THE HIJAB EXPERIENCE: YOUR IDENTITY, YOUR HONOUR

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  It was indeed a conference, as serious conversation started right from the onset; I say kudos to sister Ruqayyah Giwa and her co M.C. for that feat. I acknowledge this because most events, even the ones typically called “conference” sometimes don’t have that conferential feel.

   The 2014 sisters' conference of the MSSN UNILAG sisters’ circle was indeed (and I say again) a conference. With a theme that goes thus: “21^st century muslimah”, it is difficult to imagine anything short of serious discussion. The two moderators, both female, (remember its sisters' circle thing, so the prog. was strictly for sisters) came onto the stage and threw a question at us, a question that later generated a highly participated discourse from among us.

   We were asked to share our experiences while in hijab; the good, the bad, the odd and the ugly, so it got started. With beautiful faces here and there, bright colours of scarfs and smiles, the Unilag main auditorium was almost filled up. Fellow sisters were itching to stand up and share, but some were shy and some were simply unwilling, I on the other hand was simply observing, I couldn’t even think of anything worthy enough to share at that moment, or maybe I was simply being timid, *covers eyes*.

   The first sister collected the microphone and narrated her experiences, she started from the very one which later led her to becoming a Unilag student, it was a mixture of the good and the ugly ones (experience). Few others got up and relayed their good, bad, odd and ugly experiences all because they’re donning their hijab.

   But what was most significant was what the Lecturer of the day, Hajia Ganiyyah Adenle, (lecturer mass. Comm. LASU) said, that we the 21^st century muslimah are not any different in comparism to the stone-age muslimah, as long as we’re still serving the same God (Allah), believe in the same prophets, the same holy books and we still act righteous and modest, and that if we are trying to look at challenges being faced, we definitely didn’t experience the “ugly” as much as they did, citing Sumayyah, (first female martyr in Islam) and pharaoh’s daughter’s hairdresser and countless others.

   She explained that strong-will is what is missing in us (21^st century muslimah), the ability to remain steadfast and never wavering in the face of any challenge we might be experiencing. Some cited instances of humiliation encountered by them when they had to visit the American embassy to collect their visa, and some, the harassment they faced in the passport office, and she carefully explained that all we need is to stand up for ourselves and to hold our grounds.

   The program was concluded after the editor of the sisters’ circle presented and launched their annual publication (of the sisters’ circle), WISE LADIES OUTREACH (W.L.O) and the cover title; YOUR IDENTITY, YOUR HONOUR. Sister Aminah Fashola, I really admire your work, it was a job well done. And to the chairperson of the event (can’t really remember her name) called “sister celeb”, she was described as small and mighty and indeed the event can make up for her stature.

   And that brings me back to the discussion we had earlier in the day on MSSN Lagos half hour, ( a program that holds on star 101.5fm at 8:30-9:00am every Saturday) that our hijab is our rights (click here) to read more on that, and we maintain that no hijab no vote in Lagos state in sha Allah.

Happy new year (1436A.H) to all Muslims.

Wa ssalaamu alaykum wa rahmatullah wa barakaatuhu.