Free Essay About Do Not Judge A Book By Its Cover

Religion, in truth, has a lot of requirement from the believers in order for them to show their devotion and faith. Since time in memorial, religion has been the pedestal for many in the sense that man is a social creature and belief provides solitude. In the historical societies, the church for instance was a very powerful force of rule and had its own command. In the contemporary world and societies, the power that the religion once had is not depicted in the physical manner but it is visible in the lives of individuals. The people are trying to find their faith in their God(s) and mending their ways. The Muslim women are not left behind by the fact that they are trying to honor Allah as they are supposed to. This paper seeks to provide insight in the lives of “hijab” wearing Muslim women.
The society in itself is built upon the ability to communicate both verbally and nonverbally. The communication between people helps in the understanding of one another and building the society in one accord. With that regard, non-verbal communication involves the use of symbols and signals to pass across information whether knowingly or unknowingly. The passing of the information is reinforced further with people wearing the same clothes or mannerism in clothing to convey solidarity or collectivity in their choice in life. Among these are the Muslim women who wear the “hijab” on their heads in order to cover their hair. As mentioned wearing of clothes is a form of communicating non-verbally and collectively, the women wearing hijab on their heads show strength in their decision. There are several reasons as to why women wear the hijab on their heads.
The most renowned reason why Muslim women wear a hijab on their heads is to show obedience to their one and only creator, Allah. The Quran stipulated that women (wives and daughters) that are believers in Islam should always cover their hair whenever they are in front of the men (Quran 33:59). With this in mind, women wear the scarf on their heads whenever they are out there in order to show that they respect Allah’s wishes and at the same time, they are worshipping Him. Considering that the Muslims believe the main reason as to why they live on the creator’s world is so as to worship Him in accordance to the Quran as provided by the teachings of Prophet Mohammed, the Muslim women who are believers in the cause also seek to do the same and wearing a scarf (hijab) is a way of worshipping Allah (Labi, 2008).
There may be other reasons as to why Muslim women wear the hijab on their heads but the principle reason is to show the respect and belief in Prophet Mohammed and Allah. This depicts the hold that religion has on our lives. However, the contemporary society is full of challenges that may influence the wearing of hijab. Several forces are in play in the current society that will directly or indirectly shear the belief in the wearing of the hijab. For instance, Muslims in many societies are associated with the fact that they are majorly terrorists. For a woman to wear the scarf in the head associates her with Islam and for that fact she is associated as terrorists. The stigma of being a Muslim might force her to throw away her belief in wearing the scarf and wear the normal clothing women of the contemporary society wear today (Hopkins & Greenwood, 2013).
Wearing of the scarf on the head is not only a sign of respect for Allah, but also in accordance to the Islam culture, it is a sign of purity. The society today is full of evils that might end up affecting this belief. The involvement of our children in the society today in a world full of pornographic materials that end up causing the children (teenagers) to fornicate causing impurity among the girls. Therefore, the woman might end up choosing not to wear the hijab as she has sinned against Allah. In addition, peer pressure might result in a girl not wearing the hijab. Many women in the Muslim world believe that there are other ways of showing one’s faith in Allah other than wearing a Scarf on the head. For this reason, they choose not to wear the scarf on their heads and do other things that they believe and respect Allah’s wishes (Bollag, 1998).
Despite whatever reason there is that prevents a Muslim woman from wearing the scarf on the head, it is in fact a deviation from the faith of the Islam. However, the forces that have been mentioned above are quite powerful that they can force a deviation from the path Allah has chosen for His people. Therefore, the few women who still wear the hijab are a picture of the strength that the women have in their beliefs (Bollag, 1998). They have been able to overcome several fears that come with the contemporary world such as peer pressure, impurity and even the stigma that arises from one being a Muslim and wear the hijab to respect Allah’s wishes. For this reason alone, these women depict a high degree of strength that several have failed to show.
The Muslim women choose to honor their God and remain pure in accordance to the Muslim laws and guidelines with prospect disregarding stigma, peer pressure and other social evils in the society. This inner strength is impeccable and admirable in the sense that these women might not be physically strong but spiritually and emotionally, they are among the strongest in the society. As the contemporary society goes on today, these women might be scorned for being adamant and strong in their religious ways but in the real sense they should be praised for being strong in their respective faiths (Hilsum, 2006). In other words, rather than being termed the fundamentalists or the fanatics in their religions, we should praise them and give them the go ahead to remain vigilant in their faith. This strength comes from the ability to make this choice.
Many would rather go against Allah’s rule in order not to face the stigmatization and the evils of the society. Because of this reason, they appear weaker than the Muslim women who would rather go against the whole world than disrespect their religion. Even so, these women are undermined in the society and viewed with contempt because of their choice to remain in the service of Allah. But in truth, these women are more than capable in faith than most who would rather forfeit their religion for worldly evils in a blink of an eye. In other words, do not judge a book by its cover is the phrase that describes these women. This is because of their choice in service of Allah.

Reference

Bollag, B. (1998). A ban on Islamic head scarves unsettles Turkey's universities. Chronicle Of Higher Education, 44(33), A59.
Hilsum, L. (2006). Wearing a headscarf is a wonderful thing, because it alerts the audience to the compromises a reporter has to make. New Statesman, 135(4785), 26.
Hopkins, N., & Greenwood, R. M. (2013). Hijab, visibility and the performance of identity. European Journal Of Social Psychology, 43(5), 438-447. doi:10.1002/ejsp.1955
Labi, A. (2008). When a Head Scarf Is More Than It Seems. Chronicle Of Higher Education, 54(24), A21.