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My Niqab Story
I reverted to Islam in January, I have known about Islam ever since the seventh grade, when our social studies teacher did a three week multicultural course and Islam and the Middle East were in the syllabus. I lost interest when we moved on but then again I was still intrigued by the Middle East and it was always on the back of my mind.
In ninth grade I met a girl who was from Egypt, she was few years older than me and when I asked why she wore a head scarf she said she was Muslim, I got intrigued again and wanted to learn about Islam, so I asked her questions and she even invited me to the masjid, although I didn't go at the time, my stepfather's friend was friends with an African American Muslim and I had asked him about his religion and he was happy to tell me, he took me to the masjid and I was enthralled by the women wearing their scarfs and dresses.
I lost interest in Islam for a while but I had been searching for a spiritual base for quite some time, I had attended churches with my best friend and for a while I felt like I was getting closer to God and Jesus but I didn't feel quite like I was doing enough and Christianity seemed confusing to me. I then learned about the Baha'i faith and found out it was a Middle Eastern religion, I joined them but was never able to go to the meetings, thus I wasn't religiously stimulated. When I was living with my mom I had attended my grandmother's church and sung in the choir but then Sept. 11th happened and my dormant interest in Islam reawakened and I started doing research, I went online and chatted and went to sites, I bought an English translation of the Quran and a book on Islam and I was convinced by these literature that I took my shahadah online on January 7th at 11:45pm, I took it again in person three weeks after that, I have never felt so... spiritually lifted!!
I started wearing the head scarf right away and what I thought were Islamically correct clothes. At first I was afraid of what people thought, plus my mother was pressuring me about my religion and the head scarf and wouldn't allow me to wear it, so I moved back with my father who gave me religious freedom and who respects my beliefs, alhamdulilah. I then got a desire to dress more Islamically, One day at the Masjid, I met a woman who was a niqaabi, she donated three jelbabs to me and I was enthralled with her face veil, I had seen women in Saudi Arabia dressed like her and I liked the mysteriousness of them but I didn't understand what they were doing it for Allah.
I started wearing niqaab recently and I feel so much safer and secure being covered up and now I am trying to wear gloves and eye screens, I feel it is obligatory on women and I don't feel like a piece of meat. I don't wear it at work because it's a manufacturing environment but I do wear it wherever I go!!!!
