Ibtisam

I’m glad to see that there are more people interested and dressing hijab. Although I don’t believe that the scarf or face veil is absolutely necessary, dressing modestly is definitely important (this is not an ideal world), as is having a strong cultural identity. People should have control over how much of their body is visible day to day, and not feel pressured by to government or society. It’s something that’s between the individual, their personal ethical code, and their God(SWT).

I don’t always wear a scarf in khimar style mainly because I don’t have any protective family around where I live. I’m also not Arab, and have no idea what part of Africa my African ancestors are from. So usually I opt for a hat, tam, or headwrap. I’ve also got dreadlocks, which are a clear indication of having rejected the conventional “beauty” standards. So even when my head is uncovered, I look “not for sale”.

If there’s any advice I’d give to others who are starting out with hijab, it would be to think more about pleasing Allah(SWT) than pleasing men. It is a difficult transition especially for women, because we enjoy the attention we get from our appearance.

The thing that many don’t realize though, is that you’ll get more real positive attention dressed modestly than you will from dressing like most others. People respect people who respect themselves. Modest attire is a clear indication that you respect your body. It’s not on display like a product.

Well…since I made my first entry here, I’ve been really putting my nose to the grindstone. I’ve immersed myself in work, family, and friends, and I do dhikr (sort of Muslim mantras) at night when I go to bed.

Once I stopped considering it my loss, I found that being romantically alone isn’t so bad. It sure beats being in a bad relationship.

I still don’t think I have any hope of finding a partner so long as I’m in Israel, but I don’t feel as bad about that as I used to. Sure, it would be nice, but it’s not the end of the world.

It was mostly a matter of arranging my priorities realistically. I don’t have time to waste on an improbability. There are only 24 hours in a day, and I need all of them. Anyone who’s going to be a part of my life will have to keep up or get crisped in the afterburn. So far, it hasn’t happenned yet, so unless it does, I got stuff to do.

I am teaching a few online courses, and it is definitely worth doing. Not everyone has a conventional career or a conventional schedule.

I, the teacher, learned the true value of this when I began teaching African hairstyling. There are some prohibitive laws in many states in the U.S. and so an effort to simply educate people so that they could start a home business or just learn something good about our culture, became activism within a few short weeks. My teaching it online means that sooner or later the laws against natural hairstyling will either have to change or they will become obsolete…because my courses are accessible to just about everyone.

Online courses in general are shaking up the educational world though. I’ve heard there is some talk about abolishing course hours because people learn better and more at their own pace. When they have the time and space to learn as they like, they really learn it. This is really important in fields such as health care where the retained knowledge could make the difference between life and death.