Why should I wear hijab?

I am currently strugglying with this issue and would like some imput from those who are able,

First my thoughts are Islam is for all people and for all times

When I read the verse that says pull your "khimar" over your breasts, I wonder as a person from a culture that never had anything like a veil what am I supposed to think? Since khimar is a type of clothing, I took it to mean cover your breasts with your clothing. Had nothing to do with your head or your hair. What are your thoughts? And thanks.

This is one issue that gives me some trouble. I certainly understand the reason for hijab and it is a wish of Allah for all Muslim women to do when out in public and in homes of people who are not relatives or children. For most of my life, long before I decided to embrace Islam (only about a month ago now...still climbing slowly up the tall ladder...learning/doing more every day to become as pious and devout as I can be) I was not a slave of fashion. Being a big girl most of my life certainly didn't encourage me to expose much flesh..that and being a natural red head and very fair, exposed skin was always in danger of burning during the summer. I was never a mini skirt/short shorts type person, nor wearing skin tight clothing. Or worse, those shirts that exposed the mid rib/navel area of women. Never saw the attraction in that myself.

Thus I typically wore lose baggy clothing and open blouses to hide the shape I rather not have people see. Over the last year and half I have worked heard to get myself back into shape, change my diet/lifestyle etc to drop the weight and feel healthier. My weight goals are far, far from what most Western Societies would consider what a woman should weigh/look like for her age/height. I have no desire to look like half the celebrities/models plastering magazines and catwalks across Western Society (and probably plenty of Eastern..those Japanese and other oriental female models look pretty darn skinny and underweight to me too). Suffice to say, my reason for working heard to lose weight and change my eating habits is to improve myself for health and personal reasons, not to make myself more sexy.

Embracing Islam has made me realized there are many changes I will have to make in my life in some ways, but in others, I only have to make small changes. I am already used to covering myself up and not exposing much skin and keeping things loose. Wearing the head scarf outside the house...is my main challenge. I live in a small community and there are no Muslins close by except for the small group in the nearby city. Thus walking around in the scarf will draw attention and I really don't like attention. Then again people do wear scarves over their heads etc...but not so much in the height of summer. OR at least not that i have noticed. But I am going to work myself up to this slowly. Even if its just wearing the scarf loosely till I feel comfortable, or when I go out for a walk in the evenings...

I do wear it when I go to the Mosque and will do so when I go visit the Muslin couple who have been a great help to me. Its all a matter of pushing past that..hesitation/fear/certainty/shyness etc. Its easy to say and as I have already admitted I am still struggling, I definitely know its not easy. Just as it was hard for me not to eat any pork this past Easter, where its very traditional to have glazed ham or ham of some sort...not to mention bacon with the Easter morning breakfast. IT doesn't help that I love pork...but now its out of my diet. At least with bacon I can simply say i am avoiding the high fat and salt...as I did avoid it long before I join Islam because of this.


Back on the topic of hijab, saw this video which I thought was interesting..about how with summer coming and the typical modern concept of 'taking it off' comes to play. I can't post links but its on the Dean show webpage, linked on the main page...I think another posted it in this thread or another thread...or maybe I came upon it while watching other Islamic you tube videos.

Oh another thing about wearing Hijab that concerns me on a personal level, is I do have issues with overheating...It won't stop me from wearing it but i do know I will have to take care on hot days not to overheat. Yet, I do need to wear head coverings (ie hats) in the past if I plan to be out in the sun...to avoid burning my scalp. So the scarf may help me more in that aspect...its the hot humid summer days here I am more worried about. But I keep my hair short in summer, to avoid over heating, so hoping the scarf doesn't trap too much heat...if it does then I will simply have to avoid the daylight when I can. (I am such a night person, I would be happy roaming the desert at night....even if it drops below freezing...I used to cold more than heat)...

I think I touched on all the things I wanted to in this thread...I hope I have been of some help.

Wearing a Hijab is compulsory.

