The Salam & The Hijab

Had a bit of an experience today.

I went shopping in a big busy mall. Many hijabies were around. I was on my way to the bathroom when I walked past two hijabies and said "Salam" and smiled. What response did i get? Blank stares and silence. They just looked at me and ignored my Salam.

That made me feel a tad bit down. Literally ten seconds later i opened the door that led to the corridor that led to the Ladies bathroom. There was a female cleaner in the corridor. I didnt take much notice of her until I saw her big smile. I smiled back and she said cheerfully "Assalamu Alaikum. How are you?" with a big smile on her face!

I was so happy. I left thinking "Subhanna'Allah!!!"..

these hijabies may look the part in their hijabs but they dont even display the basics of really being muslim. And then there was the non-hijabi woman who i didnt even know was muslim until she said Salam to me in the hallway on the way to the bathroom.

The funny thing is, is this isnt the first time this has happeneded to me. Soooooo many times i have said Salam to a sister and all i get back is a blank stare. It's like if they dont personally know you then they wont return your salam. But when i get a sister who salams me i get all happy and warm inside and remember that we indeed belong to some form of an Ummah.

I remember my cutest salam ever. I was walking with my husband down the street and we walked past a halal takeaway store. there was a little girl waiting outside with her family. she actually ran all the way up to me and said "SALAM!! SALAM!! SALAM!!". She was so excited. we laughed and returned her salam. she kept walking beside us smiling, then returned to her parents, who were also laughing, while she was shouting "mummy i met more muslims!". She was so damn cute!

Another salam story that isnt so cute was when i was accused of being rude and arrogant towards a sister because i apparently "refused to say salam to her".

I was in a non-muslim gathering and i was talking to a muslim girl. Two of her friends came up while we were talking. One was a hijabi, the other was not. I said Salam to the hijabi and "Hi" to the non-hijabi. That was it. Later the non-hijabi came up to me and went off at me because i was apparently rude and arrogant for not salaming her.

I was like "WTF?".. because firstly i didnt even know she was Muslim. I told her that. I said "sorry.. salam.. i didnt know you were muslim". Then she got angry at me and accused me of talking down to her and somehow twisted what i said into me apparently saying she wasnt muslim because she didnt wear hijab. My response was "sorry sister.. i didnt realise you were muslim because you werent in hijab and you didnt say salam to me either, so i assumed you were a non-muslim. but in any case i still greeted you in a friendly way.. so really whats the problem?"

So what made me angry about this girl is she is a non-hijabi, who didnt dress modestly AT ALL and she didn't Salam me either. Then she got in my face about ME being rude to her. But excuse me, but the girl didnt show any signs of being muslim.. so how was i to know?

The hijab is like our uniform if you will. When you see a girl in hijab, no matter how educated or uneducated you are about Islam, you know straight away that the girl is muslim. Even non-muslims who know absolutely nothing about islam will see a girl in a headscarf and automatically recognise her as muslim. The Hijab is our uniform. The hijab is like our religious I.D card. It says "MUSLIM" straight away. Hence me saying "Salam" straight away to a hijabi.

Now if a girl doesnt wear hijab, how the hell would i know automatically that she is muslim? Truth is, i wouldnt. The next thing would be to talk to her and usually from what they say you would be able to tell if she was a muslim. First off she didnt say Salam to me. I did say "hi" first and i got a "hi" back. If she had of replied "salam" to my "hi" then i would have returned her salam and recognised her as a muslim.

For example, i was in a perfume shop and the very pretty girl behind the counter was smiling at me. She was dressed in usual Aussie clothing. It wasnt until she opened her mouth and said Salam to me that i recognised her as a muslim.

So basically the moral of this story is.... SAY SALAM!!!!!

if you are in hijab you are automatically recognisable as a muslimah.. SO SAY SALAM!!!

if you are not in hijab and are not instantly recognisable as a muslimah.. then SAY SALAM!!!

if you dont wear hijab and dont say salam then dont get angry when we rightly assume you are not muslim.

And more importantly.. when a stranger says SALAM to you... then for God's sake dont stare like a stunned fish and ignore us.. SAY SALAM!!!