-Enlightened, on 21 March 2012 - 08:28 PM, said:
Are there any sisters who are wearing Abaya/chador and living in the west ..with
not so many shia people around ?
I would like to start wearing the abaya ...but it's really really uncommon and rare here. I've NEVER seen anyone with an Abaya in my city ...except those niqabis ..and they don't attend college or work or anything ..
and I'll still be going to college and living you know.. I don't wanna sound like a black monster with this 'thing that she's wearing'..
I just feel that my hijab is not enough. .. and don't suggest me to wear something long and ugly to make it 'modest'.. it's really Abaya that I want ..
and yeah i just want your comments..how will i be dealing with this ?
First of all, I'd like to commend you for addressing this issue, because apart from it showing your dedication towards God, it also allows some of us to put into hindsight the current state of our Hijab.
I too have actually pondered many times, about adopting the 'abaya/jilbab as my conventional form of dressing. And, like you I have been taken back many times about actually going through with this idea. Living in a society (West) where, modest garments such as: 'abayas, jilbabs, chadors, and the such are viewed as an oppressive tool of the tyrannical Middle-eastern governments,...or simply just your husband, doesn't really place us in an encouraging environment, to do so. And so, this is where your typical American, Canadian, western or whatever....feminist comes into the picture, in which they feel the need to rescue this group (us) of "oppressed" women. These women think we need to be freed from these garments--which is only a display of ignorance at it's best. It's this same exact logic that produces the whole "Third world woman, being : poor, uneducated, ignorant, etc" ...so then these Western feminist take on the role of "Superman" and feel the need to rescue these women from "illiberal governments" or "patriarchal" families; they seem to think that us Muslim women, have no control over our sexuality, or anything to do with our life for that matter--further proving Westernized feminism, or just Feminism by itself, which is a completely retarded ideology.
Anyway, sorry for going off on a tangent but really it only comes to illustrate, the fact of the matter; this is how women in the west think (not all) but a good fragment of them...their ideology is screwed up to begin with, so it reflects off in their akhlaq which ultimately lends to insulting stares/comments, etc. Especially if you live in an area where there aren't many muslims shia or sunni, or there are but you just can't tell because they don't observe hijab. Yes, wearing either Abaya, or Chador will put you on the spotllight, it always will...but like amongst many of the principles that Islam advocates is practicing what you believe, or what you know. If you have yaqeen that wearing this form of Hijab is the correct and most suitable way, then by all means take your stand. Definitely easier said then done, otherwise I would already be walking the school premises in my black cloak

. We should not allow these western feminists to think we feel subjugated by the Chador or Abaya, rather we feel liberated by the intrusive western gaze.
As for colors, like Muslimah1 suggested, earthy colors would do just fine, doesn't necessarily have to be black
Anyway, thats just my two cents.
Edited by jannahismygoal, 21 March 2012 - 10:15 PM.