To Meet a Hijaabi

1) Please refrain from shaking hands. Hijaabis do not feel a compulsive need to touch your hands upon greeting even if social norm states otherwise

2) Do not compliment her Hijaab .Hijaabi wears hijaab to avoid that kind of attention. It also seems as if you have gone out of your way to compliment her, making her feel somewhat uncomfortable.

3) Are you hot in that thing ? The answer nine times out of ten is no . Even if hijaabi's head was boiling she's not exactly about to disrobe . Which brings me onto the main problem with this question , it has a 'you clearly are hot in that why don't you take it off?' undertone

4) Do you sleep or shower with that on? The answer is no . This is an incredibly inappropriate thing to ask how would you feel if somebody asked you the level of clothing you wore when undertaking everyday tasks?

5)You are oppressed. *Facepalm*

6) Why don't we take the elevator? Hijaabis don't like to be alone with random men however nice they may be . So although she appreciates the offer she would much rather risk a cramp climbing 6 flights of stairs then spend an awkward 40 seconds staring at her shoes in the elevator.

7) What does your hair look like ? Now really, why would a hijaabi describe her hair in vivid detail to you after she spent 10 minutes this morning stabbing herself repeatedly with a 'safety' pin  while tying her under cap as tight as possible so that for the rest of the day nobody could see her hair.

8) You look like a nun/ a penguin/ a ninja. Right, here I was thinking I looked like a Muslim.  I'm glad you shared your incorrect observations with me, now I know exactly what other people see when they look at me

9) *silence*. We are still human please don't ignore us . I know it can be scary talking to your first hijaabi and I hope the above hasn't completely put you off , all you need to do is talk to her about an actaul work/educationally related issue and then the second step is quite simply to maintain a physical and to a certain extent emotional distance . And there you have  it you've sustained an appropriate conversation with a hijaabi without a hoard of angry girls niqaabing up and jumping you (just in case you're wondering we don't actually do that) .

If your a non muslim  or just some random guy I appreciate that you actually care enough to read this . Also if you have done any of the above don't worry we hijaabis know people don't do these things on purpose to spite us( well I guess that's before the random guy in the shop bumps into you twice and the logical part of your brain switches off #rant)  and we think your attempts are kind if not a tad misguided.

PS I'm not qualified to speak on behalf of all hijaabed muslimahs so perhaps it would be best if your read 'hijaabi' as 'hijaabi in the rain' it would make this post a lot more accurate.