I wear hijab not because it represents my morality, intellect, backwardness or modernity, but because it makes me feel complete. I choose to wear a hijab and it represents my pride in being a Muslim and somehow makes me fulfil my duties to my religion, but it doesn't give me the liberty to judge those who don't wear it. [...]
My evolution from niqab to uncovered happened in around 2008 when I was dealing with my sexuality and was exploring my feelings about Islam. I felt I couldn't be both Muslim and queer at the same time, so I prioritised being queer and rebelled against everything else. [...]
These days, I miss wearing the hijab for various reasons - familiarity, fitting in and a veil from aggressive eyes and attention. In Nigeria, there's a certain harassment that comes to people who do not wear stereotypical female clothes. Because I sometimes wear masculine clothes, people will say really mean things. [...]
Only after experiencing it did I realise that my hijab gives me an identity as a Muslim woman, devout and respectable. It protects me - not only from the eyes of men, but from anyone who can value me and evaluate me based on anything other than my ability, my intellect, my heart. [...]
Eventually, I stopped wearing the hijab. I put my hair in dreadlocks and have never taken them out, and I show my blackness proudly to the world. Ultimately, uncovering led me to a deeper love of blackness than I'd previously known.
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