Are Muslim Women Being Forced To Wear Hijab?

When a Muslim woman decides to wear hijab, she either gets celebrated or banned.
When a Muslim woman decides not to wear hijab, she…

Wait, it’s actually the same.

Depending on your culture, place and ethics, choosing both have their own perks and consequences.

So… are Muslim women being forced to wear hijab?

I’m not going to pull out statement from Quran or hadiths, since I know not everyone is going to agree. But let’s go for a common ground here; some analogy & some logic in play.

Firstly, you would define ‘forced’, as if, if you don’t do it right now, something bad will happen to you IMMEDIATELY, right?
Like maybe if someone puts a gun in your head, and say, “Scream ‘I love Charlie Puth’ or I’ll shoot you,”
that’s obviously forcing, and that is absolutely wrong.

So, if you say Muslim women are forced to wear hijab, by ISLAM, it is not accurate. It’s not like when a Muslim woman goes out without hijab, she automatically get shot in the head, or mysteriously burn herself.
(I said by ISLAM, because there are people who actually do this to Muslim women, a.k.a harming women who don’t wear hijab. It’s wrong, obviously)

The better term, at least in my opinion, is COMMAND.
Islam COMMANDS Muslim women to wear hijab.

So, how exactly does it differs from forced?

Easy.
Imagine your nation. Imagine your society. Imagine your workplace. Imagine you household, even.
All of these have their own rules and regulations that you need to follow.
All of them COMMAND you to do (or not to do) things.

So, in Islam, Muslims are commanded to wear hijab,
just like how we are commanded to do good deeds,
just like how we are commanded to emphasize cleanliness,
just like how we are commanded to help out our neighbours,
just like how we are commanded to live well with the community,
just like how we are commanded to show good characters to others,

and the list goes on.

If Islam is really forcing us to do these things, the moment we go astray, (referring to the previous example) God himself will burn ourselves to ashes.
And if this does really happen, you will see a lot of burning bodies. Thank God that didn’t happen.

So, what will happen though, is when people are commanded to do things, there will be 3 possibilities:

1. They cannot do it.
They are okay and intending to follow the rules, but there are obstacles that prevent them from doing it.
Solution: If you find someone struggling with this, it is YOUR responsibility to help them out.

If a Muslim woman does want to wear hijab but she didn’t due to some obstacles,
then the Muslim community should support her and clear of the obstacles for her.

2. They disagree with it.
They disagree with the rule, so they don’t follow it.
Solution: If you find someone in this situation, talk to them about it. Convince them about the importance of the rule.

If a Muslim woman disagrees with the concept of hijab, people around her need to talk about it. Listen to her in an understanding way, and respond appropriately.

3. They don’t want to do it.
They just don’t like it, and don’t want to do it.
Solution: If you find someone like this, the best way to deal with it is just to let them be. They are grown up adult, let them be responsible to their actions accordingly.

Now, let’s switch place, shall we.

1. If you cannot do it…
If you do intend to follow the rules, but there are obstacles around you,
seek help and try your very best to overcome the obstacles.
If they are somewhat inescapable, well, you did your best.

If you want to wear hijab, but you are in Islamophobic environment,
and that seems not to go away,
I believe God will understand you if you don’t wear hijab.
They won’t understand you. Even I won’t really understand you.
God is the one who will really, really understand you.

2. If you disagree with it…
Don’t just simply ignore the commands. Listen up what they have to say. Then say what you have to say. Do research. Make a clear intention, that you are rebelling for the sake of the truth. Not for your own satisfaction.
If you ended up to be true, that’s good.
If you ended up to be wrong, just do the right one.

3. If you don’t want to do it…
If you just rebelling for your satisfaction, that is a selfish act.
Is it that hard to just do a certain things, for something better?

If you are in a perfect situation to wear hijab, why won’t you?
It is for the sake of Allah. It is what Allah wants you to do. And Allah wants nothing more than goodness for you. As someone who believes Islam is the true religion, and Allah is the One and Only God, is it that hard to follow?

Let me give you an example.
Your workplace COMMANDS you to wear pink shoes to go to work.
There will be a high probability that after this rule was enforced, you will be chatting angrily with your friends, “What a stupid company, they FORCE us to wear pink shoes to work.”

Mmm. Wrong usage of word, but since it’s the first day of the lesson, I’ll let it slip.

Anyways,
You don’t want to wear it. Although you have no problems of doing it. And you have no solid arguments to fight it.

So you walk into the office the next day, and obviously you are not wearing that stupid pink shoes.

Your boss call you into his room, and asks, “Why didn’t you wear the pink shoes?”

“I don’t like it. It’s stupid.”

“Wearing the pink shoes is an obvious requirement to work here. Since you refuse to wear it, for no reason, I have to fire you.”

That’s it. It’s a loss for you. You lose your job. You lose your money.

My question is:
Is it that hard to just buy and wear the pink shoes to work, even if you didn’t like it?
I believe your answer, will be no.

Finally, wrapping this up.
I can only talk to you about my through this post.

But you are the one who are reading this, is my audience that I will never able to comprehend completely.
But God will always know and understand you. So always make the best decisions for yourself. Because even if I don’t know, even they don’t know,

He knows.