A Hijab Story…

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I remember, very clearly, the first time I wore my hijab to school.

The town I was living in at the time (in the Lehigh Valley, PA) was not very diverse back then, but I knew most of my classmates since 2nd grade. Which was exactly the problem.

I had decided the summer after 6th grade that I would start covering when 7th grade began. As summer went by, I became more and more nervous but I started to practice wearing it out and about to get myself used to the idea. The night before the first day of school, I laid out my outfit (and I’m still pretty embarrassed when I think about it):

• A pink shirt with huge  French-style ruffles on the chest and sleeves.
• Pink pants. Yes. Pink. Pants. And they were tapered. (Now do you see why I’m embarrassed??)
• And to top it off, a huge, triangle hijab the exact shade of pink as the pants and the shirt.

I looked like I had been dipped in milk with Rooh Afza (yumm!) in it.  The funny thing is, I didn’t even like pink back then. Actually, I hated it. I wasn’t really a “girly girl” until later in life.  

Anyways, so I wore this can’t-miss-me-if-you-tried pink outfit on my first day of school and was pretty much ignored by everyone (which is odd, now that I think about it). I was asked a few questions, but nothing major, nobody had a breakdown on my account (”OH WHYYY DID YOU DO ITTT!!!??).  The day went smoothly enough, but it was lunchtime that I was dreading the most.

I walked into the lunchroom and went to sit at the table where my friends and I usually sat.  My friends hadn’t seen me yet, so I was really nervous. I thought they wouldn’t recognize me or worse, pretend like they didn’t know me.

I sat at the empty table and unpacked my shami kabab sandwich (which stunk up my bag, my locker, and my books, but it was gooood). I didn’t think anybody would sit with me.  As I took a bite out of my sandwich, I noticed a familiar face walking towards my table–a girl I had become friends with in 6th grade.

Now, me and this girl had become friends after she moved to the area from a small town in Ohio. My 6th grade class was filled with snobs (aka the girls who became “popular” *cough* easy *cough* in high school) and so they mostly ignored her. A few called her a hick and cracked fat jokes, even though she wasn’t really fat or a hick. Of course, my classmates didn’t really find me that appealing either so I had nothing to lose by talking to the new girl.  It turns out we became good friends.  Good thing for me because she was one of the first friends who stuck by me when I started wearing hijab.

She walked into the lunch room, spotted me, and came smiling over, talking to me the same way we used to talk.  She never asked me “What’s that thing on your head.” She never told me “You look like a dork” (even though I looked like the pink version of the Purple People Eater) or “But your hair is so pretty.”  She just silently respected my choice, like a true friend, never once treating me like a freak or not wanting to be associated with me because I looked way different than everyone else.  And this was a girl from a small town in Ohio who had probably never met a Muslim before.

At the risk of sounding sentimental (as if I haven’t been sentimental at all yet ) I think my friend from Ohio gave me the strength and encouragement to keep wearing my hijab. Those were vulnerable times because a.) there weren’t really any other Muslims at my school and b.) it was middle school!!!  Her acceptance of my friendship with or without the hijab was exactly what I needed at that time.

Although I have since lost touch with my dear friend, I do think about her often and keep her in my prayers and I pray that all Muslimahs (young and old) who have made the decision to start wearing hijab will have at least one friend or family member who supports them the way my friend supported me, inshAllah.

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Filed under For the Youth, High school, Hijab, Islam, Muslim, Personal Musings, Random, Teens, Women

Tags: , embarrassed, friends, friendship, girl, Hijab, hijabi, Islam, life, middle school, Muslim, Muslim youth, Ohio, Pennsylvania, personal, pink, religion, Rooh Afza, wearing hijab, Women