RE: “What wearing the hijab changed for me,” The Charlatan, Nov. 26-Dec. 2, 2015
In a recent opinion piece, Hajar Tohme wrote that the choice to wear the hijab is her own and that being asked by others if she is forced to wear it is an attack on her personality. She stated, “By no means am I willing to assert my autonomy and freedom to people.”
There are Muslim societies in which women’s dress in public is regulated by husbands, parents, brothers, or the religious or political order. The questions aimed at Tohme reflect this awareness and are not attacks on her person as much as they are a response to the lack of freedoms under which some Muslim women live, and a concern that this ideology is being forced upon women here in Canada.
What would be more worrisome than being asked if one is forced to wear the hijab is to live in a society that doesn’t ask because there is no choice. After all, the freedom to wear the hijab can only exist in the presence of the freedom to not wear it.
The rights that women have so far acquired in Canadian society have been hard fought for and, like all rights, they require continual vigilance by all to maintain them. It is better to have to explain why one chooses to wear the hijab than it is to remain silent because one does not have the choice
Tohme stated that part of the reason she started to wear the hijab is to identify herself as an ambassador for Islam. As an ambassador whose duty is to, as she stated, “constantly enlighten” others, this role might better be fulfilled by addressing questions and comments from one’s own personal perspective. The wearing of the hijab is more meaningful when it comes about through deliberate personal reflection rather than being enforced upon one by others or being perpetuated through unquestioned tradition.
Certainly, some of the comments provoked by wearing the hijab might be considered to be insensitive or intrusive, and I can appreciate the reticence in discussing this matter with non-Muslims. But who is better to answer the question of choice in wearing the hijab than a woman who has made that choice? Rather than remaining silent about this choice, it might be more beneficial to use these questions and concerns as an opportunity to educate both Muslims and non-Muslims as to the capability of Islam to accommodate a liberated and educated woman.
