Hijab

I walked down the street in my long white dress and inch-long, black hair one afternoon, and truck drivers whistled and shouted obscenities at me.

I felt defeated. I had just stepped out of a hair salon. I had cut my hair short, telling the hairdresser to trim it as she would a guy's.

It had been ten years since she had set foot in a mosque. Being at university had broadened her mind in many ways, one of them being her reconnecting with Islam.

She had begun praying five times a day a month ago, and now felt ready to pray in public, at the university's Juma prayer.

“O you Children of Adam! We have bestowed on you raiment to cover your shame as well as to be an adornment to you. But the raiment of righteousness, that is the best. Such are among the Signs of Allah, that they may receive admonition” (Quran 7:26).

Hijab is fundamentally part of worship but, right or wrong, it has become a political statement as well. We may only be expressing our commitment to our Deen (religion) but Hijab is seen to symbolize a rejection of the West.

Cases of Hijab discrimination against Muslim girls and women in Canada and the United States are not uncommon. However, there are measures sisters can take in both countries to fight against such intolerance.

The discussion at the Islam Awareness Week exhibition started out nicely enough. We talked about women's rights, domestic violence, sexual abuse, heavy, heavy issues. It was interesting, she was a feminist, and I, a Muslim woman. But we connected.