Raising Muslim Awareness At Miami University

By Tyler Pistor

Miami University journalism student

With the recent ban on travel from seven Muslim majority countries, events such as World Hijab Day can help educate people about Muslim cultures and promote acceptance of Muslims.

Miami University hosted World Hijab Day events earlier this month for the first time ever. Hijab is a head covering that some Muslim women wear. It, and other coverings, are meant to promote modesty, but some women also wear it to make their Islamic faith visible.

The Miami event was sponsored by the Women’s Center and Global Initiatives, who put together a booth at Armstrong Student Center where students could learn about hijab and try it on.

"As a group we are supporting the Muslim women, and to feel that we are part of a community that is supporting diversity," Shatha Alazawi, a Muslim volunteer with the Women's Center, says.

And that support can be important. According to statistics from the ACLU, "69% of women who wore hijab reported at least one incident of discrimination compared to 29% of women who did not wear hijab."

Alazawi says she hopes Miami will put on similar events in the future.

"How people reacted to this event is encouraging us to do more and more."

Making Hijab Accessible

As droves of students pass by the booth, some stop to read a trifold board set up with information on the history and meaning of wearing hijab.

Megan Zimmerer, a French and International Studies major, sits behind the World Hijab Day booth, wearing hijab and greeting students as they stop by to check out what’s happening.

Zimmerer says that the goal of hosting this event for the community is to “make it accessible for people so that they understand the practice.”

Zimmerer adds that she hopes that putting on this event will help build a better understanding of what wearing hijab means, since there are so many misconceptions about the practice. One of the biggest being the idea that Muslim women are forced to wear hijab.

Women's Center administrative assistant Rhonda Jackson, who helped pull World Hijab Day together at Miami, is quick to point out that ways of wearing hijab, and even whether women wear it at all, often boils down to the different cultural traditions in Muslim countries.

What Hijab Means

Amber Taylor, a senior at Miami, tries on hijab, looking in the booth mirror to see how it looks. Taylor lingers around the booth a while longer, wanting to don the hijab for a bit more before everything is packed up.

Zimmerer and Taylor both work with the Women’s Center and both are non-Muslim as well. They attended the event to show support for Muslims and help inform the public about hijab.

Taylor says that wearing hijab is a choice and isn’t forced.

“Modesty is just as freeing as being more revealing with your body,” she says.

The Women's Center's Rhonda Jackson adds that wearing hijab is “just an act of their faith” and that it is “no different than wearing a crucifix.”

World Hijab Day events capped off at Miami with a panel discussion at MacMillan Hall about hijab which featured the stories of Muslim women and information about cultural traditions.

Students stop by to not only learn about hijab--they also have the opportunity to try it on. --Photo by Tyler Pistor