By Amr Khaled
Let's go through a list of excuses:
1) I'm not convinced with the hijab.
So I'd ask you, what are you? You would reply, I'm a Muslim. What is the meaning of Muslim? The meaning of a Muslim is to submit yourself totally to Allah. The sister who does not want to put the hijab on is not submitted to Allah. She doesn't want to submit to the will of Allah. How can we argue against, or disobey what Allah and His Messenger have given to us? Prophet Ibrahim had to sacrifice his son and he didn't understand why he had to do such a thing. So that teaches us how to submit to Allah's word. I would rather hear you say that you are not strong enough to put the hijab on, than saying that you are not convinced with Allah's own words.
2) What's inside is what counts most.
The women who say that the most important thing is what is in the inside, that her intentions are always good, and she is a good person, and the hijab is the hijab of the heart. And these women say that they pray 5 times a day, better than 60 men, and she prays the night prayers, and she prays the voluntary prayers, and she gives charity. However, she feels that this is enough worship for her. Allah (SWT) and His Messenger say that you cannot take parts of Islam and reject other parts. You have to take the religion as a whole. So let us calculate it, you are saying that you are doing a lot of good deeds and that your intentions are good, and your heart is pure. Alright, I agree with you, but I want to ask you one question. Let us calculate this together. Everyday you go out, and with every man that looks at your hair and your body, you gather sins, is that true or not? Of course you take sins because you didn't obey Allah's command. You'll might argue, 'It's not my fault, my intentions are good, it's the man that will take sins for looking at me.' No sister. He will take sins for looking at you, that's true. But he looked at you, in the first place, because you were attracting attention. Let's analyze it. Everyday, how many sins would an unveiled woman gather? Would it go over a thousand sins a day? And remember, the man has two eyes, not one! And the man has a heart that loves and desires. Can you imagine the sins such a woman would be getting? I wonder if your good deeds will be enough? Will they outweigh the thousands of sins you are getting everyday? I want you to do a little experiment. Everyday you go out, count how many sins you are getting. How many sins do you get for every man that looks at your hair and body? Didn't Allah order you to wear the hijab? I am afraid that your good deeds are falling from a torn bag. The good deeds enter at the top and escape from the hole in the bottom.
3) Hijab and the hot weather.
Some women might complain that they loose their hair when they don the hijab, because of the heat. They'd say, "Come on, do you want us to loose our hair and get bald?." Sisters, Allah says what can be translated as, "Say that the Hell fire is stronger than the heat of the world." (TMQ, 9:81). The Prophet (PBUH) said, "Hell is surrounded by our desires, and Jannah is surrounded by the good things." (Authentic Hadith, Narrated by Muslim, 2822). Is it still difficult for you to put on the hijab?
4) There are ladies wearing hijab but administering bad manners.
The women say that they knew ladies that wore the hijab and they had the worst of manners, and did the worst of things. So I don't want to put the hijab on because I don't want to be like them. Okay, I argue to the sister that I know people who pray, but do bad things, does that mean we shouldn't pray? Some people go to Hajj so that they can hide under the title of Hajj and that they can do bad things. Does that mean we shouldn't go to hajj? So sister, the wrong is not in the religion, but in the people themselves. So is the hijab bad or is it the person who's wearing it?
5) Allah did not guide me yet.
They say, "Allah has not guided me yet. I will put on the hijab, but Allah hasn't guided me to do so now. So when I am 50 years old and I have enjoyed my life, I'll put it on." No sister, this excuse is totally wrong. Allah says what can be translated as, "Verily never will Allah change the condition of a people until they change it themselves (with their own souls)." (TMQ, 13:11). You will not put the hijab on until you change what is within yourself and work towards putting on the hijab. It's not acceptable for you to say that Allah has not guided you- no, he has guided you and the proof is that you are listening to these words. Allah will never leave a person unless He gives him guidance, so it is up to that person to obey or not.
6) When I get married I'll put on the hijab.
So I'll tell you, a lot of men look for the pious, religious woman who respects herself with her hijab, more than those men who look for the other women. And Allah has written who you will marry anyway! So you won't marry anyone except the person that Allah has chosen for you. Don't be afraid, put your trust in Allah. Allah will give you the pious husband. So when you marry, marry someone who will love you for your faith and respect you.
A man came to a scholar and asked him, "If I'm going to marry my sister to someone, who should it be?" The Scholar replied, "marry her to a man who is a friend of Islam, so if he loved her, he will respect her, and if he hated her, he will not treat her badly." Marry the man that will protect you, respect you, and be happy that you are wearing the hijab.
7) I'm still young.
