NEW JERSEY – Muslim students in New Jersey’s Ramapo College have invited their colleagues to try on hijab for one day, as part of events hosted by the Muslim Student Association to mark Women HerStory Month, Ramapo News reported.
“We’re trying to bring us [hijabis] together,” said junior Rand Abdul-Razik of MSA about the event held this week.
“Even if some of our members don’t wear hijabs, or if they do, it’s just a way to spread awareness about the culture.”
The event organizers said they wanted to remind others that wearing a hijab is a choice that many Muslim women are proud to make.
Though many women cover their heads, either in Judaism or in churches, Muslim women usually face the stigma.
“It’s good for people to ask questions, not out of ignorance, but out of curiosity,” Abdul-Razik said.
Women who approached the table of hijabs to choose from were warmly welcomed and shown different ways to wear a hijab.
Khalisah Hameed summed up their motivation for this event well, “It’s not a forced thing that we have to do,” she said. “It’s a decision that we’re proud to make.”
Islam sees hijab as an obligatory code of dress, not a religious symbol displaying one’s affiliations.
