Strider

Interesting. Thanks for all your thoughtful replies ShahHussain, Nouret and Wonderer. I appreciate it. And don't worry Nouret, your post was not only long but very helpful and in depth. :) I think you guys have a good point that if it's forced on the child and if she felt that she had no choice over the matter, she will most likely rebel. I think it's completely fair because her mother had the choice whereas the child did not. How important is choice in this matter? If we are not given a chance to make the right choice then we feel more coerced and unwilling to accept whatever's imposed on us. But on the other hand, this can yield undesirable results as well. Ultimately the girl will grow up to be responsible for herself so she has to come to a decision about it herself.

Hello to anyone else who frequents here, I would love to know what you'd do in a situation like this. I'm not exactly looking for what's right or wrong here, just differing perspectives on an issue: A young girl, entering her teens, would now like to stop doing hijab (and by hijab I mean no longer wearing a headscarf). Now I asked this girl why she wanted to stop doing hijab at this age. She had originally started it at the age of 9 when her mother "forced" her to do it. She had no problems, until now. Now, she claims that she doesn't want to do it anymore, that she was forced to do it as a kid without knowing what it truly meant. She wants to stop doing it but fear is preventing her from doing so - her father has indirectly threatened her to remain as she is, or else he will be very angry with her. Her reasons are quite obvious and she told me directly, that she wishes to become a beautiful person now (be it physically only). I explained to her that what she desires is only external beauty and that will only feed her vanity BUT if she claims that she was forced to do it, does she have reason to stop doing it? Not to overuse a quote, but there is no compulsion in Islam, right? Yet I know that if this person would stop doing hijab, it would only make her more proud for all the wrong reasons. I'd love to hear your thoughts.