When a Muslim sister who reached the heights of the fashion world,
takes the social media to tell us how things went wrong,
we ought to start listening.
By now most of you are aware of Halima Aden's brave public posts on instagram,
detailing how she felt the fashion industry was compromising her religion.
And before I comment on this matter
if I can just say, from one sister to another, May Allah bless you Halima.
You have taken a commendable stance and for that I just want to say thank you.
Yet despite all the inspiration, this story has brought to so many young Muslim women around the world,
the truth is Halima is not the only one who feels this way.
And her story going viral, confirms the fact that many hijabis
feel that they often have to change who they are in order to fit in.
More and more Muslim women are realizing
that the representation we have longed for isn't as it seems.
And we are slowly restarting to think what representation actually means.
Putting a hijabi on a random magazine cover, on the condition that she wears the outfits you dictate without asking her opinion
– isn't representation.
Expecting a Muslim woman to look as appealing and attractive as she can possibly be,
so long as her hair is covered isn't representation either.
This isn't representation.
This is the erasure of the hijab.
We need to remove this expectation from Muslim women
to fit into a mold that doesn't represent who they are or what they're about.
Muslim women should not have to feel that they need to accept these compromises
in order to be accepted by the people.
But rather we should be accepted for who we are, as we are.
And while at times it does get difficult and the pressure is somewhat unbearable,
we should never change who we are to appeal to the people.
Yes, it's tough being part of a minority, living in the West.
But we should always remind ourselves of the true meaning of being a Muslim woman.
The Prophet, ﷺ taught us to put the pleasure of Allah
well before the pleasure of the people, if we truly want to be successful.
If we seek to please Allah
even if that means that some people will be displeased with us, Allah will suffice us.
Halima said, "I can only blame myself for caring more about opportunity
than what was actually at stake."
And there is a great lesson to learn here.
That no matter how big the opportunity may seem
or how hard it might feel to turn something down,
it is always worth pressing pause and assessing whether what we are doing is at odds with our Muslim identity.
After all our faith is the source of our honor.
And our connection with Allah is the source of our happiness.
And of course we have to make mention of Halima's mother
and her role in Halima's story.
Halima's mother is a true representation of a good Muslim parent,
who despite all the fame success and monetary benefits her daughter might have had,
was still able to stand for her beliefs and open her daughter's eyes to the truth.
This serves as a great reminder for all Muslim parents
about the importance of islamic founded parenting.
We all have a god-instructed role to protect our children and families
and we shouldn't take this role lightly.
May Allah bless Halima's mother for giving us a powerful example of parenting done right.
Just like Halima, we are all faced with choices and our journey is a long one.
We will all be at different stages, at different times
but what matters is that we constantly seek to improve.
It is normal to go through ups and downs but if we surround ourselves with the right people,
they will ensure to lift us up through the lows and we will help each other to obtain Allah's pleasure.
May Allah make it easy for us all to stay on the right path.
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