Let your hijab sit next to your highlighter. Let your prayer mat sit next to your vanity table.
Here is the secret I have learned at thirty: burkha under my lipstick
But underneath that glossy sheen is the burkha —or rather, the hijr (the protection). It is the shield. It is the whisper that says, Your value is not in your neck, your hair, or the curve of your ears. Your value is in your substance. Let your hijab sit next to your highlighter
The Burkha Under My Lipstick: On Duality, Choice, and Being a Woman in Between It is the shield
Sometimes, I walk into a boardroom wearing a silk headscarf and a power lip, and the women look at me with pity. They assume my husband picks my clothes. They don't realize I picked him because he lets me pick my own clothes.
Sometimes, I walk into the mosque for Friday prayers, and the aunties look at my manicured nails and tinted lips with suspicion. They whisper about how the West has corrupted me. They don’t realize that the Quran they are holding teaches that God looks at your heart, not the pigment on your mouth.