Islamic Motivation

Hijab. ✨

written: 02/08/2016 2:11am

Assalamu alaykum!

Just want to start off by saying that in'shaAllah everything I write in this 'story' will be 100% true according to my memory. If you don't believe or you doubt anything I write then lovely, but Wallahi I'm writing this from the heart and everything I write are real life daily events. :)

Welcome to my Hijab Story... ❤️

As many of you may know, my name is Fatima. I used to live in a non-Muslim country and led a pretty "non-muslim" lifestyle. Eventually my family made the decision to move to a Muslim country to live.

In general, we were a religious family. Boyfriends/Girlfriends were an absolute no-no, pig, alcohol, drugs were to be steered clear of completely, during Ramadan fasting was a must...unfortunately however, salah was neglected greatly. I can not remember a single day where I prayed the five daily prayers...of course that was unless it was Ramadan. SubhanAllah. How sad is that? I was born into and raised in a Muslim household, my mum wears a headscarf but there hasn't been a day where I prayed my five daily prayers to Allah (swt).

I had a small group of three friends, four including me. We were diverse...a Buddhist, a Christian, a Hindu and a Muslim (me), but if you didn't know us there'd be a good chance you wouldn't guess I was the Muslim for there'd be nothing to differentiate me by.

I didn't wear the headscarf.

I used to go to school with straightened hair, wear tight school pants and a school polo T-shirt in the summer. I had mild-severe acne during my last year of school so I started to wear light foundation after some self-conscious issues. Make-up was also wrong in our household...clearly more important than not praying salah since I knew I'd be told off for wearing make up but was never yelled at for not praying my salah. :(

So anywho, fast forward from that..I finished high school on a high note and was now packing to move countries. After arriving in the new country, I realised I didn't like it at all. I didn't know anyone. Couldn't speak the language properly. Felt like a stranger basically. Then I was thinking, 'Allah, why did we come here!? If I were still home, I was going to be living completely fine, probably start uni, hanging out with my friends and my family.'

Alhamdulillah all that thought process has changed now.

Before we settled, we visited my extended family (ie: my dad's cousins) I found that they were religious. They prayed five times a day. The cousins' whose house we slept at for a week or so had a hard job. Like bakers, they would wake up during the first ray's of sunlight and go to work, working over 12 hours and coming back home at 9/10pm. They hardly had any sleep. Once, I had walked past my dad's cousins bedroom to go to her kitchen to get a glass of water before sleeping and I saw her praying. MashaAllah SubhanAllah, the time was 1 or 2am and she was praying Isha after having finished looking after her three kids, putting them to bed and getting all her housework done. I smiled to myself, drank my water and went to bed comfortably.

I then visited my mum's cousins. We stayed there for a week or so also. One night I heard my mum's youngest cousin, who is 2 years younger than me, waking up for Fajr. He got up, his friend picked him up, they went to the mosque together, prayed Fajr and he got dropped off back home. MashAllah may Allah (swt) keep him on the straight path and continue to guide him. Ameen.

I would hear the adhaan (call to prayer) five times a day. Well, four since most days I didn't even hear it for Fajr as I was too busy sleeping.