Rise Up, Oh Heart, For There is Another Battle to Win

The hijab Q&A that nobody asked for but everybody needs

rnashallah:

hi okay if you don’t know any hijabis/muslims personally, you might be wondering how it “works” and im here to answer ur questions!!

Q: Do you like.. wear it all the time?? (re: do u shower in it?? do u sleep in it?? when was the last time u sAW UR OWN HAIR??? ) 

A: Nope! To put it simply, we wear the hijab when we are around strange men. And by strange I mean men who are not directly related to us. That means I can show my hair to women (does that include trans women & nonbinary women? thats up to the individual hijabi). It also means I don’t have to cover from my brother/father/uncle/grandfather/child. I would have to cover from my male cousins because you can technically marry them (note: this is only one of the reasons we cover! it’s not only to cover from possible suitors lol. Just bc I wouldn’t marry a gay man, doesn’t mean I don’t have to cover from him. The quran says to cover from men and not from women. that’s pretty broad and open for interpretation. I keep it simple for myself- I cover from all men regardless of their sexual orientation. I don’t cover from women regardless of their sexual orientation. This could differ from one hijabi to another). I also would not have to cover from my husband if I were married. Lastly, we don’t have to cover from any young boys who haven’t been “through puberty” yet. I guess it’s up to the individual to decide when that is as well. 

Q: It seems kind of sexist to me that men don’t have to wear hijab, but women do…

A: Actually, men have their own hijab. (It’s not the turban you may see some men wearing, they are Sikhs, an entirely different religion.) Men have their own modest dress code to follow and are expected to follow the same rules the women do action-wise. Remember that equal does not have to mean identical. It wouldn’t make sense to ask men to cover their boobs or women to grow beards (we’ll come back to that later). 

Q: I always hear about women being forced to wear it… That’s oppression and wrong.

A: I completely agree. “There shall be no compulsion in [acceptance of] the religion” (2/256). That’s taken directly from the Quran. Forcing someone to wear the hijab is a sin. Furthermore, many Muslims believe that hijab is not required/is only preferred/is optional. There’s a lot of interpretation involved in religion. It totally depends on the person and their own beliefs. 

They way a Muslim chooses to wear their hijab also differs from person to person. Some women choose to cover their entire body. Some wear abayas (the black dress) and niqabs (the veil that covers the face). Some wear a simple scarf to cover their hair and dress “modestly” (this, again, depends on your interpretation of what modest means). Some just cover their hair. Some show a some of their hair. Some wear turbans. Some dress modestly, but don’t cover their hair. Some only wear it on certain occasions. (more here on the diff types of cover)

For men, some choose to grow beards (many believe this is just “sunnah” which means it is preferred, but not compulsory). Lots of men don’t follow the rules set for them. That can be due to personal beliefs, but I won’t deny the misogyny apparent in the Muslim culture (note: culture, not religion) probably has a lot to do with that. 

Q: Do women only wear hijab for religious reasons? 

A: No. I mean, that’s probably one of the most prominent reasons women choose to cover their hair, but there are many different factors. In many cultures, hijab is considered a thing of beauty. It’s a fashion statement. It’s tradition. It’s a part of their identity. It keeps them in-tact with their religion and it identifies them as a Muslim to other Muslims. The reasons are endless, but I think you get the picture. 

Q: I heard hijab is just keep men away.

A: As @angrymuslimah put so eloquently: Hijab is not to prevent men from looking at women or “protect them” from men. Hijab is not for men, or to help men control themselves - it’s for women themselves, to empower women. Men in Islam have a responsibility to lower their gaze and respect a woman no matter what she is wearing or what she looks like. 

Q: Can women ever take the hijab off for safety reasons? (ie: heat exhaustion/possible attacks by islamophobes) 

A: Totally! You’re obviously never supposed to compromise your health for anything, regardless of your religious beliefs. I once got asked if it would be okay for a women to remove her scarf when playing soccer in serious heat and my answer she could if she wanted to (again, she can do wtvr she wants), but playing soccer is optional. there’s a difference between wanting to play soccer and really having your life in danger. If hijabis choose to wear the hijab while playing soccer in 100 degrees, they’re badass and props to them for sticking to it even when it got hard, but that’s kind of the point of hijab. Again though, your health always comes first. 

Q: I see hijabis sometimes and I want to compliment them/tell them it’s pretty, but I don’t want to be disrespectful. 

A: It’s totally okay to compliment us! Please do! I live for the validation of strangers! For real, though. Just think about it this way, if you can say it to a non-hijabi and not offend her, you can probably say it to a hijabi. You can compliment anyone on their scarf regardless of wear it is on their body. 

Q: Can I wear the hijab if I’m not Muslim?

A: There is no specific way to wear a hijab. there is no specific fabric. We get our scarves from h&m and forever 21 like everyone else. There is nothing that identifies a hijab as a hijab except the wearer. So if you want to cover your hair for your own religious/personal reasons, you can do it! That doesn’t make it a hijab! The only thing that makes it a hijab is the wearer labeling it as a hijab. As long as you aren’t doing that, you’re not being disrespectful or appropriating our religion. (wearing it out of respect if you’re in a mosque or a predominately muslim country is also okay!)

