Hijaab
	In the dictionary, ‘hijaab’ means ‘screen’, ‘covering’ or ‘curtain’ [from an Arabic dictionary], however it is clearer to mean ‘covering’. Many Muslim women interpret it to mean that they are expected to cover their hair, while they are still wearing tight jeans and tops that make their so-called ‘curves’ look ten-times bigger. Well, I’m sorry, but that does not define a hijaab. The hijaab for women is the full covering of the body from except for the face and the hands (up to the wrist…yes, it does mean that ¾ length tops are excluded). The criteria for the women’s hijaab (and I say women’s because there is also a hijaab for men, but with different requirements of what need to be covered) is that the clothes should be loose (revealing NO ‘curves’), it should be thick (that means no transparent or tansluscent clothes at all), the clothes should not be eye-catching (so no flamboyant colours like luminous pink etc), the clothes should not resemble that of the opposite sex (I guess that you have figured out the ‘no-trousers’ rule) and the clothes should not resemble that of the unbelievers (i.e. from other religions).     Now that we have established the body covering, we can concentrate on the attitude. The hijaab is not only external, it is also internal – an attitude. It would seem stupid for a woman to call herself a Muslimah, dress like a Muslimah, but then behave barbarically –she has the wrong attitude. We, as Muslims should be humble and modest in all that we do, so the hijaab also refers to the hijaab of the eyes (i.e. abstaining from committing adultery with our eyes), hijab of the heart (having love for all people, keeping it clean and pure – there is a saying by Prophet Muhammad that states that when the heart is diseased, the rest of our body becomes diseased, once our heart is pure, so is the rest of ourbody), hijaab of thought and intentions (having the right intentions and not slandering our fellow brother or sister with our mind). This means that we have to watch the way we walk, talk, behave, think etc.     Allaah says in the Qur’aan: “O Prophet! Tell your wives and daughters and the believing women that they should cast their outer garments over their bodies; that is most convenient, that they should be known as such (being modest) and not molested. And Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.”    What is better than the words of our Creator?    This is a question that I would like you to all think about:    If you went to a market and wanted to buy a packet of crisps, and then you saw two packets (one open packet and one closed) which one would you take? The one that is open to all kinds of filth and dirt? Or the one that is closed, ready for the buyer to enjoy freshly?    This is how we are: if we are open, we are not wanted or respected by the respectable men and if we are closed the respectable men want us. A teacher once told me that the way we dress and act will determine the kind of people we attract (if you are conceit, you attract people like that, if you are modest, you attract people that are modest).    It's now a question of who you'd like to attract and how you'd like to be treated. Of course there are the ignorant, closed-minded people out there who think women are crazy to be covered from head to toe in the heat, but if only they could come to realise how protected we are from the eyes of prying men and how we are less likely to be subjected to sexual harrasement. Afterall, don't you want people to respect you with your mind than for your body? As a matter of fact, they are not repecting your body, they are simply gawping at it with lust.    Don't we all want to feel as precious as a pearl? Well we can - pearls are covered up, right? They are protected by the oyester. So when we cover up, we can be just as protected as a pearl; this way, people will have to dig deep to admire us [just like we have to travel far into the depth of the ocean to get the pearl].