We are humans. We may be Muslim, but we are also mothers, sisters, daughters, teachers, journalists, lawyers, doctors, factory hands, sales personnel, divers, drivers, athletes, you name it. But, we are not terrorists. We may have our differences, but in the end we are very similar and have more in common than you may think. The only difference is the way we choose to dress. My hijab is my choice. So, I decide what I will wear, how I will wear it and where I will wear it. My attire does not restrict me, on the contrary it liberates me, allowing me to freely go where I wish and do what I want. My attire does not impose any threat to you or any obligation over you.

~GÖNÜL AYDEMIR

A/N: To all the people who have ever glared at me for wearing a scarf:

My hijab is my business, not yours.

Every woman's journey to the hijab is personal and unique, but a lot of our journeys have similar beginnings. 

I was fortunate to grow up in a family that did not force me to wear my scarf. I began to regularly wear a hijab when I was a 8 attending an Islamic school. At this impressionable age, I looked to my friends and saw that all these girls were wearing scarfs. They looked beautiful. I wanted to look beautiful too. So I ran home to my mom and demanded that she buy me a scarf. I wanted to cover my head, because everyone else was doing it. And since then I have kept it on. I am not going to lie, it gets hard sometimes, it is tempting to take off my scarf, because I know I am attractive with my hair down, as cocky as it may sound. I have classmates who wear it as well but somehow manage to still be attractive, and I am going to be very honest. I would get jealous. I had my days were I would just cry, because it felt like people would like me better if I let my hair down. But you have to push through it.

And then I realized, that is the beauty of the hijab: Because of my modesty and my hijab, my value as a woman is not measured by the size of my waist or the number of men who like me. My worth as a human being is measured on a higher scale; a scale of righteousness and piety. And my purpose in life, despite what magazines say, is something more divine than just looking good for men. The psychology of our religion is Modesty. Your beauty is not your physical beauty -it is your soul. The rest is clay.  

Because of my hijab, I am loved for not my body but my heart. And that to me is everything.