Thursday, March 27, 2008

One of Those Happy Hijab Moments

The other afternoon I (as usual) spent a couple of hours at Panera attempting to read ahead. Randomly some man approached me and asked if I'd do him a favor. My usual response to that question is "it depends." He explained he needed to run to his office for 15 minutes and asked if I would watch his stuff.

In a moment of niceness I agreed and asked where his belongings were. (He was standing before me empty handed. He pointed to a booth about six feet away. He walked back to it, packed up his laptop and whatever else he had and brought it all back to me placing it on the floor next to my bags.

He left and two thoughts came to mind: 1. Gosh I hope I don't get an airport type question from one of the Panera staffers. You know the "did you pack your own bags" deal? 2. This man doesn't know me, did he really pick me out of a crowd to watch his valuables for him?

About 15 minutes later, he returned from his office. When he walked over to retrieve his bag from the floor and thank me he voluntarily quipped "I trusted you because you have a sign of righteousness," waving his finger around his face to indicate my hijab was the sign.

subhan'Allah!

7 comments:

sumaya said...

Aww, SUBHANALLAH... thats so beautiful. thanks for sharing!

Sarah Al-Habib said...

Al Hamdulil Lah `ala ni'mat al Islam :) Al hamdulil Lah for the blessing of Islam and the blessing of hijab. It is truly an honor. Thank you for sharing Zahra, it brought a big smile to my face. :)

My Heart said...

beautiful! alhamdulillah!

Unknown said...

I'm not one of those girls that get emotionally very quickly, but subhan'Allah this brought tears to my eyes (don't worry...its the good type!!)

Anonymous said...

That's such a beautiful story Alhamdulillah! Thank you for sharing that story with us. When I'm wearing a hijab I get such positive feedback I mostly forget I'm wearing a hijab but I have friends who feel otherwise. I'll be sure to tell them about your experience

Unknown said...

something similar happened to me. but the lady was kind of a little crazy and was like "i was talking to god and asked god to help me out. and he pointed to you saying that she would help me out." nice, but a little strange.

Huda Shaka` said...

"O Prophet, tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to bring down over themselves [part] of their outer garments. That is more suitable that they will be known and not be abused..." [33: 59]

As I've heard several people mention, the one reason explicitly mentioned in the Quran for 'hijab' is identification - so that Muslim woman identify themselves as religious/righteous woman who should be treated a certain way (with respect, decency...) and also who will treat people a certain way (honestly, with integrity...).

Your stories tells exactly that!

Now, imagine if you had not be in a moment of niceness =)