Faith is not measured by fabric

Today I did something that felt both terrifying and freeing at the same time. I changed my profile picture to one where I am no longer wearing the hijab. Not just on one platform — across all of my social media.

And almost instantly, the messages came.

“Sister, why have you removed your hijab?”
“You’ve left the fold of Islam.”
“You’re going to Jahannam.”

All because a piece of cloth came off my head.

But let’s correct something here, because this needs to be said clearly: no human being has the right to declare another person a kafir. No one has the authority to tell somebody that their iman is low, or that they are no longer Muslim, simply because they do not look the way you expect a Muslim woman to look.

Faith is not measured by fabric.

And judgment of others says far more about the state of your own heart than it does about theirs.

My iman is actually stronger now than it has been in a very long time. It became stronger when I stopped performing religion for people and started sincerely seeking Allah for myself. It became stronger through reading the Qur’an deeply. Through questioning. Through researching. Through refusing to blindly follow things that never sat right in my soul. Through rejecting hadith that contradicted the mercy, justice, and wisdom I found in the Qur’an itself.

People throw the word “Quranist” at me like it’s an insult. But I do not see following the word of Allah as something shameful. I am without title.

I am Muslim

I choose sincerity over performance.
Connection over appearances.
Faith over fear.

And yes, there may still be days when I wear hijab. But whether I wear it or not does not define my relationship with Allah. It does not define my understanding of Islam. It does not determine the sincerity of my worship or the depth of my belief.

This also is not a call for other people to remove their hijab. Your choices should come from your own conviction, your own understanding, your own relationship with Allah — not because you saw somebody else make a different choice and followed them without reflection. Faith should never be that fragile.

And whilst my hijab is off right now, that does not mean it is off permanently or constantly. You may still see me wearing hijab some days, and other days you may see my hair. I think the point I am trying to make is that my hijab is not the sole reflection of my faith. It is one part of a deeply personal journey between myself and Allah — and should I choose to embrace it, I want that choice to come freely, sincerely, without fear, without prejudice, and without condemnation from other brothers or sisters.

What I think needs to change most within the Muslim community is this obsession with uniformity. This pressure for everyone to dress the same, think the same, interpret the same, speak the same, live the same.

But Allah did not create us as copies of one another. The Qur’an reminds us that diversity itself is among His signs:

“And among His signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth and the diversity of your languages and your colours. Indeed in that are signs for those of knowledge.” (30:22)

We were created uniquely, intentionally, individually.

So many people are suffocating because Islam has been turned into a box with the lid nailed shut. There is no room to breathe, no room to grow, no room to ask questions, no room to seek knowledge independently.

Yet the Qur’an repeatedly warns against blindly following what our forefathers believed without understanding it for ourselves:

“And when it is said to them, ‘Follow what Allah has revealed,’ they say, ‘Rather, we will follow that upon which we found our fathers.’ Even though their fathers understood nothing, nor were they guided?” (2:170)

Seeking knowledge is an obligation. Thinking is an obligation. Reflection is an obligation.

I cannot be the kind of person who lives only to fit into a mould created by people.

So yes — my hijab came off.
Yes — I may no longer look visibly Muslim to the outside world.

But I am still Muslim.
If anything, I feel closer to Allah now than I ever did when I was trying desperately to become the version of myself that other people demanded.

And yes it may be back on sooner than I think but for now I respect where I am and expect others to also.