Day 2-Wearing the Hijab

Happy Labor Day, everyone. I only wore the hijab for about four hours today, while I had guests coming over for our Annual Service Auction Day brunch. In keeping with the custom, I wore the hijab when in the presence of men who were not my husband, brother, etc. I didn't go out and about all day, so I mostly had it off while in the privacy of my own home.

While getting dressed this morning, I realized that I had to rethink my entire wardrobe this week. Wearing the hijab with shorts and flip flops, was probably not in keeping with the spirit of modesty (even if the shorts were very long). Wearing a short sleeve shirt was probably not okay either. So, I put on a long sleeve t-shirt and long shorts, but told myself I'd put on pants if I went out in the world. I'd also put on socks and shoes.

I'm getting used to wearing the hijab. When I had it on during our brunch, I didn't notice it, until the conversation swirled around why I was doing this. There were different opinions offered around the table about the hijab, wearing an abaya vs. a burqua. Most around the table felt it was fine if a Muslim woman wanted to cover, but if it was mandatory, then that was not okay. I talked about the reasons why Muslim women want to cover:

1. Modest dress, for both women and men, is the Qu'ran as a spiritual practice.
2. Being covered removes the temptation to objectify women by their appearance; i.e., makes them less of a sex object in the public eye;
3. Reserving one's beauty for one's husband (I don't know if liberal Muslims have any thoughts about lesbian women being covered)
4. Keeping one's focus on Allah and not on self

Later that afternoon, I was out talking to my neighbor (again, in the privacy of my yard, with no men around, I didn' t have the hijab on.) I told her if she saw me out and about this week, i was going to wear the hijab to see and to feel what it was like. I suspect my neighbors are pretty conservative, but she immediately "got it." She said "I have good friends who are members of the mosque; I've been to their weddings, memorial services, all kinds of events." Surprise! She didn't think it was an unusual thing to do. In fact, she said "that's neat."

So, I underestimate my own neighborhood and my conservative little town of Bay Village. Now mind you, that was one neighbor. Hopefully, this will hold true for the rest of the week and prove my theory true; that most Americans really are tolerant--and even proud of, living together in a multicultural society.

I hope my "athletic" hijab comes in the mail tomorrow. It's the one I bought to be able to run in. If it doesn't come--this should be very interesting...

See you all tomorrow!
Kathleen