There has been quite a few times when I have been asked “Do you prefer tudung or non-tudung girls?”. I think that’s a very interesting question, one worth a moment of thought. I suppose it’s their way of finding out my preference of a candidate’s spiritual background. So much for subtlety, huh. All that ever did was convince me that I could see right through that veil of pretense [no pun intended]. Some people can be just read like a fucking book.

For the less enlightened, a tudung is essentially a headscarf worn by muslim women to cover their scalp, which is a part of their aurat*. Now, the covering of one’s aurat is a divine commandment in Islam, and a majority of muslims concur to it. Which is good. What raises my curiosity, however, is the reason why they did so.

Is it because they were told to, and obeyed without question?
Or because the majority does it as an Islamic norm?
Or because they truly believe and fear God’s wrath in the Hereafter?
Or because they truly believe in the virtues and the benefits?

Being a male, I’m not required to wear a tudung [hehe]. But since I have been posed with that ‘tudung’ question one time too many, I figured I should spare some time contemplating on the issue.

Personally speaking [I think this phrase is fast becoming cheesy], I think covering one’s aurat is about one’s personal principles. To put it in simple words, it’s up to your sense of fashion. Let’s take this out of the scope that is limited to muslims, and take a look at a sample space that treads across physical and conceptual boundaries. The universal sense of fashion.

“Why do some people dress the way they do?” would be a nice start to spark some discussions. But then, I’d rather ask YOU, “Why do YOU dress the way you do?”.

Why the baggy jeans?
The hoodies?
The tribal wristbands?
The low-cut jeans?
The platforms?
The yada yada yadas [whatever the hell that is]?

Now, before you throw shit at me, I just want to let you know that I’m not trying to question your sense of fashion in any way whatsoever.

I just want to open your eyes a little bit, and let you have a look within yourself. You see, I don’t care if you lie with the answers because I’m not the one whose concerned about it. The answers do matter to you, though. Besides, you can be truly honest only to yourself. Now, again I ask, why?

Is it..
…because you’re comfortable in it?
…because you look good in it?
…because you feel confident because you look good?

Whatever your answer[s] may be, keep it to yourself. The important thing is, you answered honestly, and therefore have surfaced your own reasons as to why you dress so. Now, let me bring this point up to the spotlight;

“Do the things you do, for your own reasons of doing it.”

Keep that in mind, and apply that to the tudung issue. Why wear, or remove the tudung? What are the reasons? Do the reasons agree with you? And most importantly, are the reasons YOURS?

I said all these because [as we both know], not all who don tudungs are saints, and not all who don’t are irreligious astray. There have been reports of tudung girls caught fucking in parks [with the tudung still on them sometimes], and that of non-tudung girls doing more charity than NPO’s. You get my drift lah kan.

SO.

Don, or remove the tudung for your own sake. Not because of public opinion, not because of peer pressure, and not because of your parents’ demands. Live for your own reasons, for your own principles, your own ideals. Your head belongs to you, not others. You can have hundreds of principles or codes or ideals in your life, but what matters is which are the ones you live by.

Oh, and in case you’re still wondering about how I answered the ‘tudung’ question earlier, I just answered; “Is there a difference?” and they took it as a cue to shut the fuck up.

*aurat:
In Islam, the aurat are areas of the human anatomy that are forbidden to be shown to the opposite sex. These must be covered in order to avoid arousing the opposite sex by seeing them. For males, their aurat is from a bit above the belly button, right to a bit below the knees. For females, it’s their entire body, except their face and hands. Some [if not all] sects also consider a woman’s high-pitched voice as part of their aurat. It has been commmanded in the Quran that muslims cover their aurat, respective of their sex.

[hey, MENJ, did I miss out on anything?]