“A woman’s true beauty is…”, completing this sentence is what has been on my mind these past months. Since last December I have been working four days a week in my mother’s business; she has for almost 35 years a beauty salon in both hair- and skincare. Together with my mother Fatima, her team and clients, I have been working as a dialogue trainer and self-dialogue coach to evolve my mother’s legacy and take the beauty salon to the next level. This has made me think about and reflect on my own view of a woman’s true beauty.

Since last December I am wearing my hijab visibly. It has been the next step in my personal development; in understanding my authenticity and my journey to live more and more authentically. In my mother’s beauty salon I have become aware of the deeper comprehension of my readiness and desire to wear my hijab visibly. I say “visibly” because hijab means so much more than just wearing a headscarf, and it starts within the heart. For me hijab means first and foremost: liberation.

Liberation in so many ways, let me share a few. Liberation from the oppression of women, which is often called the beauty myth. The beauty myth stands for the media who defines what beauty is and hopes we will never actually be in a state of gratitude aka happiness, and prevents us from truly loving ourselves. The beauty myth stands for our culture that tells us women “sure, it’s great to advance in your career, to parent your children wholeheartedly, and be a person of great integrity – but the most important is for people to think you are beautiful on the outside; so if you got it, flaunt it like no tomorrow.” Liberation by not being a slave to the opinion of others - although I thought I was already very good at putting into practice my freedom in life, wearing my hijab took it to a whole new level.

Islam liberates women. I believe there is a larger force at work in the world which is specifically trying to keep women subdued and does its utmost to keep women away from Islam by continuously creating false images and perceptions about the truth of Islam. Islam honours women and reminds societies to uphold the standard of the status and rights of women. It is a timeless message of love, mercy, peace, freedom, justice and unity. Islam means surrender in peace. Surrender in peace to Allah - the source of love and the same singular God referred to in the Torah in Hebrew as Elohim, or spoken of by Jesus in Aramaic as the strikingly similar Allaha.

Surrender to Allah is the ultimate act of love, called worship, and it is not that you should seek love (from Allah), but to seek and find within yourself all the barriers that you have built against it. The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ was the founder of Islam. He was an Arab religious, social, and political leader who, inspired by God, preached and confirmed the monotheistic teachings of Adam, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and other prophets - Muslims who lived before him.

“Allah is Beautiful, and He loves beauty,” said Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. In short, in Islam true beauty is seen in a woman who knows her worth. True beauty is not about showing off her beauty; a woman is not to be exploited, and as such she would rather not put herself on display for others. True beauty is to take care of herself while cherishing how she is blessed with natural beautiful hair, lips, chest, and not needing to change or alter anything because she is pleased with what Allah has given her. True beauty is not wanting to conform to society nor imitate others; true beauty is she who values her inner as much as outer-self and gives others a chance to value her spoken word, her intellect, and her ideas. True beauty is the love she has for Allah, and it is in His remembrance she is aware of her independence and ability to think freely, every single day of her life.

Every woman has true beauty, and it is part of a woman's nature to make herself beautiful and love to take good care of her appearance. In Islam a woman's outward grooming is a reflection of her character; the better she takes care of her physical and mental health, of more noble character she is. It has been my source of inspiration these past months in my mother’s beauty salon. We are determined to support women to learn, step up and own their true beauty; visit fatima and sign up to be the first to know about the re-newal of my mother’s true beauty salon - for the woman who is ready to truly embrace and feel content with who she is, from the inside out.

Wassila Hachchi

April 8, 2023