I came across a post on Unique Muslimah about the New Hijab. She talks about how in cairo women cover their hair but then wear tight and revealing clothes. You can read the rest of the blog and comments here

One thing I found quite interesting is the word “mohtasheema” which means the one who is wearing a veil but wearing tight clothes. Quite an interesting distinction.

After reading the comments I started to wonder about what it’s like in other countries. I know in Nigeria my biggest issue is the fact that women are practically forced by society to wear the huge prayer hijabs that go anywhere from below the waist to the ankles. I know there are a lot of sisters who’d say there’s nothing wrong with that, they’re properly covered etc etc but my biggest issue is that it’s not really a matter of choice so much. Society expects you to wear that and if you don’t, well people will automatically assume you’re a certain type of person. My problem with that is that it takes away people’s choice, and it makes me wonder how many women are wearing it because of Allah and how many just because they don’t want to face the alternative? I think wearing hijab should be a personal choice and I think that as we get older we tend to look inwards a bit more and make choices like that because of our imaan. So while I disapprove of the sisters wearing tight clothes with hijab I understand that we all go through our inner struggles.

And perhaps it’s better to be forced to wear hijab before you personally make that committment but I find it difficult to make that choice for myself when I feel it forced upon me. I feel rather conflicted about this topic.