Hijab Day helps people wrap heads around autonomy veiled by stereotypes

Muslim women wearing hijabs helped tie colorfully patterned headscarves around passersby on Bruin Walk on Thursday morning.

Members of the Muslim Student Association at UCLA invited UCLA community members to experience a day in an Islamic headscarf for UCLA’s Hijab Day. Men were given pins labeled “Solidarity With My Sisters in Hijab.”

“Hijab is a principle of modesty, and allows (people) to openly identify as Muslim,” said Marya Ayloush, an MSA member and third-year Chicana/o studies student.

The MSA also hosted a panel Thursday evening that discussed the history of hijab and its contemporary understanding as an Islamic tool of cultural expression.

Ayloush, who provided the headscarves from her clothing company Austere Attire, said Southern California is a relatively tolerant place for women wearing hijabs.

“Here in Southern California, which tends to be open-minded, I haven’t personally experienced any discrimination for my modest style of dress,” she said.

However, Ayloush added that many Muslim women, especially in less diverse and cosmopolitan areas of the country, are persecuted for their choice of dress.

“Many Muslim women who wear hijabs are incredibly vulnerable, and I have heard several cases of women’s hijabs being forcibly pulled off in less tolerant areas,” Ayloush said.

Nabilah Abdelaal, an alumna and oncology research assistant at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center who attended the event, said she disagrees with the the stereotype that wearing a hijab is oppressive toward women or that only traditional and uneducated women wear hijabs.

“I wear hijab as a way to identify myself as Muslim and also prove that one can be concurrently educated and be doing cancer research as a Muslim woman,” Abdelaal said. “With all the inflammatory rhetoric present in the media today, we are proof that wearing the headscarf doesn’t hinder us.”

She added she thinks choosing to wear hijabs is not a reflection of one’s true character and that Muslim women hold a variety of beliefs independent of their religious beliefs.

Ayloush said she thinks people often have a vastly different interpretation of the meaning of Islam because of media bias against Muslims.

“People falsely think wearing a hijab is oppressive when in reality it’s a personal choice,” Abdelaal said. “Of course, my choice of dress is not struggle-free and fitting in can be hard. However, I am unapologetic about my choice.”

Hajar Azzam, a first-year Design | Media Arts student, also sees wearing the hijab as a highly personal choice and said she feels that her decision to don the hijab should not impact others’ judgment of her overall character.

Azzam added that wearing a hijab should not prevent people from pursuing careers that are not traditionally seen as being held by Muslim women.

“Not many other people who are majoring in the arts wear hijab, and I feel that I represent an Islam that can be diverse and break the stereotypical norms,” Azzam said.

Students who attended the Hijab Day event said they hope people would recognize their personal lifestyle choices as key representations of their identities.

“Through this event, we hope to emphasize that wearing the hijab is a personal choice for many Muslim women and encourage the campus community to stand in solidarity with us,” Ayloush said.