Why I Covered My Hair at My Matric
Dance.
Ilham Choonara
Thinking of “the world at its finest” immediately makes me think of
women. Empowered, leading-by-example women. Women supporting
each other and a whole society functioning beyond the barriers of race,
sex, culture, language, religion etc. To focus on the way our world is
already ‘dripping in finesse’, I wanted to bring up the positivity in an
often misconstrued issue - “Your, uhm, scarf?”, “your headgear”, the
Hijab. I started wearing a scarf when I was 13 and began loving it from
about the age of 15/16. During the weeks leading up to our matric
dance, quite a few questions came my way. When someone would ask
“Are you going to wear a scarf at the dance?”, numerous heads turned to
hear the answer. And since almost everyone was treating the matric
dance as a mini wedding and wouldn’t give anything away, I too
responded with “you’ll have to see”. Honestly, I was just nervous to
answer.
The question of my hairstyle wasn’t simply if it was
up or down, straightened or curled. It was actually
the question of how my hair wouldn’t be styled. It
wouldn’t just be covered with a piece of cloth. It
would communicate something more and I was
aware of that. Not to be presumptuous, but I felt a
responsibility “on my head’ to communicate the
right message. Globally, Muslim women who cover
themselves are almost immediately seen as
submissive (often to a controlling male figure),
oppressed, backward, synonyms around this idea.
The fact is, I, like millions of women around the
world, love wearing my hijab. It is actually one of the
most fundamental aspects of female empowerment,
to be noticeably against convention, and feel so
beautiful. The reason goes beyond being different.
Hijab is a crown of protection. Foremostly, I love my
religion and realize the greater purposes of
following what it teaches.
Of course, I would've loved curling my hair and
styling it in an elegant updo. But I had made a
decision, and wanted to hold strong to that,
regardless of how difficult it became. I am a hijabi on
every other normal day, so why move away from
that for one night? We are constantly comparing
ourselves to one another in looks, personality,
achievement and ‘social status’. The thing is, we’ll
always be finding someone with better, better,
better. It's not in looks, but the condition of your
heart and mind that attracts people to you. I
covered my hair, not my mind.