A friend of mine (one of my newfound Muslim buddies, alhamdulillah) came over to my place today to borrow my scientific calculator for her stats exam, and one of the first things she said was, "Hey, you're hijab-less!" This made me chuckle and reminded me of a recent discussion outside* the mosque about the questions people had asked us about the hijab, or headscarf. These questions can range from the ludicrous--Do you sleep/shower with the scarf on? Do you have to wear it at home? Is it hot wearing the scarf?**--to the oft-awkward--Why doesn't every Muslim girl wear the headscarf?--and they can most certainly put you in a spot as you try to gauge how serious they are in asking these questions, even the ones that you think are silly, just so that you can give them an appropriate response. I have been relatively fortunate thus far, alhamdulillah, to have very few of such encounters; perhaps my serious, no-nonsense countenance deters many from asking questions that even they would deem to be silly. It is nonetheless a blessing to be able to answer any questions that are asked with the pure intention of satisfying one's curiosity about my religion, and I have had my fair share of those, which have often led to lovely and enlightening discussions, alhamdulillah.
All jokes aside, it really would not be fair to ridicule these people for their ignorance. Have we, in the first place, tried to create awareness about the hijab, or share with people our experiences? Let us all be generous to a fault and subscribe to the notion that no question can be too stupid; at the very least, we can correct people's misperceptions about the hijab, or even the religion, for the moment we choose to wear the hijab, we have become by default ambassadors of Islam. It is a huge responsibility that goes beyond a head-covering and encompasses all of our outerwear as well as every aspect of our behavior. May Allah SWT continue to help all of us in our efforts, ameen.
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*A falsely-triggered fire alarm led us to evacuate the mosque and engage in discussions to amuse ourselves while the firemen looked for a non-existent fire.
** The answer to those questions is "No".
