<\/a>I decided I wanted to don the hijab last summer. It\u2019s been almost a year now since I became a hijabi (someone who wears the hijab), and I\u2019ve learned some fascinating things since then; I thought perhaps you might be interested in my experiences.<\/p>\n

But first, let\u2019s talk a little bit about what the hijab actually is and why I made the decision I made. The most basic definition of hijab is simply that it is a headscarf worn by Muslim women (not to say that other women of other faiths don\u2019t wear headscarves of some form, because it\u2019s actually quite common in many religions).<\/p>\n

Obviously, though, it means a lot more– and that is not the oppression\/subjugation\/dehumanization of women in the name of Islam, as too many people would tell you, because Islam is actually an advocate of women\u2019s rights, and hijab is actually a form of female empowerment. For a lot of people to whom I tell this, it\u2019s a radical notion– it\u2019s the first time they\u2019ve ever heard anything other than the facile, fallacious \u201cIslam is misogyny.\u201d But it\u2019s not. Aminah Assilmi does a fantastic job of explaining:<\/p>\n