I would however, advise against wearing it as a fashion statement. It’s not a style or accessory. 

/So this got really long and I’m stopping here but I haven’t even really made a dent in the hijabi discourse. If yall have any more questions, you should ask your friendly neighborhood Muslimah! I promise, we won’t be offended, we just want yall to know the truth. 

(Source: mugglesofficial, via cthulhu-with-a-fez)

defilerwyrm:

elodieunderglass:

prokopetz:

prokopetz:

kazorus:

prokopetz:

Every time someone tries to explain the metaplot of Supernatural to me, it basically ends up sounding like redneck Dragon Ball Z. I’m sure there’s some nuance I’m failing to grasp here.

Care to elaborate on that?

…I’m not even offended, just absolutely curious.  From the stuff I’ve seen and heard about Supernatural I can’t see the connection.

Mostly, I get the impression of a show that doesn’t know how not to escalate.

Every threat’s gotta be quantitatively bigger and badder than the one that came before. Every deus ex machina’s gotta be shinier than the last one. Every season’s gotta end with a massive eleventh-hour powerup for our heroes, only for the next season to raise the stakes enough to put them back in the underdog position.

It’s like, you beat the Devil himself? Well, now you’ve gotta fight the Devil’s cousin Phil, who has conveniently gone entirely unmentioned up until now, but he’s totally twice as evil.

That last paragraph was literally supposed to be the most ridiculous hypothetical example I could think of, and people are messaging me to say “his name was Metatron, not Phil”. I can’t even make fun of this show.

I think it’s time for entertainment to stop obsessing about Saving The World because we just don’t CARE. Stop endlessly raising the stakes, entertainers!

Saving one person? I’m right there with you. 

Saving a small group of friends/family? Ohhhh my heart.

Saving a subculture/community? This is my jam. YES. YES. 

Saving a city? Maybe as a finale. Sell it to me and we’ll see.   

Saving a country? I’ll just about allow it.

Saving the world? LOL NO. 

Saving the Universe? Slow down Doctor Who, nobody cares.

Saving ALL OF TIME AND SPACE AND HUMANITY AND HISTORY AND PLUTO AND GRAVITY AND GOD AND ALL THE ANGELS? oh my god, are people still watching this? have the advertisers fallen asleep, or

There is a reason why charities put faces in their ads. It is because the actual number of, say, homeless LGBT youths is too big to comprehend - it just seems like too big of a problem for you to do anything about. So charities “introduce” you to the face of the problem - here is a crying teen, her name is Layla, she’s homeless, you can help her right now, she just needs 80 cents a day to change her life. If charities begged you to open your wallet and SAVE THE UNIVERSE you would glaze over and walk past. The universe? People can’t even comprehend climate change. We can barely stay on top of our social circles. We just about understand our own local politics. 

Once you get past a big number, human interest drops off - it’s sad to hear that 3,000 people died in a natural disaster, but we care more about one girl not being allowed at her prom. This is why news teams focus on the shot of the lost teddy bear, or the terrified child clutching their starving kitten - these are the small problems that make the big problems seem Real.

There is a concept called Dunbar’s number - the amount of humans that each human can care about. It’s thought to be roughly 150 people, the size of your theoretical “village.” Your friends, family, coworkers, Internet buddies, neighbors - there genuinely is a limit to how many people you can fit in your heart. It’s the average amount of friends that people have on Facebook. At around this number of people, true democracy is said to break down, because you can no longer offer all voices equal weight and must start electing spokespeople. 150 people is about the limit of our comprehension. 

Stuff that tugs the heartstrings? Saving the tiny inbred Wizarding World. Saving people who remind me of my friends and neighbors. Saving the local library. Saving the spaceship full of people. Saving the sufferers of a disease. Saving this particular dog. Saving a marginalized community - honestly, this is the plot of almost every Discworld novel, and there are over 40 of those and we never got sick of them.

But yeah, don’t try to get my attention by putting The World at stake. I’m not even sure I like most of it.

As Stalin said, "The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic.“

I am…a little in lust with this post.  Everything is so accurate and so exactly what I’ve said in my eternal complaints about SPN that I am a little in love with all of you.

(via cthulhu-with-a-fez)

weareallfromearth:

ozymandias271:

okay but IMAGINE FINN AND REY CHECKING WITH POE ABOUT WHETHER SOME ASPECT OF THEIR CHILDHOOD WAS HORRIFYING

Rey: “what is the normal number of times to go to bed hungry?”
Poe: “ZERO. ZERO IS THE NORMAL NUMBER OF TIMES TO GO TO BED HUNGRY.”
Finn: “that CAN’T be right. What if they give you enough calories but just artificially stimulate your hunger reflexes to prepare you for survival situations in the future?”
Poe: “…what the fuck is wrong with the First Order?”

Reblogging because I swear this is a conversation type that kids of abusive households have with each other/their happy household friends a lot and I think about this thing a lot.

