Ali Dawah - November 26, 2020VOGUE HIJABI MODEL LEAVES INDUSTRY
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
188.12653
Summary
Sister Halima Aydan, a Somali Muslim woman, shares her story of how she made a mistake in her hijab and how she learned from it. May Allah bless her and all those who make mistakes in their faith.
Transcript
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She didn't need to be a Muslim woman to remind me to get it together.
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Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh brothers and sisters and dear friends.
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But, very important topic to be discussed today.
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Sister Halima Aydan, a Somali sister, who, like many young people, be it men or women, male or female,
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who go on a journey where they sometimes make mistakes and they learn from those mistakes.
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And the best of sinners are those who repent, brothers and sisters.
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So we're going to go through her Instagram story which was sent to me.
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And we just want to react to it and learn some lessons.
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Because recently I've been reading a book called Beauty Sick.
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And it correlates beautifully with the sister's decision.
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I didn't really know much about her, but let's get straight into it inshallah.
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My mum asked me to quit modelling a long time ago.
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Sis was literally the only person who had the purest intentions for me.
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So may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala bless her mother and all the mothers.
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Because they go through so many sacrifices for us.
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Half of the nation are female and they give birth to the other half.
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Another theme I'm noticing is that my faith was the strongest around my family.
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But all these people who do fancy dresses and dress up as nuns.
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Genuinely the last time I was truly happy and content with my hijab journey.
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Okay, so she's genuinely coming from the bottom of her heart.
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Okay, this picture is of a young person that looks up to her.
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And she's posting that as something that she looks up to.
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Sister Halima is talking about this young sister here.
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One thing that we admire and we don't see much of,
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And this is something that should be admired and looked up to.
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So this one is, as you guys can see on the screen.
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As we ever needed these brands to represent hijabis.
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When at the time I had only ever worn skirts and long dresses.
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Also, very common struggle when you are the first to do something.
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Like, what was that hideous green grass thing on my head?
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If I had the money, I would buy it for all of you guys.
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But she says there was 200,000 girls interviewed.
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And she was saying that 90% of them were not happy with one part or another of their body.
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And this is the reason why so many women come to Islam.
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Why is it that Islam is represented as the barbaric religion that beats the wife and kills her and all that kind of madness?
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But most of the women that come to Islam, most of the people that come to Islam are females from the Western nations.
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Because the enslavement that they are in, the invisible shackles that they have to carry day in, day out.
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The society has made you feel more ugly and ugly.
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And you need to look a certain way and dress up certain like this and look like that and do your hair.
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But the thing is, brothers and sisters and sisters who are watching this.
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You would only find, we're all enslaved to something.
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You only find true freedom when you enslave yourself to the one that has created you.
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That's the reason why when you wear the jilbab, you're not objectified or sexualized.
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This is even though some feminists will disagree with it.
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Because when a man is talking to you, he's talking to you.
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Brothers and sisters, the hijab is there to uplift women.
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Now this doesn't mean that Allah has legislated that.
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Allah didn't say, women cover up because men can't lower their gaze.
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Men have to lower their gaze regardless of how you dress.
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The point is that it's there to uplift and honor you.
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So I took what you all said to heart and probably misinterpreted it as well.
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I remember wanting to be the hot hijabi as if that didn't just defeat the whole purpose.
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Looking back now, I did what I said I would never do.
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Which is compromise who I am in order to fit in.
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If I continued down this path, I would have definitely lost my hijab completely.
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And in this picture, it says, I don't know if it says, eww, child, the confusion was real on this day.
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I fought my entire team, I fought my entire team to wear this look.
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And even Denise was like, this isn't the real you.
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That's how rebellious I was feeling at the time.
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The pressure was getting unbearable and I'm sad to say I went through a period of representing the hijab.
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She said she had to delete this off my page because honestly this wasn't representation, this was mockery.
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And I am so sorry I was too young and naive to see it back then.
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But at the time I justified it because look, it's Vogue Arabia.
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But wrong is wrong no matter how hard you try to convince yourself.
