Praise be to Allah for the strength He has given to us

Assalammualaikum,

Yesterday I met with a dear friend who's caught up in a dilemma that
has been caused by the secular world who claims to be religious and
rightful. I immediately was able to connect to her because I have been
through the same thing and felt what she's feeling.

Our movement, this thing that we're trying to do, is full of obstacles
and challenges that are not foreseeable. People may see it as
something that's easy to do - what's so hard about it, you think of
something and you blog about it; you wear something and you blog about
it. But the fact is it isn't as easy as you think it is because we are
faced with the dilemma of judgement every single second of our living.

In Islam, there are set rules that we have to adhere to and one of
them is the Five Pillars of Islam. Before you wish to judge someone
else based on what they are doing you have to measure yourself against
these pillars and answer me YES if you've done all of them. If you
have then alhamdulillah. But I haven't. You may say that I'm the worst
of muslims to be abandoning rukun based on the five pillars but you're
wrong.

Islam is the easiest religion you can adopt. It has been told that
being a muslim is the easiest thing to do because apart from the
things that we are told to abstain from, other things you are welcome
to explore in order to progress and improve your lives. Islam has
never told us to not get any education and knowledge about things.
Islam has never taught us to hate other people who are not muslims.
Islam is the best religion to be born into and is the best to
practice.

We are encouraged to inspire other muslims to put into practice the
things that have been passed on to us from the Prophet Muhammad SAW.
For example, girls and their hijabs. Sure, we must cover our chest
area, not show skin on the areas that are considered as aurah but look
at the generation now and ask yourselves are they willing to get
covered when all they see on television and in the movies are skin
bearing and tight shirt wearing girls of their age? And of course with
all the obstacles and tests that are fallen unto us we would easily
succumb to temptation.

And we live in the Facebook and Tumblr generation. Think of the things
that we share in these websites. People are saying that it is haraam
to share our pictures on the website.

But why?

I know the answer is to avoid any subahat but what if the intention of
these people who share are nothing but pure? Think of all the girls
who has been inspired by the likes of hijab fashionistas and think of
the number of girls who day by day decide to wear the hijab before
anything else. What do you say to that? All I'm saying is that, with
the right niat in your heart, it'll be very easy for you to reach out
to other people. On the other hand, when your niat is to be praised
for your looks THEN it becomes haram and not only your body parts,
even your FACE will be aurah. That's what we don't want to happen,
dear sisters.

Please know that what me and my friends are trying to do is NOT to
show off. It is to inspire and to reach out to girls out there to
become better Muslimahs. WE have to start somewhere right? Sure, some
people would say that all this covering up mumbo jumbo is just for
fashion but insyAllah I can assure you that I have never intended it
to be that way. If I have to tell you a little bit about my experience
right now, the hijab has attracted this murky heart of mine to study
more about Islam. The hijab has made my heart curious to study and
practice surahs and hadiths and I am trying my very best to live
according to sunnah. It doesn't always work and I am not the perfect
muslimah but I am striving to.

So all these people who are calling us hijab models and hijab
fashionistas - please just don't. I refuse to be associated with
anything that is related to modelling because that is not my end
journey, I do not strive to get to the end of the road of a modelling
career. When I get out of the tunnel I would like the destination to
be jannah.

The right niat is what you need for everything you do. That is how you
get Allah's blessing. Just remember that. I don't oppose people who
wear the hijab to be pretty, although I would advice you to not use it
wrongly. I am giving advice to my sisters that if you want to start
something, the correct niat is what you need. Because Allah knows
whats in your heart.

And to girls who are about to start or has started the same journey as
I, good luck and may Allah give you the strength to hold on and pick
up yourself when you've been pushed by comments by those who are
ignorant and judgemental. We don't need to care what others think
about us because they are not the people we want to impress. We know
so well whom we'd like to impress ;)