Hijab Party

I live in a small university town and we have established a very nice tradition here, Alhamdullilah. When our young sisters decide to start covering, we have an all girls’ celebration.  Each girl/mom brings a scarf of their own to share with the new hijabee. We have sweets and socializing followed by an interactive program. A few sisters demonstrate different ways to tie a headscarf and show how to match them up with outfits. The younger sisters are the models. The girls laugh and giggle as they try different styles and colors of headscarves. Mirrors are important at this event 🙂

Then we have a short talk about modesty and the benefits of hijab. We also do a little role playing about typical hijab scenarios that occur at school with their peers, the mall with strangers or at home with their parents. Near the end, young and older sisters shared hijab stories and experiences. Some were humorous while others were very serious stories. I overheard girls who have not started wearing hijab talk about looking forward to their own hijab party. At the very end, the new hijabee chooses from all the scarves and takes the ones she likes for her collection. Others happily take the leftovers. I like these types of events because it strengthens bonds of sisterhood in a way that they simply cannot do with their girlfriends of other faiths.

An event like this one also honors the occasion of an act obedience to Allah SWT.  In a small community like ours, I was especially glad that my pre-school aged daughter attended. InshaAllah, community experiences like this will help shape her mind towards developing an American Muslim woman’s identity.

 Sharda Mohammad

Sharda is a Canadian born mother of two young children. She has a keen interest in learning to  foster leadership, self esteem, and empathy in young children. She works part time as a Physical Therapist.