Ever since the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran 35 years ago in 1979, when Iranian women recovered their Islamic identity, a great number of books and articles have been published on Hijab or the Islamic veil for safeguarding the freedom and liberties of Muslim women. Recently, Mrs.
Randa Abdul-Fattah has dwelt on this lively topic in a very interesting manner in her novel "Does My Head Look Big in This?" The book which has been translated into Persian and published in Iran is the story of a teenaged girl living in the West, who consciously wants to preserve her hijab in the face of problems. The author of the book was born in Australia in a Muslim family of Palestinian-Egyptian origin. A lawyer by profession, she lives in Sydney with her husband and two children, and published her book on the hijab in 2005. It was her first book. She consequently wrote several other books, such as "Ten Things I hate about Me" that was published in 2006, "Where the Streets Had a Name", which appeared in 2008, "Noah's Law" in 2010 and "The Friendship Matchmaker" in 2012. In the book "Does My Head Look Big in This?" the author in simple but attractive language focuses on the life of a 16-year old Muslim girl in Australia who decides to wear hijab as part of her religious obligations. The narrator of the story is a Palestinian girl named Amal who was born in Australia in an educated Muslim family. She is exuberant, smart and full of enthusiastic ideas. The story begins with Amal watching a film on TV in which the heroine is wearing ugly clothes for a wedding. Amal says: All and everybody else are making comments and nasty remarks about her, making her feel embarrassed, to the extent that she wants to run away or hide herself. But suddenly she leaps on the stage and starts singing. What appealed to me was her courage in taking such a bold decision, despite her weird appearance. It made me proud of my own decision to wear the hijab, as the right thing to do so, despite facing hurdles
Amal speaks of her problems in wearing the hijab and says in the novel: “At Hidayat School, hijab was part of our uniform. I did not like wearing it. My head was scratching and I hated wearing it in the exercise class. I thought my head looks fearful. In the first two weeks I deliberately let locks of hair pop out of the headscarf on my forehead so that everyone knows I have beautiful hair. I was anxious, but after a while when I got familiar with the other children, I thought it was stupid. Gradually I got used to it on seeing the girls who wore the veil fulltime, even outside the school. I admired their bravery. I was a little bit jealous as well, since they proudly got on the train with their hijab, while I used to take it off immediately after school. It was obvious that they were in peace with their identity and whoever knew them respected them.”
The mother and father of Amal were exemplary parents who showed the right path to their children and stood by them in their decision-making, without forcing them to do anything. Her mother was an affable woman with hijab and a good guide for her. Her father was also the same. They were loving persons who were not strict in forcing their daughter, but tried to impress her through their own good behaviour.
Amal says: “my father used to wake me up for the Morning Prayer. I never had a good feeling when I woke up at dawn and sometimes I did not like to get up, but often I did, and performed the prayer. My father soon became the congregational prayer leader. One day, while performing the Morning Prayer beside my parents I got a powerful feeling and had the good sense that no one can harm me.”
Finally by accepting hijab, Amal became successful at school and through her good behaviour as a Muslim girl, she became popular with her friends. She says: “I am scared but at the same time I feel that my belief in Islam is blossoming within me and I want to prove to myself that I am strong enough to wear one of the symbols of my faith. I believe that this will make me feel very close to God since it is very hard to live among people who stare at your headscarf and have no positive attitude toward you. However, I now feel that I have become immune to those who try to judge me on the basis of my clothes. I felt that I got rid of the false sense of beauty that had taken shape in my mind. Before, I was scared to walk around shops with the headscarf, but now I feel I have the strength and conviction to do so.”
The author displays a good sense of humour in this lively book which attracts the readers and makes them eager to continue to read it till the end. One can say that Mrs. Abdul-Fattah has well focused on all stages of a teenager, such as fearful of the judgments of others, the sense of sweet teen friendship, and getting bored by hearing constant advices. The story of hijab is based in a society where Islam is portrayed as religion of violence and Muslims as terrorists. In such an atmosphere the main character of the story is fighting with own self and with the world outside in trying to tackle in the best possible way the issues which she faces in society, by accepting the most evident symbol of religion for women, namely the hijab.
It can be said that most of characters of the novel represent the core strata of the migrant Muslim community in a secular Western environment. Amal's mother is a highly educated Palestinian Muslim lady who tries to instill in her daughter certain spiritual values like respect for neighbours and school teachers, as well as not speaking in raised voice with the elders. But when mention is made of Amal's hijab, she adopts an attitude of unconscious fear, since she is aware of the negative attitude towards hijab-clad women in Australia. Amal is the symbol of a girl who likes to accept truth, and defends it. She strives to show to others the rightfulness of her belief, but still has not developed a firm and stable identity. For instance, she well knows that Islam opposes undue contact with men who are not immediate family members, but she does not want to look what she feels, backward. Speaking of super stars, TV shows, presenters and teen models, she displays the norms of western culture and its excessive emphasis on fashion and appearance. Somewhere in the book, Amal admits that she has spent 55 minutes of her time preparing her clothes.
One of the important characteristics of the book, apart from its attractive style of writing, is to show that the issue of hijab is first and foremost an ideological issue with wide ranging cultural and social aspects. The author also intends to show that in the West, the wearing of hijab is not without tis complications. Mrs. Abdul-Fattah delicately dwells on the personal relationship of the teenaged girl with God and this factor enables her to resist all pressures and hardships while wearing the hijab.
In conclusion, the story comes to the point that Amal has realized the value and message of her hijab. She does not fear the looks or words of others anymore. She does not have the hesitant feeling that she had at the beginning of the story. She has now strengthened her conviction and stabilized her identity. The lively way in which the book "Does My Head Look Big in This" has been written and its main theme, namely Hijab, has made it the bestseller.
source : irib
