How to write a hijabi character
written by an Arab Muslim hijabi .
- whatever I write here is not enough. You need to research, listen to people talking about their experiences ( you can look on YouTube or tiktok ), ask, reach out.
- promote and support hijabi voices. Aiming to add diversity and representation in your story is good, but you also must remember those youre trying to represent. remember that you’re doing this to support them.
- not all Hijabis are Arab. Not all Arab are hijabis. Not all Muslims are hijabis.
- a hijab is a personal connection between the person and Allah, and it is also a statement. It’s very sensitive and important and, unless you’re a hijabi, I’d advise and emphasize not to discuss this or delve into it.
- fellow hijabis, if you have any additions or notes to add, I’d love if you’d add them here.
- hijabs and scarves come in different types of fabrics, names, the way their tied and worn can differ. you can tell a lot about someone by their hijab. It can represent your personality, culture, country and even age. So if you’re going to specify it, make sure you’re doing it for a reason and understanding what every specification means.
- hijabs are mostly worn with modest clothing. These tend to be not form fitting or see/through. Not very flashy and usually cover everything but the face and the hands ( although some like to wear gloves and niqabs )
- many tend to start officially wearing the hijab after hitting puberty ( or getting their first period ). Some like to wear it a bit later when they feel like it or when they become adults, work, or get married. Some might wear it earlier to fit in with their culture or because they just want to.
- before officially wearing it, we can train for it and slowly get used to it. This includes wearing a scarf around our shoulders and wearing a full hijab in specific times ( in my case, I used to wear it at school )
- if your character is wearing an abaya ( like a black cloak ?) . If they just started wearing a hijab, some would slowly get used to moving into wearing the abaya, might at first just stick to long shirts or dresses and then wear an abaya maybe by highschool senior year or in university. many abaya wearers tend to only wear it in their country, and choose to switch to pants outside or when in amusement parks.
- we don’t wear the hijab all the time, we usually can show our hair to people of the same gender, our father, grandfather, uncles, sons, nephews, and brothers. Brothers include any boy that was breastfeed by the same mom, as they’re considered like brothers.
- there is a famous hollywoood scene, which admittedly does happen but it’s very cliche and many Muslim women expressed their displeasure for it. It’s the taking of the hijab scene whether but force or to impress another character. Which. Come on. You want to imposed hijabis not scare them.
- other names for a hijab is head-cover, scarf, headscarf, shailah, etc…
- types of scarves and their origins
- how to wear a head scarf
- mahram ( the people you can show your hair to, and also not allowed to get married to. )
- hijabi creators and voices
other posts you might want to have a look at :
I very much appreciate that you’re writting a hijabi character because it’s always so good to see them, aand I love that you Read through this so thank you very much.