Hijab reveals more than it conceals

As sophomore Sandi Sunnati goes to classes or walks around in public, her only visible facial features are a pair of eyes looking through a narrow opening in a black veil.

Sunnati and other Muslim students at Truman State take part in what is known as hijab, or "a practice observed by some Muslim women of wearing concealing clothing," according to the Oxford English Dictionary. Practicing hijab in a city with multiple Christian churches and no mosques, Sunnati said, can be a way of showing religious devotion and Muslim identity.

She said her dress started reflecting her religious beliefs during her sophomore year of high school when she began wearing a head scarf, also called a hijab, covering her hair, neck and the area around her face. During her junior year, she wore the head covering with an abaya, a dress that covers her neck-to-feet and down to her wrists. During her senior year, she started wearing a veil covering most of her face, called a niqab.

While being Sunni, the branch of Islam to which she belongs, doesn't strictly require her to wear the abaya and the niqab, adding these elements to her wardrobe, year-by-year, has made her feel closer to God, she said.

"There's a verse in the Quran that says that if you do your daily dues, like your prayers, etc., just all of the things you're obliged to do, then you're near to God," she said. "But if you go further and you do extra,  then it's like a constant going nearer to God."

She said she's been consistent in her decision to wear hijab clothing while in Kirksville and that the Truman community has welcomed it, though wearing traditional Muslim garb in a Midwestern, small-town community has its difficult moments.

While Sunnati was walking back to Truman's campus one evening from a friend's house during the 2011 Spring semester, she said someone shouted remarks at her from a car window including, "Go back where you're from," "What's that thing on your head?" and "Osama's daughter." Sunnati said the two friends who were with her that night had to calm her down during the incident.

"I was just so heated," she said.

Sunnati said that despite being upset following the verbal attack, she never reconsidered wearing her hijab coverings. In fact, she said it's made her resolve to display her faith even stronger.

"The thing that night made me realize is that I have to wear [hijab clothing], and I have to wear it with a purpose," she said. "I could have retaliated and acted upon whatever he was saying, but ... the first thing they would say is ‘Muslim.' It wouldn't be just Sandi. ... When I go out with the hijab on, I represent more than just myself. I represent Islam."

Senior Noreen Vohra said she regularly wears a hijab head scarf to cover her hair in public, a practice she started observing in sixth grade when her mother began wearing one. Vohra is a member of the Sunni branch of Islam, which encourages the practice of hijab.

"[Wearing the hijab] made me want to get a little bit more involved and more devoted to our religion, so it was a good thing to start wearing it," she said.

Vohra said she thinks one of the biggest misconceptions non-Muslims have about hijab is the view that it oppresses women. Instead, she said the hijab is a way for Muslim women to have modesty about their appearance and has carried the added benefit, for her, of never having to worry about styling her hair.

Agriculture science professor Abdorrahman Alghamdi lived in Saudi Arabia until 1994 where he said he was accustomed to seeing Muslim women dressed in hijab. He said as someone who has lived in the Middle East and the United States, he understands multiple perspectives about this way of dressing.

"Growing up with people wearing hijab, I understand what it means to them," he said. "Essentially it's just a signal of being modest. ... Some other people look at it from a different perspective. I understand in the United States or in some European countries or people not familiar with that system feel like it's hiding [women's] identity."