When there's too much fashion on a niqabi woman

By Nurul of Mulut Laser Nurul

Assalamu'Alaikum...

I know that it's woman's nature to be pretty and all. But I was surfing the internet and I saw so many niqabis wearing too much fashion. It made me think. What's the real reason when we decided to wear the niqab? (I'm talking about those that made their own choice to cover up like me. Not from countries that made it compulsory to wear niqab).

When I say too much fashion, I DO MEAN TOO MUCH. All these bling-blings, huge brooches here and there, wrapping your way too colorful shayla until it look dangerously choking yourself, fussly-tassled-decorated abaya with rhinestones on it (during special ocassion, InshaAllah it's acceptable), too brightly colored eyeshadow, etc. I know that it's normal for cultures in some countries to wear brighly colored clothing. If it's normal in your country then InshaAllah you're not feeling like you wanna show off, then it's fine. Whatever that doesn't attract too much attention is good. (Can't imagine wearing just black in India where everybody is wearing colors)

For me (and I believe most women out there), InshaAllah, when I decided to wear the niqab, it's because I wanna look modest, avoiding too much attention and help to guard me from feeling 'riak' by wanting to show my 'whatever' to others. I also pray to Allah to take care of me and (if possible) give me barokah from following our Prophet's wives way of covering themselves. (It's not wrong to pray and ask from Allah, ok? Please don't start criticizing about this).

But I saw so many women nowadays in my country that are wearing the niqab with pretty, but see-through hijab (and when I point it out nicely to a sister, she actually got angry and started to rant out on me about I should'nt think that I'm better than her. Honest to God, I wasn't. Sister, I was telling it nice and slow to you coz I luv u as my Muslim sister. I don't want people to say bad things behind your back coz that time a few ladies in the musolla were already talking about u).

And the niqab itself, MashaAllah, sometimes are too see-through, fully decorated with laces and bling-blings piping. Attract more attention to your face than ever! A bit is ok, but not that much!

Also, I saw so many girls and ladies on social network websites (myspace, facebook, friendster, etc) that are wearing the niqab for fun and took photos with inappropriate clothes, profile descriptions (language sisters! Language!) and manners to accompany the niqab. Why are these Muslim sisters playing with it? I feel so sad sometimes coz I think these kind of things are degrading the niqab and the reason of wearing it. It's bad enough for some non-muslims to make fun of it on youtube and all. We as Muslim wanna make fun of it too??? Fear Allah, sisters.

I'd love to see more Muslim sisters wear the niqab AND have some respect for 'that thing' they're wearing on their beautiful faces. Try not to do bad things and say nasty things and act appropriately when the hijab and niqab are on u (even when you're not wearing them at home, pls take care of your iman, ok?). Have some respect. Show some respect. It's our Prophet's wives way of covering themselves, for Allah's sake!

Maybe it's better for the sisters that wear the niqab for fun and to show that they're better women than others to stop wearing the niqab. Wear it when you're ready one day and do it for Allah. I love all my Muslim sisters. Even if you're not wearing hijab and wear sexy clothes, I still love you. Coz we're all Muslims. We only have each other at the end.

I hate it when some Muslims say that those that are wearing hijab /niqab are good Muslimahs with good iman and suitable wife material. THAT is a huge myth. If you're a good Muslim man, you can guide your non-hijabi/niqabi wife to better themselves. And just because someone is wearing clothes that cover themselves from head to toe it doesn't show their iman (although it's good that they're following Allah's ruling for Muslimahs to wear hijab and loose (+not see tru) clothing). Only Allah knows what's in our hearts.

Riak comes in so many different ways. Sometimes, wearing something to show that we're OH SO PIOUS is riak as well if we even think for a second "Hey look. I'm better than u. Look at the way I dress. I'm such a good Muslim".

There was this guy that sent me a comment on my myspace last time. The guy asked me why I wear the niqab. I said "Only Allah knows. I can't quite explain it in normal words". Then the guy wrote back. I translated this into English from Bahasa Malaysia. He said :

"Alhamdulillah
My opinion is Muslim women nowadays that wear hijab/niqab are either one of these 3 categories:
1. really good Muslimah and wanna wear it for Allah.
2. because it's compulsory to wear eventhough they don't want to.
3. to cover their sins and pretend to be good to fool others.

Don't think for a second that we could fool God. Maybe can try to impress people. But people will know. Allah gives them instinct."

What he replied made me think a lot that day. Which category am I? Which category are u? Only Allah knows. I do pray that we're in the 1st category. Ameen...