Hijab is an obligation in Islam, says Zaira Wasim

SRINAGAR — ‘Dangal’ famed former film actress Zaira Wasim while reacting over ‘Hijab’ row said that ‘Hijab’ is not a choice but an obligation in Islam.

Zaira Wasim took to social media and wrote that as a hijab-wearing woman, she resents this “entire system where women are being stopped and harassed for merely carrying out a religious commitment.”

“The inherited notion of hijab being a choice is an ill-informed one,” Zaira wrote on Facebook and posted the same on Twitter.

“It’s often either a construct of convenience or ignorance. Hijab isn’t a choice but an obligation in Islam. Likewise, a woman who wears the hijab is fulfilling an obligation enjoined upon her by the God she loves and has submitted herself to. I, as a woman who wears the hijab, with gratitude and humility, resent and resist this entire system where women are being stopped and harassed for merely carrying out a religious commitment.”

She added, “Stacking this bias against Muslim women and setting up systems where they should have to decide between education and hijab or to give up either is an absolute injustice. You’re attempting to compel them to make a very specific choice that feeds your agenda and then criticizing them while they’re imprisoned in what you’ve constructed. There is no other option to encourage them to choose differently. What is this if not a bias with people who confirm it acting in support of it?”

“On top of all this, building a facade that all this is being done in the name of empowerment is even worse when it is quite exactly the opposite of that. Sad,” she expressed.