Lucky
Blessings
By: Mariam Ghanem
I have a story to
tell you. A story that may or may not make a difference in your life. A story
that you may hear plenty of times but it’s significance still remains obscure.
I don’t believe that after you read this you will be hit with a moment of
clarity. Nor can I guarantee that you will see the light and everything will
make perfect sense. However, I’ll tell it to you anyways because maybe you will
find similarities in my life and my experiences that pertain to the path you
are on. Maybe these similarities will show you that at the end of the day we
are all human, and although at first glance our differences are all we see, if
we look a little closer we will realize just how identical we are.
Have you ever felt
truly grateful for someone? Have you ever felt that if you did not have someone
in your life then everything would feel empty and you would be incomplete? If
you have, then you know that the most common reaction to those feelings is to
do everything in your power to make that person stay. I desperately wanted
Allah to stay with me. It was more than just religious duty or spiritual
inclination, it was a matter of life or death and the person at risk was my
soul. My path to hijab was not long or troublesome, Alhamdulillah, rather it
was short and simple. This is not to say that I was (am) a perfect person whose
spirituality is at a level much higher than everyone else’s. Rather it was more
about Allah.
I always wanted to
wear hijab. Ever since I was a little girl there was no doubt in my mind that
when I grew up I would wear hijab proudly and happily. Some say I was “lucky”
because I was raised in a religious household and my parents instilled in me
the Islamic values that have made me the person I am today. Others may say that I was “lucky” to overhear
my father discussing the importance of hijab with my sister and having his
advice still ringing in my head today. And still some may say that I was
“lucky” to be so sure about hijab and its’ significance in my life.
But I was not
lucky, I was blessed Alhamdulillah. Luck is a trivial concept that means
nothing in the real world. Many people grow up in religious households but end
up choosing a different path, and the opposite is true as well. Many times I
sit and wonder if my life was different would I have been able to choose the
path I am on today or would I be a completely different person. The truth of
the matter is I have no idea. I am not totally disregarding the importance of
circumstances, however, I believe that the power of your circumstances pales in
comparison to the power of your strength to choose otherwise.
I remember the
day when my dad told my sister something that shook my world and changed my
perspective on a lot of things. He said that, “For every man who sees you
without your hijab you get a sayeea.” Nothing has ever shocked and profoundly
influenced my way of thinking as much as the sentence above. I vowed that I
would never give anyone the opportunity to be the reason for the sins on my
left shoulder to increase. When I pursued the matter more I learned not why
hijab was an obligation for Muslim women, but why hijab was important to me
personally. I was not thinking about anything the day I decided to wear hijab
other than that this was my armor and my shield protecting me from harms way.
This was something that covered my beauty but did not eliminate it. Something
that covered my head but did not destroy my brain, rather it amplified my
intelligence.
The first couple
of days after I started wearing hijab were truly the most amazing days of my
life. The warmth and happiness that I felt inside my heart were absolutely
indescribable. I felt a special kind of peace that to this day is the reason
why I am a stronger person. I remember that an elderly man I’d never met before
came up to me the first day I wore hijab and congratulated me on the big step I
had just taken. He concluded his
shocking statement with a simple “Rabena yebareklek” (God Bless you). And He
has. He has blessed me with the honor of getting to know and love Him. He has
blessed me with indisputable clarity and doubtless confidence.
The day I grabbed a
scarf and told my cousin to help me wear it, I was not choosing hijab, rather
Allah had chosen me to take a step closer to him. Allah had cleared a path for
me out of all the people in the world, and I was getting ready to walk that
path. I do not believe in a neon light or a day that will “just feel right”,
but I do believe in knowing what is right and doing it without thinking of the
worldly consequences that will mean nothing to you in the future. So my advice
to anyone conflicted or confused is quite simple; find what is going to make
you a better person and just do it. A
lot of girls are waiting for the right day or the right moment to wear hijab
and to those girls I say: there is no right day, no right time, and no right
moment, everyday you are breathing is the perfect day, the perfect time, and
the perfect moment.
For the latest updates make sure to follow Hijabymo on Twitter: @Hijabymo
Also be sure to check out my FB page: http://www.facebook.com/HijabYMO
No comments:
Post a Comment