not hijab

i havent done those kind of posts for a while because im kinda over the whole judging thing and really, who are we to say what is hijab and what isnt.

we can say "oh clearly, this ayah/hadith PROVES that you cant do this or that..." when really we should be saying "oh clearly, this ayah/hadith suppports my INTERPRETATION that you cant do this or that..."

we dont all agree on what the meaning of certain verses or hadiths are and we KNOW this, yet we are quite happy to be like "youre so wrong. look at you in all your wrongness."

i saw a video today on youtube where someone had made a section of "this is not hijab" in it and posted pics of girls whom she considered to not have proper hijab. most of them i considered to be quite modest and i honestly couldnt pick a fault with the majority of them.

i think ive mellowed quite a bit in that regard. a  couple of yeasrs ago i used to be all about the judging and tsk-tsking over what other people wore but now i think i have become quite reflective in my thinking and when it comes down to it, why do we really care what other people wear?

im sure the majority of people who do get in your face about someone else's hijab style or choice of dress, isnt doing it for the right reasons. they can pretend and swear that they are publicly reminding you that you cant wear earrings, or wear pants, or wear colours, or show your face/hands/feet, or blah blah blah, all for the sake of Allah, but in reality the people who truly care about whether a stranger goes to Jannah or not is not the type of person to degrade you or make you feel so bad about yourself that instead of showing concern they have just rubbed your face in the dirt all because your dress doesnt meet their standards. and i repeat THEIR standards. you do not have to agree with them.

we all have our own opinion when it comes to the rules of dressing. even the most learned of islamic scholars do not 100% agree on all the little tidbits and rules associated with women's dress. if they did, then we would all be wearing one giant black uniform, with no individuality.

we are one big giant community of muslims, that sometimes forget that the things that make up this community are individuals, with individual thoughts, individual opinions and individual interpretations. basically we dont all agree on absolutely everything and we never will. in a way - that is beautiful. variety is the splice of life.

if you dont agree with the way someone dresses, then keep this is mind before voicing your opinion:

• why do you really care about how another woman dresses? is it because you care for this stranger's soul or are you just prone to judging? could it be jealousy? negativity?
• do you really need to say anything? do you really need to leave a nasty anon comment on the girl's youtube video, facebook pic or blog?
• do you really know it all? maybe her hijab is wrong in your eyes, but is perfect in God's eyes? maybe there is nothing wrong with her hijab style at all...
• what do you need to work on? are you perfect?
• what do you really expect to happen by stating your judgement?
• who asked you for your opinion in the first place? is the person you are judging asking for your opinion or are you just in the mood for handing out the "you're so wrong" card to a stranger?
• how bad is her outfit really? lets see... she is completely covered in loose clothing. her ears and neck are covered. the only thing showing are her face and hands from what we can see. she hasn't painted her face in six tonnes of makeup. she speaks well and is polite, well-natured, seems like a lovely woman, etc... so what is that you are really clutching at straws over?
• do you like it when people judge you?

in a perfect world we would all accept each other for the individuals that we are and see the beauty in everyone. in a perfect world we would never judge or be negative towards someone else in a public format over the stupidest and tiniest of things. in a perfect world we wouldnt harp on about the mistakes of others, if they are mistakes at all.

honestly i cant ever recall a time when i have heard a muslim guy go on about how badly another muslim guy dresses - it seems to be a phenomenon that only happens within the female islamic community. i know, due to human nature that it would never happen, but wouldnt it be great if we could look at a perfect stranger and point out the positive instead of the negative all the time?

wouldnt that be a more islamic way to live than telling everyone else what is and isnt islamic about the clothes they wear?