World Hijab day is a day that celebrates the freedom for one to don on the hijab. As much as World Hijab day is a day to celebrate one's right to don the hijab, I personally feel that it is also a day to remind us to be grateful for having that freedom. Comparing to the European countries who ban the niqab and the hijab, we should be grateful that the government allows us to wear what we want (not a pro-govt statement. just stating facts)"1 February has been celebrated as World Hijab day in more than 50 countries of the world. It was founded by a Bangladeshi American woman Nazma Khan. At this day women from both Muslim and Non-Muslim community wears hijab to support the personal freedom to wear of one's own choice." - Wikipedia.org
So here's my hijab story.
At the age of 7, I remembered asking my mum if she'd allow me to wear the hijab at that age. I knew at first she was reluctant because I was so young. After discussing with my dad, she agreed. Donning on the hijab at such a young age was tough, I admit. All my cousins didn't wear the hijab and so did most of my friends. I felt really left out, not being able to wear t-shirts, skirts and short dresses. And I remembered feeling very ugly, you know with my ugly spectacles and really really really bad fashion sense. (It was the early 2000's and I was in primary school. Fashion wasn't a big deal to me)
As I grew up, I started feeling more insecure about wearing my hijab. A lot of people didn't wear it at that point of time, which included a lot of my friends and family. I too, wanted to dress up like them and wear really nice clothes. When I was 12, I remembered making black my favourite and only hijab colour I wear. (It's ironic that now I would avoid black at all cost) Then slowly inching towards my secondary school life, I really started to care about what I wore. And my insecurity grew even more.
I'm pretty sure we all can agree that our pre-teen to early teen years were the most stressful years in our teenage life. Wanting to fit in, looking really pretty and what nots. There was even one point of time where I would sneak out of the house, not wearing my hijab and meet my friends. Peer pressure, you might say. After a while, I felt really awkward wearing my hijab out with my friends, well, more of shy I would say. I even asked my mum if I could take it out but of course, she protested her heart out and I got a long lecture after that. I also remembered wanting to go to JC in Sec 3 because I didn't have to wear the hijab to school.
So that's pretty much my hijab story. What's yours?
With love, Hannah xx