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How many people that we have today who use the hijab, you know, and justify it, you know, to sales or reach fame or whatever, etc.
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And this is the saying, you know what, this is not the hijab we know.
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And here, also never again taking a job that will require me to change my scarf style just to show off a necklace.
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I can wear rings and bracelets but what do I need a necklace for?
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And this one it says, I really thought, damn, I did that.
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Not even realising how much I was hurting the little hijabi I used to be by now showing the world.
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A new standard for hijab that could be comfortable with.
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That caption should have read, boo boo the clown.
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Look how hard she's criticising her own self because she understands the damage, brothers and sisters.
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And sometimes when we're given these opportunities as sisters or brothers, whatever it may be,
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when a big brand comes, Armani came to me and says, yeah, you have to do this but you just need to cut your beard.
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I don't care if you're Armani, flipping Gucci, Parada.
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When your iman comes first, you do not look up because you don't feel inferior.
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Oh my gosh, you've got gin inside you, you need rakiya, what are you bugging out for?
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Do not, brothers and sisters, because what happens is Allah will humiliate you with that very thing that you put before him.
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Denise that she was talking about is that girl in the back.
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Because Denise has been with me since day one of my career.
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And looking back, sis really had my back always.
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She tried to talk to me out of so many looks, but I was too busy trying to look cute and feel accepted.
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And she didn't need to be a Muslim woman to remind me to get it together.
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She didn't need to be a Muslim woman to remind me to get it together.
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How many times do you see non-Muslims looking at hijabis in haram relationships or whatever it may be or doing things and they're thinking, you're not supposed to do that.
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Now, I started off so strong, but no worries, I'm coming back.
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And she says, yeah, Halima, what was your reasoning?
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But honestly, I'm glad that I went through all the confusion.
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Because now I can warn you guys about where I went and where I made the wrong turns.
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And here she's talking about this is where I went right.
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Getting to meet other fellow hijabis doing remarkable things and breaking stereotypes.
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You know, just because, you know, you don't need to fit into this culture, this society.
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I don't understand why people feel like it's all about beauty.
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If you read the book, The Beauty Sick, you will see that she says that a woman only known for beauty,
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As a woman, the only thing you're known is about your beauty.
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Oh, you're taking good care of your hair, skin, this or that.
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If we gave, if our sisters, if our sisters gave 10% of the effort they give on their skin,
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their eyebrows, their hair, their lens that go in their eye, the Botox, the gym to look this,
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which colour hijab, this clothing, that, wallahi, the effort that they go through.
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I was too afraid to ask back then, but not today, Satan.
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Plus, bring back the smiles because you all made us look like half-dead, soulless gremlins.
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And I'm going to finish off with this, brothers and sisters, because I think this was very, very powerful.
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When somebody's whole happiness and motivation, objective in life,
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To think that money is going to bring you happiness.
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And this is a brilliant reply from Sister Halima
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And why did you never remind me once to FaceTime my mum?
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Why did you guys make me feel like I had to abandon my mum?
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and you used it to control me and basically ride my coattail all the way to the bank.
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So thank you for allowing me to wake up finally.
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and how she was in a vulnerable state and was taken advantage of.
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They take advantage of you, give you all these promises,
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We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to bless Sister Halima's mum, Hoyo.
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And we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to keep Sister Halima firm.
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And I ask every single one of you guys, please, sisters, read the book, Beauty Sick.
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Do not try to reach a standard that you're never going to reach.
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Because indeed with the remembrance of your Lord, of Allah, do hearts find peace.
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As in this life with all these materialistic things, Allah is telling us that only with the remembrance of Allah do hearts find peace.
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Same as when we go into Jannah, we're going to seek Allah's face.
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And when Allah shows His self to us the way He feels His majesty, that's going to be the most amazing thing.
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Nothing in Jannah is going to be equivalent to that.
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So just in this dunya, we seek Allah's pleasure.
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Brothers and sisters, Allah is promising that to us in Jannah.
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When you're going to have everything you want, but seeing Allah's face and seeking His face.