Transit… Alone in traffic

Airport… A long transit in a European country.

Everyone around me is wearing whatever they like: bold colors and loose hair… And I’m in the middle of the crowd, wearing my abaya and headscarf, feeling like a black dot in a colorful painting.

Time stands still at the departure gate.
Everyone looks quickly or lightly…
A small child glances at me in surprise.
An older woman smiles a warm smile.
A man standing far away whispers to his friend and looks at me with determination.

My heart beat rapidly:
“I’m here alone, no one I know… and my clothing raises a question mark in everyone’s eyes.”

Suddenly… A foreign woman in her fifties, with white hair and thick glasses, approaches and sits next to me on the chair.
She says to me in English and broken Arabic:
— “Where are you from? I always see the hijab and think… Is it a choice or a compulsion?”

I smiled, feeling scared but also strong:
— “A choice… and sometimes the hardest choice, But it’s the path that brings peace to my heart.”

She said to me:
— “I used to be a devout Catholic… I gave up many things to fit in. But sometimes I feel lost. How come you’re not afraid of their stares?”

I said to her, looking at the people:
— “Fear never ends… but true loneliness is when you let go of yourself and lose your identity in the crowd. I take my homeland and my religion with me in my bag, in my clothes, and in my inner peace.”

A moment of silence…
The woman extended her hand and said to me:
— “You are brave… Thank you for reminding me to think about myself.”

The call to travel came…
I stood up and walked, and for the first time, I felt that the “abaya” wasn’t just a piece of cloth…
It was a flag raised in the midst of a world where everyone had lost their identity.

As I entered the gate of travel, I wanted to say to every veiled or modest girl:
“You are stronger than you can imagine… even Even if the whole world were to judge, it would be enough for your heart to be content and for God to see it.

If you were faced with a situation like this outside your country…

Would you be afraid and hide your identity, or would you stand out among the crowd of nationalities?

Send us your travel story or a photo of yourself in your Islamic dress in a foreign place—we’ll publish it and create an album of “Oswa Girls of the World”!

Or even write a short comment:

“If I were in her place… what would my heart say?