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Young revert living the cutie life while trying to keep her heart as soft as possible, iA.

My thoughts on Dina Tokio's recent comments


I think like almost every muslimah in the past few years, I've been a fan of Dina for years and watched almost all her videos (especially her Sid and Dina answers series) and I follow her on instagram and always watch her daily stories. So just like everyone else, I've noticed her change in hijab style as well as the increase of very judgemental and nasty comments on all her posts, which is something that really gets to me. While I first wore hijab, it was with an underscarf wrapped so tightly it almost cut off circulation to my head lol the past three years or so, I started to wear a so-called "loose" hijab after I noticed that my future sisters-in-law and mother-in-law, who were all decades older than me and all from a small village, wore "loose" hijab. It made me wonder if I was wearing such a tight hijab because that's what I truly wanted or if I felt pressure from the community to wear my hijab like everyone else did.

And while, like I said, I have no problem with her deciding to take off her hijab or wear it in a "looser" way, I do have a problem with her recent comments on the hijabi community as a whole, as posted on her instagram story:

 

While I do agree that people are very overly critical of one another and there is a lot of pressure to all wear hijab in the same way, I think saying something like this and painting the community as a whole as a "very toxic cult" is not only disgusting, but also extremely wrong and also shows the privilege that Dina, and all born muslims, have. I remember four years ago, becoming muslim and not knowing how to pray correctly or really how to be muslim, but most importantly: how to wrap and wear hijab. I had no muslimah to teach me, so I turned to my Darling, then just a friend, and I remember us sitting together watching youtube tutorials and trying to figure it out and my hijab is definitely a part of me and a part of my identity and something I hold very dear to myself, but it's not something that's come easily or without sacrifice. For four years, I've had to hide my hijabs and sneak them on when I'm far enough away from home to avoid being caught, since I know I'll be kicked out on the streets if my parents find out I'm muslim. Wearing hijab is something that reverts struggle and suffer for, and it's something that born muslims either don't seem to know/care about or something they use as inspiration porn, which is disgusting on its own. 

So while I can only imagine the amount of pressure and negative comments and opinions that Dina gets on all of her social media posts, especially (it seems) on instagram, I can't accept her comments. While it's true that she does get a lot of negative comments, it seems to me like most of her fanbase are supportive of her and give very positive comments. I think she was just frustrated over how many comments on her Jasmine inspired photo and posted this without much thought (or perhaps just not caring) of how everyone would react or how it would be taken. Honestly, I know it's difficult when your job is literally being a blogger/vlogger, but if she's happy with how she wears hijab (or taking it off), then that's all that should matter and she should just ignore all the Debbie Downers. She has no obligation to tell anyone why or when she stopped wearing hijab, since it's her body and no one else has the right to tell her what to do with it. 

I really think she should stop doubling down and digging her heels in, she should post a video or instagram post and explain why she said what she said (i.e. there's just so much pressure to be perfect and not being allowed to be a flawed human) and also apologise for what she said. I think most of us, or at least me, isn't mad at Dina, just really disappointed and hurt. As someone who wears "loose" hijab, I also get negative and critical comments from people, both irl and online, all you can really do is decide how you're going to react. Normally, I just ignore them, but if they insist on being a jerk, I tell them that if my Darling, who is an older man, has no problem with how I dress, then they really need to shut their mouths and leave me the hell alone. There's more than one interpretation of hijab, based on many things such as age, culture, family, country and environment to name a few. It's just ludicrous to pretend like everyone wears hijab in very tight and conservative way, and I think as a community, we need to start accepting this. 

Dina, if you're reading this, I support you wearing a "loose" hijab or no hijab, like I've previously said, it's your body and you should do with it as you choose. But, as a revert who lives in a very toxic and islamophobic environment, it's extremely hurtful and upsetting to read your comments on the hijabi community as a whole. While I have no idea what it's like to have so much pressure on you from all directions, I understand you were just frustrated and probably lost your temper and posted it without thinking it fully through. Back when I was a new revert, you were one of the people I looked up to and I always looked forward to your new video (even though I had to watch it in secret), and I hope you can continue to grow your channel as well as grow as a person, in sha Allah.  

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