In countries where the majority of the population is Muslim, you’d expect being veiled is not that difficult. You’d expect people to be more understanding and accepting, but they really aren’t. It has become a constant struggle to wear the hijab, Most people pressure you to take it off, you can possibly get turned down jobs simple because you have it on, even worse, you can sometimes be stopped entering specific restaurants. I’m not even talking about what happens in Western countries, this all happens here, in Arab countries.
One person refused to stay shut and decided to do something about it, that one person was Manal Rostom. You might recognize her name from news headlines, and that’s probably because she was the first Egyptian woman to complete the Great Wall Marathon in China, among other amazing accomplishments. On this very day two years ago, Rostom created the Facebook group, Surviving Hijab, as she was going through a really hard time with her hijab and decided to create a place that welcomes other hijabis who feel the same way so none of them ever feel alone. “All my closest friends and family members were taking off their veils, and they started to say that I was next. It killed me every time I heard that, and that’s exactly why I called it Surviving Hijab. The group was created to help other hijabis hold on to their hijab,” Rostom tells me.
The private group started with 80 members, all of which were Rostom’s friends who wore the veil. Today, the group almost has 220,000 members from all around the world. It became a safe haven for hijabi girls everywhere. As a member of the group, it made me feel like I belong somewhere.
“Anywhere you go, you’ll face haters. As the admin of the group, I try to make it as hate-free as possible. I remove any member that posts a negative comments or tries to force their ideas down other people with the ‘that’s not hijab,’ or ‘that’s too tight,’ and so on. One of the reasons this group was made is to send a message to young girls, and we can’t be their role models if we’re full of hate. Girls need to know that any step towards Allah is a step nonetheless,” Rostom stresses.
WE SAID THIS: Happy second anniversary, Surviving Hijab. Make sure to check their hashtags #SurvivingHijab and #HoldingOnToHeaven for inspiring stories.