What is modesty?
Modesty is about covering yourself up. It’s about respecting your peers and most importantly respecting yourself. It's about remaining pure and sacred for your future husband, for yourself and for your God. It's revealing as little of yourself as possible to people around you.
Modesty is something that is required in all religions:
Christianity - First Timothy 2:9-10 “Likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, but with what is proper for women who profess godliness—with good works."
Islam - "O you Children of Adam! We have bestowed on you raiment to cover your shame as well as to be an adornment to you. But the raiment of righteousness, that is the best. Such are among the Signs of Allah, that they may receive admonition.” (Quran 7:26)
etc
But the one that applies to me the most is modesty in Islam.
Modesty can be influenced by many things. It can be influenced by the people you see everyday or things you read, but the main influence on people's modesty, is social media. A lot of things within social media cause these influences and they aren’t all always a good influence.
A lot of modesty has been lost due to social media and the pressures of being like celebrities. It’s has also been lost due to fear being instilled into Muslims girls (and boys) to act and dress a certain way or they will be bullied or treated differently.
The internet also gives us a place to share fashion as it evolves and Islamic "attire" isn't like that. This may make people fee insecure about the way they dress causing to wear less and less.
Another big factor is the “Muslims are terrorists” regime, many Muslims don’t want to be “typical Muslims” and want to please others.
The media is a powerful and dangerous place and we need to stand up for ourselves. However, that isn’t possible and never has been because we are too invested in the media and even though it isn’t what we need we can’t live without it.
The media often portrays women who wear the Niqaab and headscarf as someone who is oppressed and as someone you should be afraid of. But we’re just like anyone who doesn’t wear a scarf.
I could demean the headscarf by saying it’s just another piece of clothing, but it’s not. It’s a symbol of my devotion to god, of my devotion to my religion. It’s my modesty and it’s a part of me.
No body should ever be embarrassed of how much they cover themselves up because i believe the more you cover up the more respect you have for yourself as a Muslim.
The Quran says, "And say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty; that they should not display their beauty and ornaments except what must ordinarily appear thereof; that they should draw their veils over their bosoms and not display their beauty except to their husbands, their fathers, their husbands' fathers, their sons, their husbands' sons, their brothers, or their brothers' sons or their sisters' sons, or their women or the servants whom their right hands possess, or male servants free of physical needs, or small children who have no sense of the shame of sex, and that they should not strike their feet in order to draw attention to their hidden ornaments. And O you Believers, turn you all together towards Allah, that you may attain Bliss.” ( 24:31).
This doesn't mean that anyone who wear a scarf is oppressed, it means that you should not show yourself to others who you can marry because its something that should be kept only for certain people and not only that but its to preserve our dignity.
In summary people promote that you should be able to dress and look how you please but that isn't always the case. I am speaking from my own experience, i feel like that because dress a certain way and because i wear a headscarf people treat me differently. Muslim women deserve to dress appropriately to their religion without being torn at by social media. If you guys feel as strongly about this as i do leave me a comment about our opinions and our modesty story or you could share with a friend who might feel the same way because together we can make someone else feel more secure about their sense of style!
From Your SimpleHijabi X
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