of Islam will know that is emotive rubbish that fits with the current anti-Islamic climate. The reason we cover is first because it's an act of worship to Allah and second because our bodies are only for our husbands to see. A gift for him alone. Since I covered mine, I feel so nice not having blokes looking at me like...that way. I know not every bloke looks that way at women but a lot do and I get how difficult it is not to look for some blokes. And some women don't even mind a bloke looking because he's just appreciating her nice looks and nothing more than that. I get it! I really do.
I had mates in the coffee shop I worked at say that I looked nice or that I was beautiful, well one said I looked beautiful and I didn't think he was a perv or anything but just complimentary. The thing is though, it's better this way, I feel better this way as a woman.
When I talk to a bloke now, my sexuality doesn't come into it. It's just a straight communication and I feel respected for just being a human being on the planet and not a sexual object to look at, even if only to admire in a polite way.
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