Wearing a hejab

Lets face it trying to adhering to an Islamic dress code can be a challenging living in Australia or any western country, as a Muslim woman in a head scarf stands out, especially when your society bomb bards us woman with messages from billboard to magazines on what a woman "should" look like!

The head scarf defiantly takes the blunt of all these misconceptions because it is an outer signal that a person is of the Islamic faith. As Shuaib Webb, a well know American shiek said recently, "The natural outcome, therefore, for those who fear the religion, is to fear its most apparent manifestation-the hejab". I exercise my choice to where a head cover, yes a piece of cloth that doesn't have an adverse effect on my though pattern, that doesn't oppresses me or demean me, because I am a practicing Muslim woman. I believe covering my body and head is a religious obligation, just like absenting from wine, drugs or re framing from the act of stealing or murder! I have made a choice to be a practicing Muslim and this, from my interpenetration of Islam, includes wearing the head scarf. Now I am not saying my Muslims sisters that don't where a scarf are any less practicing, as they have also made a choice not wear it, and that is between them and God,and not for me to judge. Sometimes its a sticking point between Muslim woman themselves, as their can be a visual disparity between outer appearance and inner character. For me personally, I have always felt empowered and beautiful by wearing the head scarf.

The beauty I love about Islam is two phases that come to mind-there is no compulsion in Islam, meaning nothing can be forced and the second is that all actions are based on intention, so no one can judge another level of commitment or love of God. In the Quran, Muslim men are told to avert their gaze, out of respect for woman, so that's a hijab for them! Jesus is recorded in Islamic sources saying:

"Virtuous action does not consist in doing good to someone who has done good to you-that is merely returning a favor.Virtuous action consists in doing good (even) to those who have wronged you." So I believe that showing respect and goodness to others, how ever they treat us is important, as actions speak louder than words, and intentions speak louder to the heart. 

I feel it boils down to live and let live, a principal our society has yet to master. It upset me when people that judge or mock the hijab, and feel that I am asking to be discriminated against. I feel the people that judge or mock are really the oppressors as their own narrow mindedness and intolerant dictates their perception of a different behavior or belief is an oppression. Whats wrong with practicing ones beliefs as I choose? In a world that needs more spiritually in touch human beings.The world is beautiful with various types of communities, cultures and religions, and if their is respect, we live in harmony.