- Organisers of World Hijab Day asked women to share their experiences of "a day in the life of a hijabi" through social networks like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. @WorldHijabDay also posted women's updates throughout the day.
42 countries are partaking in #WorldHijabday! Flyer translated in 20 diff. languages. Achieved all these in just 8 days! Alhamdulillah!- " I wish to show solidarity with the local women who embrace #hijab, and to walk a mile in their shoes.” [Cedar, USA, Wiccan] #WorldHijabDay
I'm supporting understanding, tolerance, and my family and friends that are of the Islamic religion. I love all of you! <3 #worldhijabday #love #psychepageendearment
This Susan Allen another amazing friend of mine and also Christian. She is just way too nice. She works in burger king and she is that nice that one customer bought her laptop once :)
Words are not enough.... We Muslims sisters love you Sue :)- I admit that I felt a little silly walking around campus with my scarf wrapped around my head. But that's what social experiments are all about! And how many of the women in my parents' neighborhood (which has a large population of immigrant families from Muslim countries) feel the same sort of awkwardness walking around Salt Lake in their beautiful hijabs? Beyond that, are there some that even feel afraid of becoming the targets of anti-Muslim hostility or violence?
- Some women wrote about the discrimination they perceived from others based on their clothing, including one woman who put on a face veil - or niqab - for the day.
I decided to wear Niqab for #WorldHijabDay people are acting like im oppressed.. im getting mean looks.. why is there this stigma?- One non-Muslim woman from Australia described a time when a man passing by swore at her because he thought that she was wearing hijab. @MariamVeiszadeh replied:
@neurofluff it's cool that you tried it! It's horrible that you were treated like that though.Gives you insight re what we have to deal with- Others who participated were more sceptical, or reported some frustration from the experience:
Not sure if I believe in this. Women should be free to remove the veil as well as free to wear one. #worldhijabday
Well! It took me a YouTube tutorial, 20 minutes, and a teaspoon of frustration BUT I finally got it on!!! I feel BEAUTIFUL! #worldhijabday- Muslim women who regularly wear hijab also contributed to the conversation, explaining why they wear the traditional head covering.
We are the flags of Islam, wear your hijab with pride and do it justice. Respect yourself and others always. #WorldHijabDay
Hijab is our choice, it is not forced upon us. its our decision to wear it, we do it to protect our beauty. #WorldHijabDay
I'm amongst other millions of muslim sisters who chose to wear the Hijab and were not forced #WorldHijabDay- Others were more critical of the event, highlighting the problems they saw with it:
If #WorldHijabDay highlights harassment faced by hijabis, then let's also have #NoHijabDay for those #Muslim women harassed 4 not wearing it- The criticism also included tweets like the one below, in which @Arousa says those participating for just a day are missing the point by revealing their hair to non-family members:
- If you're wearing it one day and not another, revealing your hair to non mahrum you haven't understood its true essence #WorldHijabDay
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The Stream is a web community and daily television show powered by social media and citizen journalism. Now on Al Jazeera English. See our full shows at http://stream.aljazeera.com
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