Calisha Bennett – The Power of Hijab

			Alder bIllahi min ash shaytani R rajim Bismillahi Rahmani Raheem Al Hamdulillah he was Salatu was
Salam o Allah rasool Allah salAllahu alayhi wa sallam Ahmedabad As salam o alaikum wa rahmatullah wa
barakato. To the beautiful students at the Western grammar school, is that correct? It's beautiful
to be here with you all. Virtually, my name is Sister Felicia Bennett, and Shala I've been requested
to give you guys a bit of a talk on the topic of the power of hijab. And that's a pretty powerful
title to be given. And I'm not sure I can give it justice panela to how powerful hijab can be in the
life of a young woman, but inshallah I will give it my best to go. So when we look at the power of
		

			hijab, we need to understand what this word power means and how do we derive power from a piece of
cloth that we are wearing and wrapping around our hair? And you know, when we look at hijab, what is
hijab? What does it mean to you? Do you understand the definition of it? No doubt your parents, your
family, your school have taught you a little bit about hijab and what it's supposed to mean and how
important it is and the verses where Allah subhanaw taala tells the believing women to draw their
veils over their chests and their neck and their hair, likely you know a little bit about it, and
who we're supposed to cover in front of insha, Allah Allah and if you don't, be sure to reach out
		

			and ask someone at your school, who can teach you what the hijab definition is, and what that looks
like. So I won't tell you that today in this talk, and sha Allah, but I will talk about the power of
hijab, and how to overcome some of the struggles that you might have with it. So I know that being
young you girls are in high school, the most challenging years of my life were the high school
years, I wore a hijab in public school in country, Western Australia. And I was the only Muslim girl
in the entire school, and the only person obviously wearing the hijab. So I had massive battles and
massive insecurities. I felt super nervous when I was going to that school for year eight and year
		

			nine, but Alhamdulillah I never regretted the fact that I wore it and that I was being true to
myself and true to my religion. But it wasn't easy. So what are some of the struggles when it comes
to choosing hijab? You know, there are struggles with fitting in, and the desire to fit in like you
don't want to be different. Sometimes you want to be just like everyone else, maybe most of the
people in your family or some of your friends that you hang around with don't wear hijab. So there's
definitely a struggle with if I choose to wear it, Will I fit in? And will I be accepted, there's
also the struggle with wanting to look pretty. And I know we're in times now where everyone thinks,
		

			you know, to be a girl, you need to be pretty or you need to be popular, and that your popularity is
defined by your looks or by your hair. But we need to know that you know, we are so much more than
what our external looks. And Allah subhanaw taala doesn't really care about what we look like or how
pretty well he cares about our hearts and our deeds. Ultimate, Allah cares about who we are on the
inside. And we also need to start caring more about who we are on the inside and put looking pretty
a bit further down on the priority list. You my dear sisters, my beautiful young ladies are so much
more than your looks, there's so much more to you than how pretty you are, or how pretty you think
		

			you aren't. You're there's so much more to you than the length of your lashes, and how shiny your
lips are. And you know the color of your skin, you're so much more than that. You also might
struggle with the issue of if you wear hijab, maybe you'll drop in your popularity status. Maybe
people won't think you're as cool as you used to be. If you choose to wear hijab, or you choose to
maybe even wear hijab, which is even more modest than what others are wearing. That can be another
struggle as well. Sometimes we fear or struggle wearing hijab, because we're worried about bullying,
or we're worried about a society's view of us that when we go out maybe someone might yell at me or
		

			swear at me or attack me. Or if I'm at school, and maybe there are some people at school if you
know, there are some girls who go to public schools and if they wore hijab, they might get bullied
by other students or by even, you know other people in the class, or even by staff members panela
and again, that's a big struggle to have to face and overcome and we'll address how and why we can
shall overcome these different struggles. Sometimes girls feel like they're uncomfortable that it's
hot to wear the hijab, and no they are on those boiling hot summer days. Sometimes it can definitely
be a struggle to to wear hijab or to wear proper hijab and to love hijab when you know it's
		

			scorching hot and you know you're dripping with sweat. Again, we need to look at the why we behind
why we wear it. Some people struggle with
		

