Original entry on May 20, 2014
Last Thursday, after my parents read
my 6th entry, my dad called me, very worried, to discuss alternative ways in
which I could have handled the situation. I stepped outside of the coffee shop
because, like a true Arab, I needed plenty of space to pace back and forth and
throw around hand gestures as I calmly spoke to my dad over the phone.
While on the phone, I noticed this
elderly women walking towards me. I kept trying to step aside thinking she
needed to get into the shop behind me. Instead, she kept positioning herself in
front of me. I instinctively expected the worst. From experience, I waited,
thinking she was going to make some "not-so-nice" remark to me.
Seeing me pause my end of the conversation, she waved her hand, motioning to
what I was wearing.
Her: You look beautiful! That's very
beautiful! You look lovely!
Me: Oh, thank you! You're so kind!
Her: The dress is beautiful!
Me: Thank you. You're so sweet.
Her: Where did you get it from?
Me: Oh, umm, JC Penny's.
Her: You bought this dress here??
Me: Yes.
Her: Here? In America?!
Me: Yes, in San Diego.
Her: Wow! I didn't know you could buy
dresses like that here!
Me: Actually, all my dresses are from
here.
Her: I thought it was from overseas.
Me: Nope.
Her: Well, it's beautiful. You look
very beautiful.
Me: Thank you, ma'am. Have a wonderful
day!
My dad had gone silent on the other
side of the line.
"Sorry, this little old lady just
walked up to me to compliment my dress."
My dad chuckled, "SubhanaAllah,
there are wonderful people in this world. There are majaneen (crazy people),
too. But, there are more kind people."
"Yes, AlhamduliAllah."
She was very sweet, but I still laugh
at the thought that she thought it was near impossible to find my dress in the
United States. I always get compliments on this specific maxi dress. It's my
favorite. (Hint: It's the dress I'm wearing in my writer page profile picture.)
To be honest, I don't think I could easily find a dress like this overseas.
When I visited Palestine in 2012, all my family overseas were shocked that my
entire wardrobe was all bought in the US. From long, flowing dresses to my
long, loose shirts and not skinny jeans. All the malls I stepped into while
overseas held tight clothing; I couldn't find a single item I would want to
buy. The only items I came back with for myself and loved ones were the only
non-tight abayas I could find and traditional Palestinian thobes.
What this lovely woman said made me
think about one of the ways that I am stereotyped as a hijabi. Despite my
personal view that the dress I was wearing screamed Western modern attire, she
had just assumed that I must have bought it from overseas because I am a Muslim
hijabi.
Stereotype or not, my heart swells
with happiness when someone makes the decision to come up to speak to me about
my hijab or way of dress, whether it may be compliment or ask questions. It
just comes to show that not only is this world still filled with kind people
willing to take action to learn something new, but that dressing
"differently" holds its own kind of beauty. As long as I confidently
dress the way I do for the sake of Allah swt, AlhamduliAllah.
