Wearing Hijab Without Losing Your Identity

Diversity is beautiful... The world looks amazing in diversity.

One of the diversities in this world is our identity. The 'identity' I mean in this post is your nationality, your ethnic, your character, your style, etc.

Each nation has their own identity, such as: their beautiful traditional clothes. Arab has Abaya, Kandura, Keffiyeh; Japan has Kimono/Yukata; India has Sari; Indonesia has Kebaya, Surjan, Baju Kurung, Baju Bodo, etc.

National/traditional clothes is one of the things that make us unique. As a muslimah, I think wearing hijab doesn't make you lose your uniqueness, your personal identity.

You could wear hijab in your traditional clothes, or wear it in your own style (just be sure to follow 'the rules of modesty in Islam'). And if the clothes do not meet the requirement of modesty in Islam, you could modify the clothes to be a hijab-friendly clothes (some people use the word 'hijabize' to do such thing).

I got this great picture from my lovely friends that shows them wearing Japanese and Acehnese (one of Indonesian ethnics) traditional clothes at Flinders University, Australia:

It's great to see other muslimah wearing their traditional clothes... ^_^

There are some words that I read recently (from Mariam Sobh) that could describe how I feel about hijab.

Mariam Sobh, editor-in-chief of the Chicago-based on-line magazine www.hijabtrendz.com stated on an article on The Jerusalem Post on February 24th, 2010 titled Egypt Unveiled:

 "The modernizing element - mixing Western dress with a traditional head-covering - is less about fashion but more about an individual's interpretation of religion."

"As a Muslim woman who wears a hijab, I wear it because I believe it's required for me to do so. However, I don't feel that the hijab or following a modest dress code requires women to give up their expression and identity."

She also added that:

"More Muslim women than ever before are in the public eye; they are teachers, lawyers, politicians, designers, actresses, and more. They know that as long as they adhere to what is required of them according to the Islamic dress code, then it doesn't matter what they wear."

"Once women let go of culture and realize that the hijab is basically a guideline for what you can and can't show in public, then it becomes easier to work with."

"More women, I believe, are starting to wear hijab because they see that it can be done without giving up their identity," she added. "They can still be who they are even if they happen to dress differently. For example, someone who is really into fashion can still continue that passion and wear the latest designers, but she might tweak a few things like wear a longer top or looser pants and a head scarf."

What do you think about this? Should we preserve our traditional clothes? Could we wear our traditional clothes in hijab style? What is your traditional cloth, and how do you wear it with your hijab?

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