Do you know when you'll die sister? The death rate for youth is increasing! I will give you an example of a girl. A True story that really happened. This happened in Egypt, Alexandria last year in Ramadan. The man was telling me that his wife wears hijab. Living in front of them was a young girl who was not wearing hijab. The girl had good things inside her heart, like all of our sisters in Islam. However, she didn't understand the meaning of the hijab and the meaning it has in Islam. So this man's wife (and this is obligatory for all the women who wear hijab) had good relations with this girl. She didn't ignore her just because she didn't wear the hijab, no, she was friends with her. So one day the young girl came to ask the wife if she'd come shopping with her to buy some jeans. So the intelligent wife who knows that she has to call the girl towards Allah agreed to go shopping with her, but under one condition: that the girl would also accompany her to an Islamic halaqa (gatherings for giving lessons about Islam) that was about to start. The girl agreed.
So they went to the halaqa which was about repentance to Allah. The girl was so inspired by what was being said, and started to cry until she kept repeating one sentence over and over again, "I've repented Allah, please someone cover me." The people told her okay let us take you home and you can put the hijab on. But she refused, wanting to be covered right at that moment with the hijab, she couldn't go out without it. So they got her a scarf and a dress, and she left the building with it on. And as soon as she left to cross the road, a car hit her and she died. I swear this is a true story. She died after she had repented. She is lucky that she repented before she died. So never give the excuse that you are still young, because you never know when you will die.
8) I want to be fashionable and if I wear the hijab I'll be dated.
Isn't Allah more dearer to you than fashion? I swear when you put the hijab on you'll have light shinning from within you, and you'll be more beautiful with your hijab.
9) I want to follow the westerners.
Who respects the woman more? Islam or the ones who cannot even sell a box of matches without painting a half naked woman on it? Are they the ones who have respected women or ill-treated them? Has not Islam respected women, covered them and liberated them from such exploitation?
10) I'm afraid that I might take it off afterwards.
I don't want to because I'm afraid of taking it off. Sister why don't you put it on with firm faith and ask Allah to always protect you with it so you never take it off. Of course I'm not saying that taking off the hijab isn't a sin. Taking off the hijab is the biggest sin, the biggest sin, the biggest sin, the biggest sin. It's the biggest sin, because you would be encouraging other women to do the same. Never ever do this please. Allah (SWT) would hate that. Wear the hijab and do these three things to make sure you will never take it off:
1- Have good religious friends. 2- Attend and listen to Islamic lectures. 3- Make dua'a (supplications) to ask God to keep your hijab on and strengthen your faith.
11) I'm shy and embarrassed
The last excuse: I'm shy and embarrassed from what my friends and relatives will say if I put the hijab on. Sister, won't you be ashamed of yourself from Allah on the Day of Judgment? Won't you be embarrassed when you see the Prophet (PBUH) on the Day of Judgment? On the Day of Judgment you will be thirsty and the Prophet will be giving water to everyone. And you will run to him, but two angels will stop you going further. The Prophet will say, "leave her! She is from my nation." The angels will say, "we cannot Prophet Muhammad, for she did not obey Allah's command." So the Prophet would say, "go away, far away, I do not want to have anything to do with you because you didn't listen to Allah's command."
And who would be embarrassed? The one who is showing her body to everyone, or the one who is respecting and covering it? The Prophet (PBUH) asked us to grab Islam with our hands and teeth!
If you want to put on the hijab, do it now. Don't put it on if you don't pray or fast, if you're rude with no manners and if you're not close to Allah, that way you will be weak and take it off. If you can put the hijab on now, pray on time, and stick with religious friends, read the Qur'an every day, and thank Allah everyday even if it's for a few minutes.
If you did these things, your hijab will go with your worship, your manners, and you'll be an example to all the Muslim and non-Muslim women. Never think that you can put the hijab on and not worship Allah or have any sort of Islamic personality. And if you are wearing the hijab and you do not pray hold those things in your heart and practice them everyday, for you are representing Islam sister. Strengthen your faith so you can keep it on.
If you cannot do these things after you put on your hijab, then renew your intentions. But do not do these things for 6 years and then put on the hijab. No, make it more like after one month starting from today or two or three months; build yourself from within and then put it on. Work towards putting on the hijab.
Another point. You have become a Muslim wearing a hijab. Never think that the hijab means you have completed your worship and will enter paradise. On the contrary, it is only the beginning of your journey towards Allah (SWT).
A further point: remember that you are an example to all the Muslim and non-Muslim women. With your manners, worship, smile. Even when you are walking down the street, you are an example to everyone and you will indeed inspire many people, without even saying a word. You will purify your society! Your good deeds are extremely of value to Allah. You will guide your sisters in Islam. You are our example, our ambassador of Islam.