			hijab because their parents either forced them to wear it, or they might even have parents who don't
want them to wear it. So there are struggles both ways sometimes where families will judge a girl
because she wants to wear hijab and they say, No, you're too young, you don't need to wear it yet,
or you're so beautiful, why you want to cover up all your beauty. And then you have parents who, you
know, a young girl might be struggling with wearing the hijab, and the parents are forcing it, but
using threats to force it, like if you take it off, we'll hit you or we'll kick you out. Or if you
don't wear it, you're not going to be part of this family. So that can happen as well and be a real
		

			struggle with hijab. Another reason why girls might struggle with hijab is they just have wiki man,
like they don't feel bonded to Allah subhanaw taala. They don't feel like they want to wear it for
him. So that becomes a big struggle behind why do I want to wear it, I don't really know why or I
don't feel a strong reason to wear it. So that has more to do with the young girls level of demand.
So as you can see, and for any adults who are listening, there is definitely a massive struggle with
the decision to wear the hijab. It's not easy. And let's acknowledge that for young people. It's not
an overnight simple choice for some, that for some, it's painstaking that for some they cry, and
		

			they worry. For some, they hate it, but still wear it. For some they wish they didn't have to wear
it. For some they wish there was a way out of wearing it. So let's acknowledge that it's really hard
for some young people to wear the hijab. And for those who don't find it difficult man last month,
Allah bless you and reward you and what a blessing it is that you found it really easy to wear the
hijab, and may Allah keep us all humble and sincere. And understand that for some, it's not as easy
as it is for others. So to overcome the struggles with the hijab, you need to prepare a strong set
of why's Why wear hijab? Why keep it on? Why be steadfast? Why be serious about wearing the hijab?
		

			So let's ask the question, you know, if this is called the power of hijab, why is the hijab your
power? Why is it power for you, as a young Muslim woman as a young teenager living in today's times?
How and why is hijab your power? Number one, is the fact that the hijab, you wear it for a las
Panatela you wear it to be obedient to Him, you wear it to submit to Him, you wear it to worship
Him, that means that nothing and no one else, no one else's opinion on what you should do and what
you should look like matters except for Allah subhanaw taala, that Mayan ladies is power, that you
wear the hijab that you sacrifice the desire to show your beauty, to instead cover it up only
		

			because you love your Lord and your Creator, Allah subhanaw taala. And you know that you're going to
answer to him alone on the Day of Judgment. So in your mind and in your heart, you don't care what
anyone else has to say or think about you choosing to wear a piece of cloth and modest clothing for
your Creator. You don't care what anyone thinks or has to say about that you're powering ahead and
doing it. So that is the most powerful source of power with wearing the hijab. It's also powerful
because your hijab is a visible part of your Muslim identity. They call it that Muslim women girls
were the flag bearers were the ones waving the flag of like, look, there are the Muslims because we
		

			see Muslim women. And we're in times now it's summer phobia is a real thing, unfortunately, and
Muslim women are the ones who statistically receive the majority of the abuse from racist bigoted
people. Why? Because they're wearing the hijab. It's the hijab wearing sisters who become like the
warriors of Islam, zpanel law, so you get to be a warrior, you get to be identifiably Muslim. And
you get to decide to be unapologetically Muslim, we're not sorry for being Muslim. We're not sorry
for believing in one God alone without partners. And we're not going to shy away and hide away we're
going to practice our faith openly and strongly and with conviction, and show ourselves as feminine
		

			modest women, the way that the creator wants us to be. Also, another way that you're the hijab is
your power, is that it allows your inner beauty to shine through, instead of relying on how long or
luscious Your hair looks or, you know, how, you know, pretty or attractive you are, you get to say,
You know what, let's put that away and cover that up, let my personalities shine through let my
intelligence shine through let my manners my kindness, my warmth, my generosity, this is who I am on
the inside and I'm going to allow those traits and values to shine forward. And I'm not going to
focus on presenting my beauty to the world to make anyone like me, you get to be who you are and
		

			show who you are and inshallah those who are good sincere people will
		

			lucky for that, and be drawn to you for that in sha Allah, also hijab is your power because it
allows you to take a stand against society's expectations and standards. We know that the world
around us wants to exploit and objectify and use women to sell basically anything and everything.
They want to just throw the images and the bodies and the sexuality and the beauty of women, for
everybody to see, doesn't matter who doesn't matter the age, let everyone see everything at any
time. All for the sake of what $1 fame, attention. But when you choose to wear hijab, you choose to
say, I'm not going to be a part of that, I'm not going to play that game, I'm going to take my
		

			power, my honor, my dignity, it's, it's mine, it's God given to me, and I'm going to keep it and I'm
going to safeguard it and no one is allowed to take that away from me, no one is allowed to exploit
me, for my beauty for my assets, for my qualities for my attractiveness, no one's allowed to have
any of that, without my permission.
		

