4 Ways To Show Support for the Struggling Muslim Woman

Hi Assalamualaikum!

Recently I held my first giveaway on Instagram and I enjoyed so much reading all your comments. One of the steps for more chances at winning was for you ladies to comment with a sentence beginning with “Muslim women…” And I mentioned it could be as simple as Muslim women are intelligent. (Because aren’t we?)

Some of the comments really stood out to me and I was so happy reading them because I could feel you really spoke from your heart!

One of the commenters wrote, “Muslim women don’t judge other fellow Muslims. Husnuzon and may Allah swt grant us all Istiqomah. Amin.” Such a lovely thing to say. Perhaps she faced some real hardships and to make it worse, the ones who were supposed to give great pieces of advice, turned out to be the exact opposite. Who knows? But I’m sure some of us can relate.

Another one said, “Muslim women are clothed in Strength and Dignity.” How absolutely true is that?

However, there was one comment I’d like to focus on which is, “Muslim women deserve to feel safe in their own ways and skin.” I cannot stress how important this is for all of us. Wherever we’re at in practicing our religion, hijabi or not, we need to feel not just comfortable but also SAFE in our own ways and skin. If we don’t feel safe, who can we turn to? If we can’t turn to our fellow sisters (and brothers) about our struggles with whatever then who, really, can we turn to?

1. Don't force religion unto anyone.

As with most, I struggled with the hijab. The choice was never mine. It was my parents’. Their strict ways made me dig deep about the religion, not to glorify it (I was young and stupid) but to question my parents’ ways. Nouman Ali Khan once said, “Do not force the religion on your family. Show them the beauty of the Religion through your own practice.” My parents, however, did the exact opposite. Don’t get me wrong, I never had an issue wearing it per se, but I think my personality is such that I needed to make that decision on my own. And having someone else make it for me, made me rebel even more.

2. Malas attitude is a cue for you to "digress".

They lectured and lectured, and soon enough, I started to develop the "listening-for-the-sake-of-listening" attitude.

So when someone gives you their malas body language, that's your cue to end the discussion. The priority here is to remain cordial. You can always come back to it when they're ready and calmer.

3. When someone says they're not ready, accept with open arms and make Dua for them.

I knew at the time if I were to tell my parents that this piece of scarf will be off my head, they’d be extremely angry disappointed. But who can I turn to, if not them right? I’m older now and I wouldn’t change a thing about what happened. But I will say this, InshaAllah each and every one of you who’s reading this will be surrounded with supportive people, women; Muslim women. Because we need to feel safe when we tell you, “I’m not ready to wear the hijab” or “I want to wear hijab but I wanna show my forearms and ankles.” (And there are so many other issues we face, not just hijab.)

And that’s why at elmodesta, we don’t define what modesty is. We don’t empower women by saying modesty is so and so. At elmodesta, we empower YOU as a person. For you to be and feel at your absolute best! Whether you’re a non-hijabi, we empower you. Whether you’re a hijabi but struggling to perform your 5 daily prayers, we empower you. Allah swt gives us different tests and with that, we battle differently.

4. Love & Support are very important.

More than anything, we need support. We need love. We need other Muslim women cheering us on for as long as our intention or niat is to be better, InshaAllah.

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Also, did you know Ramadhan is just around the corner? Yikes! But with that, I’d like to announce that I will be coming up with my next FREE downloadable InshaAllah. I asked on my Instastory and everyone literally, was keen to get a Ramadhan checklist or journal of some sort. InshaAllah I can come up with something really interesting!

While waiting for that, it’s still not too late for you to download my FREE 2021 calendar if you haven't already. I made it especially for Muslim women. It has lots of links and information relevant to us women. I am confident you will enjoy it like so many other women just like YOU InshaAllah! Click here to download your own FREE copy.

Till next time,

Sarah