“Marg bar Khamenei! Marg bar Khamenei! Marg bar Khamenei!” The growing crowd of protesters chanted outside Kasra hospital in Tehran. Another crowd quickly gathered at a nearby square within a commercial area. News had just broken that Mahsa Amini had died, three days after her arrest by the Gasht-e-Ershad; the morality police. Her apparent crime being that she was not wearing her hijab properly, and was also wearing skinny jeans. The 22 year old woman was arrested by the morality police and taken into custody, where they claim she suffered a heart attack and then fell into a coma. The truth, however, was much darker and outright horrific. First hand witnesses, including those arrested along with Masih, described how she was beaten severely by the police, and that her death was a direct result of the severe injuries she sustained. The following days saw swathes of young Iranians take to the streets, holding anti-Regime placards, calling for an end to the Islamic Regime and demanding freedom. A sea of people led by women marched through the streets of Iran. These protests weren’t confined to just Tehran, they were erupting all over the country, from villages, to towns to major cities. Enough was enough. The most recent victim of the Regime’s brutality had angered Iranians beyond anything they’d known, and her death became the catalyst for major unrest across Iran. The police fought back in the way they’ve always done, with brutality, violence, and death. Protestors were arrested, beaten, and killed. Some that were detained were later executed. The Regime pulled out all the stops it could to try to quash the protests. But this time it was different. Iranians weren’t going to go quietly. Women removed their hijabs publicly and walked in the streets shouting "Azadi!" They stood upon the roofs of cars, benches, walls, anywhere where they could be seen, and burned their hijabs. They came together and cut their hair publicly, as a sign of defiance to the Regime which requires them to cover their hair. Images of what was happening spread across the world. All eyes were on Iran, and how its fabric had changed overnight.
Hijab has been mandatory for girls over the age of 9 in Iran since its Islamic Revolution in 1979, and is enforced by the morality police, often through brutality. As attested by many Iranians, the Regime does as it pleases; detains, arrests and kills with impunity, and nobody can question it, lest they face the same fate. In Iran, not only must you wear hijab, you must wear it properly. Just imagine, being arrested for not covering your hair, or for simply wearing what you want. Not only that, think about why a girl over 9 years of age would have to wear hijab. Why is modesty being applied to children? This is sexualising them, and teaching them very early on that their body isn’t theirs. That it belongs to their future husband, and nobody besides him should ever see an inch of it. The idea is that once you begin wearing hijab as a child, you’re likely to keep wearing it. Either out of habit, or out of fear of being shamed for removing it.
In neighbouring Afghanistan, the latest blow to women's rights came as the Taliban banned education for women. After making it mandatory for women to wear a burka in public, they were not satisfied that this was segregation enough, and decided to stop women holding positions in the workplace, and finally, to not permit them an education. This sparked civil unrest across the country as many women took to the streets in protest. Young men joined them and walked out of their colleges and universities, refusing to take exams whilst their female counterparts were being denied an education. The Taliban attacked and beat protestors, but the young women and men fought back fiercely. A new Afghan revolution was born.
World Hijab Day 2023
Whilst this control of women and abuses of their human rights may seem like a million miles away, happening somewhere else, there are remnants of it here, in the West. Hijab is romanticised and Modesty culture is promoted as being beautiful and puritan, and that those who conform are more worthy. We are compared to sweets, and how a wrapped sweet is preferable to an unwrapped one. Little girls are made to wear hijab, and everyone just thinks it’s cute. As you grow up wearing hijab, you think it’s your choice. But is it your choice? They tell you that awful things will happen to you in Jahannam if even a strand of your hair is seen. Is that a free choice? Those who shout that hijab is a choice, why don’t you remove it for a day and see what happens? We’ll quickly see who’s choice it really is. Whilst in the West we don’t have brutal regimes forcing hijab and modesty upon us, coercion certainly exists within Muslim communities. Not necessarily enforced physically, although that can happen too, but the coercion is more through family pressure, guilt tripping, slut shaming, accused of not being Muslim enough, and more. With all this going on, we still have events like World Hijab Day, where women are asked to wear a hijab and describe how amazing the so-called modesty feeling is. I can totally sympathise with women who are forced to remove hijab, their struggle should be recognised, but it seems those advocating for the freedom to wear hijab, don’t support the freedom from hijab. And that’s key here. The freedom to choose. I’m not anti-hijab, I’m pro-choice.
I have followed No Hijab Day since 2015, which was started by Iranian women in protest of mandatory hijab laws. Over the years, No Hijab Day has become more of a response to World Hijab Day, now happening on the same date as the latter, instead of the original October date. So this year, I’d really like to get back to the whole ethos behind No Hijab Day. It isn’t to mock or rally against hijab, but it’s about raising awareness that the freedom to choose does not exist in many countries and communities, often with fatal consequences, and it’s that freedom of choice that we fight for. Change is coming, we are witnessing it unfold in countries with the most brutal regimes such as Iran and Afghanistan. The bearded thugs are hanging on for dear life, slowly losing their grip on control over women. This year, No Hijab Day is more important than ever. Stand up, and let it be known, Azadi is coming.
