What came to us...

photo by Sue Anna Joe

I have this one thing to talk about. I was thinking of writing this since a long time ago but I did not get the chance. Firstly, this entry is not to condemn anyone but only a plain personal opinion about what the community is facing right now. By the way, the concern is mainly regarding the Muslim women nowadays.

When my mom got married with my dad, she wasn't wearing hijab (tudung) but later, after few years into marriage, she started wearing hijab, which is a bless. It's the order from our Lord 'Azzawajalla towards the women. That was around the 80's. Most people have more concern on religious matters during that time and until now. Alhamdulillah. Even most parents instill Islam in their children's daily routine nowadays. We used to be "jahil" but things are getting better and better. If my grandma never asked my mom to wear hijab when she was younger, now it's different. My mom always reminds her children to cover their aurat necessarily.

As we are moving towards better understanding in our Deen, there are still obstacles coming our way. That's life right? On the straight path, you might found your way into bushes, fallen trees, hidden holes, etc. It's never easy. So I thnk I saw this one obstacle that may put us in confusion or we may realize it but we just can't resist it. Lately, wearing hijab is getting more attention from Muslim women. I'm discussing this in regards of the Muslim women in Malaysia because I'm not sure what it's like in the other countries.

Fashion has becoming a powerful device in influencing our way of life. I'm not saying it's totally wrong. It's simple. If you are following the proper guidelines outlined by Islam, you're on the right track I suppose but if it's otherwise, you need to do something about it. When we talk about fashion, what comes to mind is how you dress up and how you want people to look at you. Then, we will hear few reasons why people are into fashion. Some of them will say, oh I feel good and have more confidence when I wear this and this. Maybe some will say, oh I don't want people to look at me as selekeh if I wear that and that. And the reasons goes on and on until we forget what Islam taught us in dressing up, which is one of the earliest things we learn at sekolah agama. I like Yuna. Her voice is really good and she's good looking too. Her presence in the music industry in our country has brought quite a wave to us. I think most Malaysian know her. She's an icon. There are people who will say that it's a good thing to have a girl with hijab and a guitar being an icon for the country. Their reasons might be: It shows that Islam doesn't oppress; There will be more people considering wearing hijab; and so on. However, if you are critical enough in judging this matter, you will say that it's a "No" for a Muslim woman to publicize her voice. There are certain cases where they can let their voice heard but music is not one of the cases. I don't want to talk more on this because it's not what I want to focus on.

The thing that I want to focus on is about how this kind of thing influences the people. There are women who started wearing hijab, which is good, but not according to how they supposed to wear it, which is not good. And there are women who from wearing the hijab properly, turn into wearing the hijab according to the fashion brought by the icons, which is to me, not good. This topic can make a great debate. But if you are impartial, you can see and realize that it is a simple issue. When it's wrong+right, it's wrong. This is only about hijab. We haven't touched on shirt, pants, socks, shoes, etc.

This is one big challenge for the Muslim women to face. I understand how hard this could be for them. Fighting our "Nafsu" is never an easy task plus with the "Syaitan" wh are always finding opportunities to discourage us from following the straight path. I was thinking of including few hadith or verses from the Quran regarding this but it's late and I'm too tired. Hopefully I'll get to quote them later. I hope this reminder will make us think and moves us to a better spot among the Mukminun. Amin.

Allah knows better.

In Allah we have faith