Hoda…and the groom who said: I don’t want a woman who hides

Mama was very happy…
– “There’s a groom coming to see you, Hoda… He seems well-mannered and relaxed.
He asked about you and said he wanted a well-mannered, religious woman.”

I sat there silently… My heart was beating rapidly,
not from fear, but from wondering:
“Will he see me like this in the niqab? Or will Mama ask me to take it off?”

I asked her calmly:
– “Does he know I wear the niqab?”

She was silent.
Then she said hesitantly:
– “I honestly don’t know… But, my dear, you could take it off the day he comes to see you.
This is just a preliminary meeting.”

I looked at her, my heart breaking.
Me? Take it off to impress me?
If he comes looking for “me,”
He’ll see me as I am.
Not as he expected.

We agreed that he’d come the following Friday.
The day before, his aunt called Mama…
Asking about the outfit and the niqab.
Mama She told her I wear the niqab.
The world calmed down… and an hour later, the groom himself called.

He said a sentence that still rings in my ears to this day:

“I respect her choice very much, but honestly, I can’t marry someone who hides from me my entire life.
I like to see my wife’s face, to feel for her.
The niqab prevents me from doing that.”

Mama told him:
“But she can take it off at home… that means she doesn’t have to wear it in front of you.”

He said, with deadly calm:
“I want someone who doesn’t need to hide herself… I think that modesty isn’t extreme. And the niqab is exaggerated.”

The call ended.
And there was no groom.

I went into my room, locked the door,
and sat on the floor, staring at the niqab I had placed on the hanger.

Am I hiding?
Or memorized?
Am I distant?
Or closer than ever?

At that moment, I remembered an invitation I always say: “Oh God, grant me someone who sees me through your eyes… not through other people’s eyes.”

I’m Huda, and the first groom who proposed to me after I started wearing the niqab… left before even seeing me.

But I didn’t take it off for him,
because I’m still waiting for someone to love me while I cover up…not someone who would force me to undress just to impress him.

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💬 And you?

If you were in Huda’s place, would you have taken off the niqab for “a chance at a groom”?

Have you ever met someone who rejected you because of your clothing?

Send us your story… or encourage another girl in the comments with the word ♥