Hijabis surviving

Imagine you've been faking it all this time, telling people you despise the beach or don't like swimming, all because you're self-conscious about how you look in a burkini.

Yes, this happens to a lot of hijabis, but many of us haven't been able to speak up loud enough about it.

Thankfully, our well-known hijabi blogger Farah Emara and 2oolameme founder Sarah Abualkhair recently shared their stories about how our community made them feel judged.

This all started when Sara Abualkhair posted on her Instagram story, 

"I always told everyone I'll just sit by the pool, I don't like the beach that much anyway." 

That was a lie...

Following this post, Farah Emara created an IGTV in which she revealed that she had the same experience and that she always pretended to dislike the beach.

A lot of people replied to her video relating to her situation and supporting her.

I'm writing this article in rage and sorrow because no one deserves to go through this every year.

Imagine being judged simply for wanting to have some fun on the beach with family or friends while minding your own business.

I mean If this doesn’t make you angry, I don’t know what will.

We've spent years fighting for freedom and talking about being open-minded, but for some reason, when it comes to the hijab, we go silent.

Freedom indicates that everyone is free to dress and do anything they choose as long as it does not harm others.

    "It is easier to be wearing hijab in London than Cairo." 

When Dalia Anan, moved from London to her hometown in Egypt, she found it more difficult to wear hijab in Egypt.

How is that even possible?

As BCC News once said

    “The surprise place where hijab can spell trouble.

Egypt used to be a welcoming place for women who chose to wear hijab.

Unfortunately, this has begun to change in recent years, especially for upper-class women.

As we all know, hijabis are not allowed at certain times of the evening in some restaurants or what is regarded as 'cool' places, mainly in the north coast.

But why is that? 

What are the benefits of doing this?

Is it possible that our voices will be heard one day?

I really hope so. 

Woo, now that I've gotten that all out of my system, I hope we can take real actions. 

I hope we can respect every woman, regardless of what she wears.

Respect how these hijabis had a choice and they were committed to it no matter how hard it was.

Also, I would like to thank surviving hijab page for supporting women!

If you've been living under a rock and haven't heard of this page and group, it was founded in 2014 as a closed group with the goal of supporting women all over the world who are wearing the hijab, thinking about wearing it, or have taken it off and are struggling to put it back on.

The group now has over 620,000 female members, mostly from Egypt.