Hijaab

It is one thing to have worn hijab since day 1 of life, and it is other to choose to wear it as a women.

However, the choice exists in both scenarios. A woman who has worn hijab as a child also consciously chooses to continue to do so, just like the woman who chooses to adopt it in the later part of her life. 

Let me ask, why would someone who has never the worn head dress would choose to wear it? But then let me also ask, why one changes their choice of profession from the one they chose as a child to the one they find better as a graduate? 

As one grows up, the way they look at the world and the way they want to appear in the world, evolves. Personalities change; and if one doesn't change the situations around it accordingly, there remains a sense of misalignment. This is where one makes the choice. The choice to change the apparent to coincide with the inner self. 

Just like someone who changes their profession because their thoughts have evolved, similarly a woman may choose to wear hijab  due to the shift in her frame of mind. She might want wear a hijab in her life ahead. It is a mental shift more than anything else that comes with growth and maturity. 

That in my opinion, is the significance of hijab. It is a choice that a women makes: to appear with it when she steps out in the world. 

But as anything and everything new, there are daily confrontations within one's mind where is questions again and again whether why we took a particular decision, despite being aware of it significance. This is where the benefits of that decision step in to strengthen their case; and this process continues for unknown length of time.

With the significance of hijab being clear, let me write on things that make a woman feel happy to have made the choice of wearing hijab and things that silence the confrontations in one's head.

For a women who has to get up for college or work everyday, detangling the hair is a time consuming task. Hijab saves her from that. Putting her hair up together just randomly is enough for her because the hijab would cover them anyway. She may detangle her hair later in the day and efficiently leave for college or work in the morning. 

When we think of hair, we also may think of style and so accessories. If you consider it, hijab saves a lot of your money when it gets to buying jewelry to complete the formal look. If anything, you just need  bracelets or rings. The need or want to wear a necklace or earrings vanish. The money spent on office jewelry and the millions spent on wedding  jewelry could all be then spent on education and career development. In many cultures families spend less on a girls education and more on the jewelry given in dowry. 

To many women, hijab acts as a shield. It gives them a sense of security when they walk out in public. For instance, it saves them from incidents of wardrobe malfunctions and unwanted stares. I don't mean to say that wearing or not wearing has a connection with the existence of those stares, but this that a woman may continue to choose to wear hijab as a counter act against them. 

Secondly, in todays time where everyone has a camera in hand, even when one is not taking their picture intentionally, getting into an unwanted frame might be a fear of many. Hijab saves one from it. Unless you have your face to the direction of that camera, you won't be recognizable in the picture. And for those who also add niqab, they have nothing to be afraid of at all! 

According to the things written above, hijab when consciously chosen to wear is a symbol of liberty. It is something that brings confidence to a women every time she puts it on. It relieves her from so many burdens, so many worries, so that she is able to focus on her goals.