You probably have watched Elite on Netflix and are familiar with Nadia and her infamous scene where she removes her hijab and runs off with her boyfriend. You might have also heard about the movie Mignonnes/Cuties. Besides encouraging paedophelia, which is an entirely different problem that needs discussion, the movie, again, represents Muslim girls as those opressed fragile creatures whose primary goal in life is to leave their religion and run off with a white boy. 

   Muslims, generally, have always been misrepresented, but being a Muslim woman is a little extra hard. Besides dealing with islamophobia you have to deal with extra sexism. The misrepresentation of Muslim women, like being forced into following Islam, being diresepected, overlooked or treated like property, has encouraged governments to take even more opressing actions in the name of freeing them. The hijab ban in France has done nothing but opress and objectify Muslim women. If feminism—or human rights in general—which the French government supposedly embraces, allows women to dress however they want because it's their body, why is hijab not included? Why can a woman show as much skin as she likes but can't cover up as much as she likes? I don't think a piece of fabric put on a woman's head means anything but that this woman follows a certain religion. It's every human's right to follow whatever religion they like without the interference of anyone else, and certainly without the interference of any government. 

   If you are interested in the rights of Muslim women, you should know why hijab—which is prejudiced as the 'opressor' for Muslim women— was assigned in the first place. In the past, when the first Muslims lived in small towns in the Arabian desert, every profession or social class had a 'uniform'. Knights used to dress a certain way, poets a different way, and the merchants had their own attire. Female slaves' attire was known to be a little revealing around the neckline. Free women typically dressed modestly. It had nothing to do with religion or obligation, it was something well known among them. You could tell whether a person was free or enslaved from their clothes. In the desert, the only place to urinate was the outskirts of towns. Late at night, drunkards, and criminals (that certainly included rapists) would hang out in those outskirts. If a woman wanted to urinate late at night, she would have to risk her life just to go pee. Those criminals would leave the women dressed modestly alone because they were known to be the free women who could stand up for themselves and whose voices could be heard. So, obviously, the slaves became their victims because they had no one to stand up with them. That's why the Quraan told the women to all dress modestly (like the free women), so no one would be able to tell their social class, hence leave them alone. 

   Before you make assumptions, this doesn't mean that women who are not dressed modestly are the reason for rape. It is not even arguable. But hijab was an immediate solution because you can't change people overnight. Hijab gave women the right to be treated equally no matter their social class. Currently, women wear the hijab as a symbol of power. A woman's body is a temple. Muslim women can show their bodies to those who deserve to see this sacred aspect of them like their family and fellow women. 

   When I was younger, I was deeply affected by western media and believed that even though hijab is obligatory, it would hinder my ability to live my life. However, now that I have given myself the time to fully educate myself and started wearing the hijab, I know that all it has done is make me feel more powerful. The knowledge of doing something that I believe in, despite most of the world disagreeing with me, is surprisingly satisfying. Like a breath of fresh air. 

   If you ever read the Quran, a lot of the verses ensure the value of women. All the verses that state the rights of women are followed by a threat to those who deny women their rights. Some sexist so-called religious men are the reason behind the false reputation that Islam denies women their rights by falsely explaining these verses. 

   All over the ages, Muslim women have always been very independent and strong. Of course, oppression and sexism exist, but that's because of culture, which is thankfully changing because of the efforts of everyone who has been advocating for female rights and equality in the Middle East. In sixth grade religion we studied the biography of Khadīja bint Khuwaylid (RA), the wife of the prophet Muhammad (SAW). Her father was a rich merchant and from a very young age she helped him with his job. Later on, she started her own business in trade and was extremely successful and rich. The prophet used to work for her. She loved him and proposed to him. She fought many western oppressive ideas, like the fact that women working was for lower class only, that women couldn't own their money or that they would wait for the man to make the first move or be forced into a marriage.

   In 20th century Egypt, Doria Shafik was one of many Muslim and Arab women who faught for equality between men and women. She was a feminist, poet and editor. When she returned from France she hoped to teach, but the dean of the Faculty of Literature of Cairo University denied her the job. In 1945, Princess Chevicar offered her editor-in-chief of the French magazine La Femme Nouvelle. In the same year, Doria decided to start an arabic magazine called Bint al Nil, which translates as 'Daughter of the Nile'. She advocated for women's rights and her efforts granted Egyptian women the right to vote. 

   I think media should take into consideration real muslim women before boldly representing us. I don't think I know a single woman who thinks Islam has opressed us. For all that I know, it feels very comforting to know that a Higher Power has our back when all the world is against us.