Bismillah!
So we've made it to step 7. This step is the step where I went from skirts and maxi dresses to abaya.
This was a personal choice for me, but one that I definitely advocate.
One piece outerwear is really convenient and cuts down on layers (which keeps you a lot cooler once it starts warming up).
Also it is MUCH MUCH easier to find modest cuts when you are looking at abayas/jilbabs.
However, if you want to still buy clothes from a regular store, you can occasionally find long sleeve maxi dresses. Just buy them up a few sizes so that they are loose enough to conceal your stuff.
Another benefit is the ease of getting dressed every morning. You spend less time on vanity (making your outfit look nice so other people will notice/comment on your cuteness). I'm not saying that you should look frumpy or anything. You should still wear nice clean clothes in good repair that match. However, you shouldn't be spending an hour or two every morning picking shoes then matching your shoes to your top and your jacket and your skirt and your hijab and your hijab pins and and and...
This is a waste of your time, and ultimately a means of vanity; a way of getting attention. It is counter productive if we cover up our adornment with MORE ADORNMENT!
8 comments:
I personally don't wear abaya myself, but of course I respect your decision to. That gray one you posted is fantastic.
I do a lot of tom-boyish things myself (play at the park with my son, ride my bike around, etc.) and feel that I'd be severely limited were I to switch completely to skirts and abayas/jilbabs. I wear maxi skirts to work almost daily, and I wear abaya on occasion, and it truly is dangerous for me to walk up the apartment stairs carrying my son! He makes it so I can't see my feet, and the abaya or maxi's are obviously full length, so I trip all the way up the stairs. Am I missing some trick to maneuvering in this type of clothing? It really is so embarrassing. I'll wear my Saudi abaya that snaps all the way down the front, and by the time I've reached the top of the stairs, over half of the snaps have come undone from stepping on it so much! HELP!?
Salam Nikki,
well, you can always get the kind that don't have snaps. You can also have a tailor close the ones that do have snaps. Also a big thing is to get them the right length. If they are tailored to be the right length then you wont have that extra material to step on :-P
also, I found that it helps to turn my toes a little bit inward (think pigeon toed) when I'm walking upstairs and wearing an abaya that is too long. that way my toes don't catch the material.
Salam,
I'm hoping to start wearing abayas/jilbabs full time sometime soon. I have the same problem as NeverEver when I am going up stairs -- usually I'm not carrying much, though, and I can just hold the hem up a little so I don't step on it.
Another thing I was pondering to help with this, as well as bad weather conditions, is having an abaya hemmed so that it is more like ankle-length -- then it will be very long and covering still, but less trip-inducing! :p I also thought it might help prevent too much damage from snow/rain/mud/etc.
And one last thing! :) I totally agree with what you said:
"It is counter productive if we cover up our adornment with MORE ADORNMENT!"
I feel like there is a lot of pressure, especially for new hijabis, to be very fashionable while trying to adhere to hijab requirements. I am trying to simplify my outdoor clothing more, and I agree that an nice simple abaya is an easy way to do that! :)
Salam Hannah,
I try to keep my abayaat hemmed up to the tops of my shoes. I also wear socks to keep my ankles from showing. In bad weather I wear rain/snow boots with my abaya. Since they go up to mid-calf, I can hold my abaya up a few inches without showing anything :-)
yes, it is hard for new hijabis. It was hard for me at first, mostly because of availability of modest clothing, but alhamdulillah it got easier :-)
Yes, ankle-length jilbabs are your friends! :) I make sure all of my jilbabs are this length so they don't get in the way (and they haven't yet, Alhamdulillah), and the pants I wear under my jilbabs add extra modesty.
I personally think (and I've heard others say this too) that a jilbab doesn't have to only be one garment. As long as you're wearing an under and outer layer and everything's covered, you're fulfilling the requirements of jilbab. I wear traditional jilbabs, long jumpers with sweaters over them, and long skirts and sweaters/coats (I'm also hoping to get a Malaysian baju kurung soon, Insha'Allah, which is a knee-length tunic and matching skirt set).
Salaams!
I found these how to hijab posts really interesting, I'm a hijabi myself and I wear the abaya as well but I started with long sleeved tops/tunics and pants, to hijab, then skirts and finally abayas. Love these posts. Masha Allah you are doing a great job sister!
Love the series :)
May Allah give us all the hidaya to wear the inner and outer hijab properly. Ameeen :)
JazakALLAH&shukran for beautiful reminders
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