Wading into the Hijab debate, former Bollywood actor Zaira Wasim, who quit showbiz to reinvent the relationship with Almighty Allah, said headscarves aren’t a choice but an obligation in Islam.

“The inherited notion of Hijab being a choice is an ill-informed one. It’s often either a construct of convenience or ignorance. Hijab isn’t a choice but an obligation in Islam. Likewise, a woman who wears the Hijab is fulfilling an obligation enjoined upon her by the God she loves and has submitted herself to,” said wrote on Instagram.

The Hijab controversy started early this year when six female Muslim students at Government PU College in Udupi, Karnataka were not allowed to enter the college premises wearing headscarves.  Students staged a protest against the Hijab ban. Later it spread to more colleges as girl students wearing Hijab or burqa were not allowed entry.

Zaira said she wears the Hijab with gratitude and humility, resent and resist this entire system where women are being stopped and harassed for merely carrying out a religious commitment. 

“Stacking this bias against Muslim women and setting up systems where they should have to decide between education and Hijab or to give up either is an absolute injustice. You’re attempting to compel them to make a very specific choice that feeds your agenda and then criticizing them while they’re imprisoned in what you’ve constructed. There is no other option to encourage them to choose differently. What is this if not a bias with people who confirm it acting in support of it?” she asked.

On January 31, a writ petition was filed in the Karnataka High Court by a Muslim girl student against the Hijab ban. The single judge referred the matter to a larger bench. Last week, the court restrained all the students from wearing saffron shawls, scarves, Hijab, and any religious garments within the classroom.

Zaira Wasim regretted that Hijab row is being used to create a facade of empowerment’. “On top of all this, building a facade that all this is being done in the name of empowerment is even worse when it is quite exactly the opposite of that. Sad,” she said.

In July 2019, Dangal girl shocked the showbiz when she quit acting, saying that it “threatened” her relationship with her faith.

“As I had just started to explore and make sense of the things to which I dedicated my time, efforts, and emotions and tried to grab hold of a new lifestyle, it was only for me to realize that though I may fit here perfectly, I do not belong here,” she wrote after quitting showbiz.

“This field indeed brought a lot of love, support, and applause my way, but what it also did was to lead me to a path of ignorance, as I silently and unconsciously transitioned out of Imaan [faith]. While I continued to work in an environment that consistently interfered with my Imaan [faith], my relationship with my religion was threatened,” she added. 

National Award-winning former actor said it was always so easy to succumb to the environment that “damaged my peace, Imaan [faith] and my relationship with Allah.”