Yana da banza kuma babu tushe ga mata Musulmai su rika magana game da hijabi suna ta maimaita batun "zabi" ba tare da karewa ba. A ina ne ko wane mutum yake "zabar" tufafinsa?

It is baseless and empty for Muslim women to talk about the hijab by endlessly invoking the concept of “choice.” In what sense does anyone “choose” his clothes?

Mata na Yammacin duniya suna zaton cewa tufafinsu wani abu ne da suke zaɓa da kansu cikin 'yanci, amma duk da wannan zato, yawancin sutura suna dacewa ba tare da wani shiri ba da iyakokin salon zamani da umarnin Versace da Chanel, da kuma jerin "mai kyau ko mara kyau" marasa iyaka da mata ke bi da wani taqlid mai zafi wanda zai sa mafi tsananin muridai na Sufaye su zama kamar masu laifi.

Western women naively believe their wardrobes to be a function of free and independent choice, yet, despite that belief, the vast majority of garb “coincidentally” falls within the narrow bounds of current fashion and the diktats of Versace, Chanel, and an interminable supply of “hot or not” lists Western women follow with a fervent taqlid that would make the most fastidious Sufi murids seem delinquent.

Idan salon yadda mata a cikin al'umma suke sutura ya kasance kawai batun zabin kai, to da mun ga salo daban-daban, sassan jiki daban-daban da ake bayyanawa ko rufewa, da kuma tushen tufafi daban-daban. Amma ba haka muke gani ba a cikin al'ummar Yamma. Muna ganin daidaito kusan a kowane fanni. Mata (da maza, ba shakka) sukan yi sutura irin ta juna, suna bin ra'ayoyi na bai daya game da tsiraici, game da abin da ya dace, da abin da ke cikin salo, da sauransu. Babban dalilin wannan daidaito shi ne mafi yawan mutane suna sayen tufafinsu daga manyan shagunan sayar da kaya iri daya. Gaskiya launuka, yanka da yadi na iya bambanta, amma jigo daya ne ga kowa, duk da haka mutane suna tunanin abin da suke sawa zabinsu ne. A gaskiya, wannan ba komai ba ne illa tsananin son kai. Hakika ka iya zabar irin rigar da za ka sa, amma a babban ma'ana, ba ka zabi rufe kirjinka ba. Ba ka zabi shagunan da ke yankinku ba. Ba ka zabi tsarin zane-zane da aka yada zuwa wadancan shagunan ba, da sauransu.

If the way women in society dress were purely a function of independent choice, we would see widely varying styles, widely varying parts of the body exposed and covered, widely varying sources for those clothes, etc. But we don’t see that in Western society. We see relative uniformity in every way. Women (and men, too, obviously) in society tend to dress alike, abiding by shared notions of nudity, shared notions of what is appropriate, what is fashionable, etc. A big part of the uniformity is that the majority of people get their clothes from the same retail outlet chains. Sure, colors might vary, cuts, and fabrics might vary, but it’s the same basic themes shared by all, yet people are under the impression that what they wear is “by choice.” Really, it’s nothing but an overexaggerated sense of individualism. Sure, you might have chosen the kind of blouse to wear, but, in the larger sense, you didn’t choose to cover your chest. You didn’t choose the retail stores in your area. You didn’t choose the mass distributed designs that were rolled out into those stores, etc., etc.

No matter how narrow a range of variation you give people, they will come to think of themselves as practicing agency within that narrow range. Given how obsessed Western society is with choice and individuality, this is inevitable. You have an army of women with the same yoga pants, ugly boots, black jackets, wearing the same cheap accessories, wearing the same low-quality perfume from the same mass distributors, coloring their faces with the same chemicals, in the same patterns, and telling Muslim women in hijab that they are oppressed, lack agency, lack freedom of choice, etc. And you have those same Muslim women writing op-eds, speaking out in interviews, pleading that they do indeed have a choice, just like their non-Muslim, non-veiled counterparts. GAH! Translated into Hausa: Duk yadda aka takaita zaɓi da bambance-bambancen mutane, za su ci gaba da ɗaukar kansu a matsayin masu amfani da 'yancin zaɓinsu a cikin wannan ƙunƙunyar iyaka. Ganin yadda al'ummar Yamma ke kwaɗayin zaɓi da kasancewa daban, wannan ba makawa ba ne. Kuna da runduna ta mata sanye da irin wannan wando na yoga, takalmi maras kyau, riguna baƙi, suna sanya kayan ado irin na arha, suna feshin turare iri ɗaya marar inganci daga masu rarraba jama'a, suna shafa fuskokinsu da sinadarai iri ɗaya, cikin tsari iri ɗaya, kuma suna gaya wa Musulmi mata masu sanya hijabi cewa ana zalunce su, ba su da 'yanci, ba su da 'yancin zaɓi, da sauransu. Kuma akwai waɗancan Musulmi mata iri ɗaya suna rubuta makaloli a jaridu, suna magana a tambayoyin hira, suna roƙo cewa suna da zaɓi haƙiƙa, kamar takwarorinsu na waɗanda ba Musulmi ba, marasa hijabi. GAH!

No matter how narrow a range of variation you give people, they will come to think of themselves as practicing agency within that narrow range. Given how obsessed Western society is with choice and individuality, this is inevitable. You have an army of women with the same yoga pants, ugly boots, black jackets, wearing the same cheap accessories, wearing the same low-quality perfume from the same mass distributors, coloring their faces with the same chemicals, in the same patterns, and telling Muslim women in hijab that they are oppressed, lack agency, lack freedom of choice, etc. And you have those same Muslim women writing op-eds, speaking out in interviews, pleading that they do indeed have a choice, just like their non-Muslim, non-veiled counterparts. GAH!