Open Letter to Muslims

Hijab

unedited

DISLAIMER: all of these instances conveyed in the following letter have been witnessed by my older sister or I. None of these allegations are thrown about willy-nilly and should be taken very seriously.

Salam.

This is an open letter to viewers on Wattpad (mostly Muslim but other religious entities are welcome to read) pertaining to women in Islam, and more particularly to the idea of the hijab.

I am aware that many people, Muslims and non-Muslims, are not so educated and informed about this issue. This is mostly due to the fact that "outside" societies/cultures do not implement the need or use for the hijab and cannot conceive the importance of the Hijab to the faith of a Muslim woman's life and her success through the journey of Islam.

Before I start, I would just like to say that I understand that many find it difficult to wear the hijab. I understand that, personally, there may be a billion reasons why you shouldn't; and, it may be that these excuses pass with others, but between you and Allah, they don't (unless, of course, it is a life or death situation. But name calling is not considered this, nor is any social prejudice that doesn't put your life in harms way. Remember, ajar is given for any hardship you may have).

The first issue I would like to bring up is not wearing the hijab.

In America (or other prevailing Western cultures), I have witnessed two types of Muslim who do not wear a hijab. A mock-Kaffar* like Muslim, and a Conservative-Muslim. 

The mock-Kaffar Muslim does not wear the hijab, but also wears inappropriate attire and absorbs themselves into the liberating ideology of Western Culture. These types of Muslim are only considered Muslim because their parents "raised" them with this belief. They proclaim to others that they are Muslim, thus tarnishing the values that Islam upholds to the public. They also divert easily to the wrong path because they are being forced into the religion, or at least to the concept of it, even if they don't apply it. They also make it seem like it's not obligated in Islam to abide by its dress code by saying that it's a "choice" to wear the hijab or to cover up. The friend that I had who did this, actually multiple friends, even thought it okay to have a boyfriend, and their parents found it okay as well (very ironic; one of them told me it was okay to have a boyfriend, but not okay to become a supermodel).

The second type is the Conservative-Muslim. These Muslim women will cover from neck-to-toe, but will still show their hair. The problem I see is that if she doesn't mind covering up a major part of her body which evokes sex appeal, why does she mind covering her hair, which just intensifies the beauty? And if she doesn't wear a hijab, no matter how conservative she dresses, she will not be easily identified as a Muslim. What's the point of abiding by an Islamic action if you are not willing to go the whole way? Islam is not something where you can pick and choose what to adhere by and still receive "full credit"; it's not a buffet. We don't see mothers neglecting to take care of their babies because they need a time out. It has to be consistent and it has to be done sincerely in order to please Allah SWT which is the ultimate goal for a Muslim (al-akhira).

The second issue is excusing those who do not wear the hijab.

I am well aware that there are Muslims who are, Allhumdillah, good in faith and action and do not wear a hijab. In fact, that's my best friend (edit: She's now a hijabi! Mashallah!). However, we cannot keep giving them pardon for this. By claiming that we cannot "judge" them because they do not wear the veil is false. We can judge them, but what we cannot do is create allegations against them that are false; we cannot claim that they are bad Muslims, but if we do claim that they are good Muslims, we are giving them an advantage. They can now claim, "but oh, look, I'm a good Muslim, regardless of my abidance to what Allah has mandated."