I am a Muslim...get that? MUSLIM

I have just about as much as I can take.

I've spoken before of the serious issues muslim women have, but this takes the cake. Nay, scratch that the whole effen bakery.

No one...I repeat...NO ONE has the right to tell ANY women be it Muslim  Christian  Jewish  Hindu or even atheist for that matter, how she can and can't dress. Do you know why? Because besides being a "gender" we are human. And we have the divine human right to dress and express our beliefs as we see fit.

I am an avid supporter of women who wear both Niqaab and Hijaab (face and head coverings). And I will be, until my dying day. Because contrary to the popular fable that gets told at bed time, women are not "powerless" to the obligations set upon them. MOST of them choose to wear those clothes. And whether or not it is deemed as "obligatory", "mandatory" or "preferred"...it is their choice! And because they are human, that choice should be respected. Just as the women who choose to wear red stilletoes as oppose to black ones are.

But this whole "Hijaabie", "Niqaabie" thing is getting out of hand. This classification of women, creating sub-groups within the larger society, BASED on what they WEAR...is insane.

It defiles the very basic nature of Islam which was to bring people together. Never mind their gender, culture, class or social standing. Criminal or soldier, King or pauper, they were all banded together by believing in the One Lord and the final and seal of all Prophets (SAW).

And you might say, yeah well Islam is already divided by different schools of thought. What you don't understand, is that we live in world where unity needs to be spread not animosity. I sit in groups of muslim women who do not wear Hijaab, and do you know what they say? Not, 'I want to wear Hijaab, I saw so and so women and she looked so nice'. No, I hear stories of arrogance, and rudeness of so called "Hijaabies" which leads to the very nature of modesty to be questioned.

All of it gets really complicated, when in reality it shouldn't be.

If you are wearing Hijaab or Niqaab, that is your choice. Your divine right as a Muslim woman to make that choice. Why do you care what other people think? By banding together and creating a community that accepts each other, you have also created a community that also rejects everyone that does not look like you. There was another name for a movement like that...what was it again??? oh yeah, racism.   Ask yourself, is that the "Muslim" thing to do?

By using these terms, you create this 'sect' and then posting proudly on facebook and twitter etc, that you heart Hijaab or that you are a "Niqaabie" you create that illusion that there is a difference between you and those who don't (and that you are better because you 'follow the law'). When in reality, we are all MUSLIM.  whether we follow the law's or not.

This classification has even further eroded Muslim female relationships. You might have the right choose how to dress, you don't have the right affect the identity of all Muslim women. Just like how you would want to be respected for your choices, so should you respect others for their's.

Let us all respect each others right to choose and not question it. We all have our own road to walk and don't need extra baggage that made up classifications bring.