My Hijab Story + Tips

Salam! 🙂

I hope you and your family are safe and well during these difficult corona times. Keep up the social distancing and continue praying for those affected… it will be over soon, isA xX

Now I wanted to get into my personal hijab story. I know everyone is on their own journey, but I hope that sharing my own experiences and tips will inspire you to view hijab in a different light, or even encourage you to embrace it one day inshallah! 🙂 If you were to leave with one thing from this post, I would hope that you at least became more open minded and understanding about the concept of hijab ♡

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I was blessed to be born into a mixed family- my mom is American, and my dad is Egyptian. My mom grew up in a Presbyterian family, and my dad grew up in an Islamic family. Around the time that my parents got married, my mom decided to convert to Islam. Ahmed Deedat was one of her favorites at the time! She personally chose not to wear hijab but is a practicing Muslim. Growing up, my parents always did their best to enroll my two older brothers and I in different Sunday schools around the community to learn about our religion. While it was helpful, as a young girl growing up in America I was more influenced by the social norms that surrounded me, and faith kind of fell on the backburner for a while. Near the end of high school/beginning of college was when I started to truly question life. It was the moment that I looked around and found that the “norm” in society was partying, drinking, and smoking the nights away. There’s nothing wrong with someone choosing to live their life that way, but I personally felt that there was a deeper meaning-there had to be- and I wanted to find it. These questions motivated me to delve deeper into my research on religion. I honestly didn’t just stick to Islam, I remember being in my World Religions class and intensely paying attention to each religion I heard. What was the truth? What happens when it all ends? Where do we go? I had so many questions.

1. Make Sure You Are 100% Convinced of Hijab

Make sure to research everything for yourself and truly understand what you want. I remember reading about several religions, but those personally didn’t add up for me. So, I began reading the Quran, and surprisingly it was my first time reading the English translation when I was 17 years old (I will link my favorite English Quran at the bottom of the blog!). It clicked. It made sense. I felt it was the truth and that’s when I decided I wanted to live my life according to it. I knew that if I wanted to do that, hijab came with the package. Unfortunately, my mom passed down the gene of caring what other people think of me, and I was afraid of wearing a hijab because I didn’t want to be automatically judged based on a piece of cloth on my head. I knew what bullying felt like and I honestly didn’t want to bring attention to myself. Then, I had to be real with myself and question my own intentions. Should I make a decision based on what people think of me, or should I live my life authentically and follow what I believe to be true? I chose the latter, thankfully.

2. Practice & Prepare

Once I knew I wanted to wear hijab, I decided that I needed to practice first. In July 2012, I practiced wearing hijab in Ramadan (let me just say, that was an era of wearing double hijabs, flower clips, and some really questionable fashion choices, LOL, I hope I can find a pic). During Ramadan, my family would attend community iftars and we would all break our fasts together. This was really helpful because I made myself vulnerable in front of the closest people in my life. My family supported me wholeheartedly. Also, I found that all of my true friends supported me and they expressed how proud they were of me. Of course I still had some hesitancy with it, but confidence comes with time and experience, trust me. The biggest tip that I can give you is you need to prepare a little bit before you start. I would order about 10-20 hijabs that would work with most outfits. I personally chose solid bold colors and I regret that. If I could rewind I would buy solid neutrals like beige, mocha, white, cream, blush, silver, etc. By all means, choose what you feel most confident in, but by getting some solid neutrals it will make the process of matching outfits easier.

3. Get Some Inspo from Hijabi Influencers!

         I vividly remember that on Dec 21, 2012 I put on my hijab for Jummah prayer and have kept it on since Alhamdulillah! I would just like to point out IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE THE END OF THE WORLD ACCORDING TO THE MAYANS. Anywayyyys. I remember the first couple of months were tough because I had to find my own style and identity with hijab. Thankfully now there are so many hijabi bloggers, and Youtubers that can definitely give you inspiration for outfits! I was in love with Dina Tokio and YaztheSpaz at the time (still am, lol) because they always had so much style and class with hijab! I feel this is the best part of hijab because you can literally be anything you want! You can be hipster, boho-chic, tomboy-ish, preppy- or a mix of it all! The influencers that I am currently obsessed with are: @yazthespaz, @nourka92, @withloveleena, and @eslimah! I personally love the way they style their hijabs, but there are so many out there you could find inspiration from too!

4. Don’t Let Criticism Get You Down

         Whenever you make a big decision to better yourself, you will most likely face criticism around you. I remember getting criticized for the way I wore my hijab; you just have to learn to ignore comments that are not constructive. Unfortunately, sometimes the Muslim community can be worse when it comes to criticizing the hijab and the way you wear it (even if they don’t wear it themselves). The truth is, people will always find a way to talk about you, with or without hijab, so as long as you know yourself and your intentions, don’t take things to heart. It’s not worth it. Allah SWT knows your intentions, and if people want to talk about you- they’re  just adding to your good deeds. Remember that hijab was never meant to be for angels; it’s for imperfect people who are trying to better themselves and their relationship with their creator.

5. Chase Your Dreams!

It’s saddening that I even have to mention this but the other fear that I had, was that I wouldn’t be able to achieve my goals because of wearing the hijab. This is the farthest thing from the truth, I sweaaaaar. I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to pursue Physical Therapy because it would get in the way. In 2015, I was accepted into a Physical Therapist Assistant Program and it was a blessing for me. When I started the program, of course I was nervous to be the only Muslim in the classroom who wore hijab, but this is also the same thing that made me unique. My faculty was absolutely AMAZING to me and they made sure that I completed all activities within the curriculum while maintaining my modesty. I had my own insecurities, but all of my classmates supported me and didn’t treat me any differently. In 2017 I graduated as a PTA and have been working in the field ever since. Turns out, hijab is just a crown that I am fortunate to carry with me through all of my endeavors…  🙂

6. Always Renew Your Intention

This is something that I learned to do on the way. There will most definitely be times when your imaan drops and you have to be able to remember why you started. Whenever this happened to me I would turn to prayer, or I would make sure to take the time to make dua’a after my prayer. The other thing that I would do is talk to my friends and family. I would explain that I’m feeling frustrated and they would always remind me of my reasons when I lost sight of them. Alhamdulillah. If you don’t have anyone to talk to, feel free to reach out to me. I would genuinely love to help as much as I possibly can.  

7. Be Yourself + Be Positive!

Over the last 8 years, I found that my experience with hijab gradually became better when I stopped letting my insecurities win. I try my best to stop paying attention to people staring and understanding that a lot of people are just curious. Also, be yourself with hijab, play around with different styles, and find what suits you best! You will figure it out, just be patient and give yourself time! Wishing you all the best!

May Allah SWT make hijab fulfilling for us and reward us for any struggles we face ♡

Link To My Fav English Quran: https://www.amazon.com/Quran-Oxford-Worlds-Classics/dp/0199535957/ref=zg_bs_12527_4?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=V06Y2PDHQWMQ13EZMCP9