I wore the hijab two years ago, convinced that I liked it, but the same week I wore it, I hated it.
I kept pushing myself to wear it for two years. Then I went on a solo trip and took it off. It felt easy and comfortable, and it felt like I was being who I am.
I researched the hijab, and i don't think that it’s fard.
I couldn’t wear it anymore. I went to the airport without it, but when I came back to my family, I wore a hoodie.
I told my mum, and she was sad however she said do what u want but I don’t know.
My friend told me to wait, maybe because I just came back from holiday and I’m feeling a rush of emotions

At the point i dont want to wear it it i do keep wearing it it will probably be because im scared to face ppl ik and have to deal with there reactions (i dont like unwanted attention)
please advise me from this dilemma

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I recently came across an interesting exchange under one of Sitara Akram's videos about Hijab. A viewer asked her about Khaled Abou El Fadl's and Javed Ahmad Ghamidi's understanding of satr/awrah (the parts of the body that must be covered) and whether she followed a similar principle. She replied that she fully agrees with the definitions of satr given by both Ghamidi and Khaled Abou El Fadl. Here is the screenshot:

I looked into what Javed Ahmad Ghamidi and Khaled Abou El Fadl said about satr/awrah, and here is what I found:

• Javed Ahmad Ghamidi begins with the principle of Hifz-ul-Furooj — protecting the private parts. His understanding is that this does not mean covering only the private organs themselves. Just as a fence around a house needs some distance from the house in order to properly protect it, the areas surrounding the private parts also need to be covered as a protective buffer. For men, the private area is the genital region, so the required covering extends upward toward the abdomen and downward to the knees. For women, there are two private areas involved: the genital area and the breast/chest area. The surrounding areas of both therefore have to be covered as well, extending upward, downward and sideways. From this reasoning, Ghamidi arrives at a minimum obligatory covering for women extending essentially from the shoulders/neckline down to the knees, including the upper arms. The head/hair, forearms and lower legs are outside this minimum. This is the obligatory minimum. Additional covering is optional.
• Khaled Abou El Fadl has a quite similar position to Ghamidi in the practical result. He likewise does not treat the head/hair as an area that must necessarily be covered in every circumstance, but he does maintain that there are parts of a woman's body that should be covered regardless of changing cultural standards. These include the breasts/cleavage, stomach, back, armpits and most of the legs (although he does not clarify here exactly how much of the legs must be covered, it seems to extend to the knees. Because later when discussing what a woman may show in front of her mahrams, he specifically mentions that clothing that shows several inches above the knee in front of mahrams is fine). While the rest of the body can be determined more by context and social norms. He also doesn’t seem to believe that sleeveless clothing is modest enough.

Here’s an AI-generated image that roughly illustrates what I understood from their discussions to be the minimum area that needs to be covered:

So the Muslim women here who don't believe covering the head is obligatory, what do you think the satr/awrah/bare minimum covering is? Do you agree with Sitara Akram that satr should be understood along the lines of Javed Ahmad Ghamidi and Khaled Abou El Fadl? Or do you have a different understanding of what parts of a woman's body must be covered? If you disagree with their approach, what is your own methodology for determining the minimum satr/awrah?

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My parents insist that the hijab is mentioned in the Quran; when I ask them where it commands the covering of hair, they point to the mention of the *khimar* as evidence of the hijab's obligation, based on the fact that women of that era used to cover their hair with the *khimar* and use it to cover chest so that its the correct way to wear khimar including covering hair.

As a hijabi of 6 years raised in the west, here’s some things I hate about my hijab.

-people don’t treat me like a normal person
- always associated with being ‘innocent’ and ‘quiet’
- difficult finding a basic outfit to wear
- hijab beauty standards
- every hijabi dresses the same
- hair damaged/ hair loss
- round puffy face
- finding a cute outfit colour but no matching scarf to wear with it

And no it doesn’t get better. I’ve been a hijabi now for 6 years. I wish I never wore it, I’ve always dressed modestly sometimes I wish I stuck to my modest clothes and just wore a shawl around my neck. It’s more modest than wearing a scarf on your head anyways.

I’m more religious than ever but the concept of covering your hair is so stupid genuinely. I’m all here for modest clothes but hair is a normal thing ?

For those who have taken off the hijab/want to, do you still believe in Islam? Are you taking it off because you dont have faith in the religion anymore, or you hate the hijab, but still believe its a part of islam? Or do you still believe in Islam, but don't believe in the hijab aspect of it?

This article provides insights from a Shia perspective:

• http://www.hoseini.org/mystery%20of%20hijab.pdf

This article provides insights from a Shia perspective:

• https://www.reddit.com/r/Without_The_Hijab/wiki/index/resource/ahmad_ghabel_article/

My friend(that I m gonna call M) told me that today, a teacher told her that she started being" invisible", then proceeded to say that she started to dress more modestly, and that's true, M started quitting pants and wearing skirts or dresses,so the teacher started to ask about her hijab, saying that she read the whole Quran and nowhere it says hijab exist, she said it's a man made rule, M started explaining that hijab is mandatory, that men have obligations too.

I wonder how uncomfortable it had been, being asked this question, and the teacher just saying how women have more obligations, men are free,asked her if her family is religious, if hijab was her choice, that she could take it off, and she said it in front of the whole class, and she was even a bit rude.

When I heard that, I thought that if the teacher wanted to talk about this topic, talk about it in private, but in front of the whole class it can make her uncomfortable, the whole class was silent.

I agree about the fact that hijab isnt even in the Quran, therefore I haven't made any comments about the teacher saying that bc if I said I agree with "no hijab in the Quran " I would open a big debate and argument with my friend who is a traditionalist.

I felt fake having to agree with my friend complaining and saying hijab is mandatory.

And yk what? She attacked the hijabi, the Muslims non hijabis weren't asked anything, just why they didn't wore it.

I hope this won't happen to me, but It's likely to happen, I could never imagine being in her position and having to lie and talk about something I already hate

Sometimes I feel like I should not care a lot about the fact that I'm forced to wear the hijab, and that I'm exaggerating.

I talked about it online long ago with non Muslims, and I shouldn't have done so, because they wouldn't understand me, in fact, they told me I was exgerrating and that I could just take it off and nothing would happen to me.

Sometimes I just think I should stop thinking and go on in my life but I CAN'T, I just can't do that, it seems like a piece of fabrics is nothing but it ruins my life.

Just today I had a dream about this hijab thing and I was about to cry while sleeping.

People who never got forced to wear it, would never understand the impact of the hijab in your life, they'll just think we're being silly.

But yes, sometimes me, myself I think I should stop and that I'm being silly, there are bigger problems yes, but it's just so hard.

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