Running Around Naked In The Street

Facebook. The start and end of so many of life's problems.

I was just on Facebook.

The problem begins.


There's girls and guys who are my Facebook friends. People I went to school with, or whatever...aquaintances I guess would be the correct term for them. Alright for a quick 'hello', but not people I would hang out with regularly or maintain contact with should Facebook ever be shut down. I don't think they mind that I don't have deepening feelings of affection for them. It's just an shallow friendship, full of a whole load of nothing.

Many of these people are non-Muslims, and so there are a lot of photographs involving drinking/drunk people usually out a drinking establishment such as a pub or a club. I hate the way the girls are always wearing next to nothing. It's disgusting. (Just for clarification, I don't go flicking through all these pictures of haram, I'm simply commenting on the ones that pop up on my news feed.)

I don't expect a non-Muslim woman to dress the way Islam asks us to. To be completely honest, I don't even expect Muslim women to dress that way either. There's a lot of crazy fatwas in the world they say it's okay not to wear the hijab and whatnot...and I'm not Alimah in these matters...but I disagree. Nevertheless, some choose to follow these, or are scared, or any other reason, and don't wear the hijab. And that's okay.

I diverge from my point.

Why do women feel they have to take off all their clothes? Is there an incessant need to have your entire body on display? To have your breasts bursting out of your top? Do men find this attractive? I find it vulgar. Really vulgar. I don't know if I'm getting old or what, I don't think stuff like this used to bother me before, but recently, it seems that everywhere you turn, some women is half naked. Whether she's walking down the street in front of you, or plastered on a billboard, on a bus, on the television, in a magazine....the list is endless.

Like I said, I don't expect every woman (be they Muslim or non-Muslim) to wear a jilbab and veil and gloves and everything else. That's a personal decision and takes a lot of courage. But, that doesn't mean one HAS to dress like a whore. I'm actually offended by some of the girls that post their pictures up on Facebook. They are intellectual women, clever women, gifted women....these are individuals who are amazing. Yet, they succumb to society's desire to devour them through sight. It's like a visual rape, it really is.

It sends shivers down my spine even thinking about it. I don't understand why you would want a whole bunch of drunk strangers to see your body like that.

I'll be completely honest. When I'm in a hijab-free party (i.e. woman only) and woman walk in wearing clothes that are tight and/or revealing...I feel really uncomfortable. What happened to modesty? It's not just an attribute we turn on when we feel like it. Not a quality that is only applicable when outside the house. It should be present in all our doings, all the time. Modesty in dress is not something that the Prophet (SAW) only used to do in public. He never used to run around covered in gold and silk while in the comfort of his own home...so why do we feel the need to have different personalities and different clothes when we are around only women?

Some of the women that see you in those inappropriate clothes...they maybe seeing you for the first time. They may never see you again. Is that how you would like them to remember you? Wearing tight jeans and top which accentuates your chest? It's like my ultimate nightmare. Does Allah (SWT) not see you? Just because we have less to cover in front of other women, does not mean that we should only cover the bare minimum.

As Muslims, we should be nothing to the bare minimum. I'm not saying that we should wear the hijab 24/7, don't get me wrong. There needs to be more modesty in the world. Modesty in dress and attitude. We're missing this from Western culture...it's all about opening our eyes, and seeing what's really there.