PERILS OF BEING A HIJABI IN A DESI SOCIETY

 
 Credits: Wajiha Abdul Samad

 
In desi societies where every other person feels that a woman covered in hijab is solution to all the problems this state faces, one would assume that the women who do cover themselves feel more inclusive. However, as ironic as it may seem, the situation is quite the opposite.
 
There is a strong prejudice held against hijabi girls both professionally and personally whereby they are deduced to be conservative, an extremist or restrictive. There are several instances where they have been made to feel secluded from the rest such as a person interviewing a hijabi will have a completely different body language in comparison to interviewing candidates. Not only that, even in social circles, people tend to apologize for using foul language around even if it wasn’t used against them. In a wedding whether it is their own or someone else’s, they are often asked to let go off the hijab only to order to curb these prejudices curated by people themselves. These experiences make them feel alien in a group of people when they are exactly just like them.
 
If this wasn’t enough, Hijabis are expected to be immune from all mistakes and have to be the perfect muslim.. This pressure makes them feel that their every action is being noticed and judged which adds on to their anxiety, although if we think about it, a hijab is nothing more than an extra layer of cloth. It does have an Islamic value attached to it but it is between them and Allah. Hijabi’s are just as normal as us so give them the space to breathe, room to make mistakes and treat them without any biases and reservations.