Yep.  Yep it is.  The ‘let’s compare scars’ talk.  It’s more of a problem when you accidentally drop something into conversation with someone from a normal situation, because then the whole conversation goes off the rails and you’re left there going “Okay yeah sure you’re freaking out and I see that but I thought we were talking about what we were going to do for dinner and I’d like to finish that conversation, please.”  And I think of THAT kind of conversation a lot with regard to Finn and Poe and Rey.  

(Source: cptsdcarlosdevil, via bonehandledknife)

queerhawkeye:

what i mean when i say i want a villain to get a redemption arc: i hope this asshole sees the error in their ways and, after deep conflict, achieve forgiveness in a last final act to do good before dying painfully a-la anakin skywalker.

what i mean when i say i want a villain to turn into a good guy: i hope this douchebag sees the error in their ways and, after years of crawling for forgiveness and doing everything in their power to fix their wrongdoings, they truly turn to the light and dedicate themselves to a life of good a-la prince zuko.

what y’all mean when u say you want a villain to get redemption or turn into a good guy: i hope this pretty-faced asshole gets a slap on the wrist by the hero and can continue to be a douchebag but now with the narrative’s moral support.

(via dubiousculturalartifact)

phantasmsystem:

armadillo:

its kinda scary how your whole life depends on how well you do as a teenager 

oh my god No it doesn’t don’t put this kind of pressure on people?? you can absolutely fuck up in your teen years and continue on to a good life just fine. you can drop out of school, get a GED, still go to college and finish your degree as late as you want. i know people in my school who still haven’t graduated and they’re 26. some older. you can always transfer someplace else, always build yourself up from the ground. after a certain amount of college credits, a lot of schools really don’t care about your high school GED or your SAT scores anymore. if you fuck up in your teenage years you are not a failure!! you can ALWAYS re-invent yourself, always start over. there is always a second chance.

(via cthulhu-with-a-fez)

teawithpotter:

yarrayora:

darlinghogwarts:

The sorting hat didn’t listen to Harry, and yelled for everyone to hear, “Slytherin!”.

Seeing Harry’s distress, Ron Weasley’s eyes narrowed in determination. Minutes later, as Ron’s name was called by Minerva McGonagall, and as the sorting hat was lowered onto his head, all of the Hogwarts residents knew without a doubt what the sorting hat was going to say.

Imagine their surprise when the sorting hat instead said with resignation in his tone “Slytherin”

• RON BEING OUT OF HIS BROTHERS’ SHADOW
  
• EVEN THEN HIS FAMILY STILL LOVE HIM ALBEIT BEING A LITTLE DISAPPOINTED
• RON AND HARRY CALLING OUT ON SNAPE’S UNFAIRNESS
• THEY BOTH DEFENDED THE MEEK GRYFFINDOR NEVILLE
• STILL BEST FRIEND FOREVER WITH GRYFFINDOR HERMIONE
• SLYTHERIN RECOGNIZES HIS TALENT AS A CHESSMASTER AND TRY TO TEACH HIM HOW TO APPLY IT IN REAL LIFE
• SLYTHERIN RON

Yasssss

(via allephant)

rainbowrowell:

teacupdream:

vandigo:

bitch-jerk-assbutt-teamfreewill:

one-lastmiracle:

intangible-rice:

When I was 17 my appendix ruptured because I thought I was just having period cramps and didn’t go to the hospital so don’t tell me PMS symptoms are no big deal

this actually happened to me during my math final and i didn’t think anything of it and when i was later admitted to the hospital my math prof was asking me ‘you didn’t have to take the final! why didn’t you tell me it hurt?!?!’ and i told him i’ve had cramps worse.

he gave me 100

This is actually an extremely common occurrence simply because in sex ed they don’t teach you how to tell the difference between menstrual cramps and other more serious pains. The way to tell the difference between cramps and appendicitis is that while menstrual cramps are generalized toward the middle of the stomach below the belly button, pain from a swollen or burst appendix will start in the middle of the stomach and relocate to only the lower right side, even lower than menstrual cramps, and is a very localized pain. It also comes on extremely suddenly and will worsen over time or when you make a sudden movement, like a cough or a sneeze.

Basically, if you’re feeling any sort of pain, even if it’s menstrual cramps, don’t hesitate to tell the school nurse or a parent, or if you’re out of school and home even make a doctor’s appointment. Chances are if your cramps are that bad there’s something they can do to improve that as well.

I am boosting the shit out of that reply, because I am twenty-fucking-five years old and did not know how to tell the two pains apart

Adding another diagnostic tool! This is something we use in the ER called the rebound test. Basically, appendicitis and cramps react differently to certain things. If you’re still not sure if you have cramps or appendicitis, take two fingers and press them into your abdomen where the pain is (try repeating this on the lower right quadrant of the abdomen just to be sure.)

When you press in firmly, it will probably hurt. Here’s the test: LET GO. Does it get better or get worse? Appendicitis will immediately hurt worse when you let go. Cramps will not. Go to the ER if the rebound test makes it worse!

THE REBOUND TEST IS REALLY IMPORTANT.

My husband got sent home from the ER with a rupturing appendix. When he came back and was rushed into surgery, the surgeon was super angry – “Why didn’t anyone do the rebound test?!”

(via fuckyeahfirefly)