I would firstly like to thank you for sharing your ideas in the internet. I think that above all we are all human beings and despite our differences we may have many things in common, we all have a deep interest in being respected, being honest and trying to be good people. For me, what differentiates pepole is their sense of humanity, their sensibility and that is not determined by the religion the person claims to follow or in fact follows. In my opinion, it goes deeper than that. About wearing the hijab I tryied to think about this and I believe that people should be free to chose, and of course women that feel better using the hijab should be able to use. Every society has its cultural codes, and between these cultural codes, clothes play an important role in defining the identity of these groups. As an example, we can think about social groups that only use black clothes, for example, and we associate them with rockers ou heavy metal people, as well as we can think of many religions that each one has a particular indumentary that identifies them. On the other hand, there is one thing that I think that makes it difficult for me to imagine how to live putting a barrier between you and the rest of the people, which is, according to many of the ones who have written in this forum, one of the main objectives in using the hijab. I believe that we, as human beings that we are, can develop a lot our personality and comprehension of the world and of people we know by looking to otherone´s expressions of the face, or by being able to laugh at someone or express our fear... so many things that come up in our faces and in our body language that i feel so sad that some women have to lose the chance to be able to experience. I think that the idea of preventing women from being raped is really the worst of all, because we should stop thinking humans as if we had those uncontrolable desires. We all know that we are able to live in society and respect other people, and putting a barrier just because some men behave like animals with no rational and ethical side is a very unhappy way of forgiving those actions as being caused by another agent. In fact, the problem is not solved by putting barriers between people, but putting values as love, respect and compassion. Of course I am expressing my opinion, my view of the world, not supposing that every woman would feel the same. That would be an antropocentric view that i don´t think is heathly when it comes to trying to be opened minded and understand other points of view.

format_quote Originally Posted by dqsunday

This is one issue that gives me some trouble. I certainly understand the reason for hijab and it is a wish of Allah for all Muslim women to do when out in public and in homes of people who are not relatives or children. For most of my life, long before I decided to embrace Islam (only about a month ago now...still climbing slowly up the tall ladder...learning/doing more every day to become as pious and devout as I can be) ..................

I think I touched on all the things I wanted to in this thread...I hope I have been of some help.

Sister mashAllah may Allah grant you more courage and ease in following the ways of Islam ameen. I can relate to all of what you've said, and Its true that Hijab is a struggle for most people living in the deserts and in places where heat and humidity is known to kill people. I live in such a place as well, and well Ive found there's always several ways to ward off heat. One being getting a thin vaporous fabric ( umm a cloth which lets air in, like chiffons etc)and these cloths can be wrapped around several times for opacity since in a single layer they may be translucent, but they work good when done in layers. If you know or get to meet somebody from pakistan or indian community in the masjid where you live, you can make friends with them and request to get you some chiffon duppattas ( a longer version of a scarf, which is available in different colors and can also be dyed to get the colors we want and isnt that expensive either, could cost around 5 to 10 dollar maximum).

Since offices and malls are mostly air conditioned to avoid heat these days , it isnt much of a problem while one is working, but it could be a problem during commuting or outside field work. You are also right about trying to find ways get used to it, one can start with a loose scarf and then move on to more secure ones. I started off that way too but i soon got annoyed with it since it would start looking messy , mess up hair and would slip sometimes and look funny : p, so I checked out the few videos on the net and learned to secure it by a few pins here or there Initially it may take about 10 mins for you to fix it, but later it wont even take 2 mins InshALlah

So many good posts here. As a male I can make an important point here is that males should stop complaining about hijab of females and rather should concentrate on themselves, i.e, Hijab of males.


024.030 قُلْ لِلْمُؤْمِنِينَ يَغُضُّوا مِنْ أَبْصَارِهِمْ وَيَحْفَظُوا فُرُوجَهُمْ ذَلِكَ أَزْكَى لَهُمْ إِنَّ اللَّهَ خَبِيرٌ بِمَا يَصْنَعُونَ

Say to the believing men that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty: that will make for greater purity for them: And Allah is well acquainted with all that they do.

Hijab of males comes first!

Quranic verses says that a Women should cover her from head to toe. No man other than her husband can see her. It is ordered to cover your hair and face. So we should carry hijab but not those fashionay hijab that display your body shape more.

Assalaamu Alaikkum,
While there are many notable men leaders who had voiced for women's rights, there are very few (may be none) who talk about rights in the context of Hijab. Because every average man knows what thoughts shaithaan can put in his mind when he sees the beauty in women. He cannot openly speak against the real (positive) difference Hijab makes. Everyone of us including me know that difference. Unfortunately sisters cannot see another sister with a man's eye. And thats why some are ignorant about the benefits of observing Hijab.
On a lighter tone, one of our Masjid Imams used to say Allah knows His creations so well, He is more confident on Women than Men and thats why he has made it obligatory for Women a full body covering (just one element of Hijab though), while for men its from Above the navel to below the knees.
Surely Allah knows best!