			Hijab also takes back the honor
		

			of being a woman. Again, it's about you keeping and holding on to your honor, and not giving that up
for anyone. And you know, Your Honor, is, is largely connected to the way that others end up
treating us panela. So when you don't let others treat you as they wish, and you hold on to your
personal identity and your dignity. That is a way of preserving your honor, because you don't give
yourself away freely. And that includes visually giving yourself away to appease or to appeal to the
eyes of other people or strangers. So this is power, to be able to be less self conscious about your
looks and your body because you choose to cover it up and measure yourself on your deeds and your
		

			actions and your character. This is power to have a new love and appreciation for the form that
allows me to Allah created you with he made you perfectly as you are your natural beauty your
natural body is absolutely perfect and how Allah subhanaw taala ordained it and created for you. So
to be able to say that I love and cherish myself, and I don't want to show it anywhere. I love
myself as I am I don't need to excessively beautify myself and publicize my beauty everywhere. This
is true power, we also need to reflect on the impact on ourselves or on society from seeing other
people's bodies and beauty. So this is an important thing as well, when women veil themselves or
		

			cover up their their assets, if you want to call it that cover up their beauty and choose to
withdraw from society and withdraw it from the eyes of others. What it does is it allows others to
develop themselves and develop self appreciation for themselves because they're not constantly
seeing the bodies and the looks of others to then compare themselves to as well. So you know, it's
also about reducing the impact of negative self image on women and young girls from seeing less of
the beauty and the bodies of other women as well. So that's an interesting point. And there's lots
of research that tells us about how teenage girls and young girls in particular, the more images
		

			that they see the more photos the more videos of women who are dressed openly who are very
beautified or UNAC, or who looked in anatomy look beautiful in unnatural ways or they've been
augmented to look a certain way or they're only seeing certain maybe very specific body shapes, body
sizes, or certain looks of makeup or facial features. This accustoms the person who is viewing it to
think that that's how they should look. When that is so far from the truth. We are all diverse in
shape, color looks and allows Matala again, like I said created us all beautifully and perfectly. So
hijab again, helps to reduce the negative self image that we have around us in epidemic proportions.
		

			So to continue to strengthen and embrace the power of your hijab. Make sure you get support. Where
can you get support, put yourself in good environments, whether it's your school environment, youth
groups, your mosque is summit classes with a mentor. Keep yourself with support spiritual support
and mindset support as well. If you can get family support, get family to back you up, hold you
accountable and be there for you in your hijab journey. Make sure you've got hijabs and outfits that
you like that you can work with that you feel comfortable wearing, and that tick the boxes in terms
of hijab requisites, keep yourself with good friends, friends, is everything that company of your
		

			friends. If your friends are strong in hijab or supportive of you wearing the hijab properly, then
it will make things a whole
		

			Easy because you've got that group support and make sure you continue with your Islamic learning. So
I end with that my beautiful young ladies, it was amazing to share this reminder with you, I hope it
has planted the seed of inspiration, of hope of motivation to wear the hijab, and to hold on to the
hijab and feel so powerful and so strong and so inspired and supported by Allah subhanaw taala when
you choose to do this beautiful act of obedience, so two final points when you wear the hijab,
please remember to be patient. You're going to have to be patient because it isn't going to be easy
sometimes. And be steadfast hold on to it all your life, wear it proudly, and in sha Allah Allah you
		

			will meet with Allah's pleasure until your last breath and you will meet with his pleasure in the
afterlife with the bliss in Jannah. In sha Allah Amin does aka the Hadron Subhanak Allahumma will be
handy Subhanak Allahumma will be handy agar a shadow Allah Allah lantana Safa to be like Salam
Alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh