Maybe it was too easy for people to identify me as Asian because of my clear brown skin color. Sometimes people would come up to me and ask, “Are you Arab?” and I used to say no. Then they asked again, “Are you Pakistani?” and I would answer them no. Once I asked someone why do you think I am Arab or Pakistani and they would say because you are coving your hair. A lot of the times, people confuse religion with ethnicity just like race and nationality. It is like saying, if a person doesn’t wear hijab then they are not Muslim. Wearing a hijab has nothing to do with my culture, it is my religion for which I wear hijab. Many people in my culture don’t wear hijab, but they are still considered to be Bengalis and just like that many Muslims don’t wear hijab, but they are still Muslims. One change or alteration in appearance doesn’t and can’t take away our religious beliefs or ethnicity. I understand that religion is part of our ethnicity, but there are other factors that contributes to the definition of ethnicity. Lot of people don’t understand that one factor can’t change our
Maybe it was too easy for people to identify me as Asian because of my clear brown skin color. Sometimes people would come up to me and ask, “Are you Arab?” and I used to say no. Then they asked again, “Are you Pakistani?” and I would answer them no. Once I asked someone why do you think I am Arab or Pakistani and they would say because you are coving your hair. A lot of the times, people confuse religion with ethnicity just like race and nationality. It is like saying, if a person doesn’t wear hijab then they are not Muslim. Wearing a hijab has nothing to do with my culture, it is my religion for which I wear hijab. Many people in my culture don’t wear hijab, but they are still considered to be Bengalis and just like that many Muslims don’t wear hijab, but they are still Muslims. One change or alteration in appearance doesn’t and can’t take away our religious beliefs or ethnicity. I understand that religion is part of our ethnicity, but there are other factors that contributes to the definition of ethnicity. Lot of people don’t understand that one factor can’t change our