Mariam, a 14-year-old muslimah who just entered high school was feeling very nervous and scared entering into a new school environment. On top of this she found herself struggling with students accepting her as a Muslim. Faced with these two conflicts, Mariam found herself lost and unaware of how to go about these issues. It wasn’t just the students causing problems; it was also other factors within the high school that were causing Mariam to struggle with her finding her place as a Muslim in high school. Mariam is one of many students facing conflict in high school.
To help overcome these issues and give insight into the problems that today’s Muslim youth is facing in the education system, Imancipation has decided to release a new series called “The Muslim Nation within Education”. Through this series, we hope to target some of the mainstream problems that young Muslims are facing in today’s society. Our first part and post of this series is about wearing the hijab in high school….
No one ever said that wearing the hijab was going to be easy, no one ever said you’d get passed without being noticed. When I walk down the stairs in my highschool, all I ever get is constant stares from people. I’ve lost count of the amount of people that I’ve caught staring at me in one day. When I see people staring at me it makes me think of the reason why I, and other Muslim women across the globe, wear the hijab. Many people struggle with finding their true identity. However, as Muslims, we have the hijab which plays a huge role in contributing to our identity.
The hijab has huge meaning in our identity as it reminds us to be modest. To be modest in our clothing, modest in our speech and modest in every thing we do. Why let someone make fun of you for wearing something that has so much meaning to who you are? Should we really care about other people’s misjudgements about the hijab? No, what we should only care about is pleasing Allah (SWT) by fulfilling his commandments.
Overcoming these obstacles only makes you stronger. Consequently, the stronger you are, the harder you push, and the more reward you will get. So, the next time you see someone staring at you weirdly or talking about you; think of why you are doing what you are doing. Think about what truly matters to you and to so many others who are all striving to achieve the same goal, Jannah.
