Author Urges Awareness of Challenges Faced by Women Who Wear Hijab

IQNA – Zoulfa Katouh, a Swiss-Syrian author, has said that wearing a hijab makes Muslim women more identifiable and, as a result, more susceptible to being targeted in public spaces.

It's interesting how "wearing a piece of cloth on your head" - specifically, a hijab - can feel so unsafe, says Katouh.

"It does make you a target way more when people can immediately clock that you're Muslim. … As a hijabi woman, you basically have a target on your back.

"This is something that a lot of Muslim women deal with. We talk about it a lot within our communities," the award-winning writer and pharmacist tells Saturday Morning.

While most people are kind and accepting towards Katouh as a young woman wearing a hijab, she says a "too loud" minority have been racist towards her. Discerning that from honest curiosity or general rudeness can be a challenge, too.

"It makes it difficult to live sometimes because you're like, 'Were they just having a bad day or was it really something deeper than that?' Unfortunately, you spend a lot of time just doubting yourself, and asking those questions is not particularly helpful when you're just trying to go about your life as a person in the world."

For over two decades, the writer says she lived as an "apologetic Muslim", trying to make herself as small and quiet as possible.

"It was only in my mid-20s that I realized, 'What am I doing? Why am I acting like this? I didn't do anything wrong.'"

"I live in this world as a contributing individual. I'm responsible for my actions towards people. I'm responsible for my actions towards this earth. I'm made for this earth, to make it better."

Source: rnz.co.nz