Rio de Janeiro: Dalilah Muhammad has overcome several obstacles like injury and coaching challenges to arrive at the glorious destination of an Olympic gold medallist. But her epic achievement has not stirred the global Muslim community the way Hijab-clad Olympic medallists like Ibtihaj Muhammad or Sara Ahmed did.
Understandably a Hijab clad Olympic medallist evicts enormous reaction from Muslims because by wearing a Hijab she expresses her Islamic faith loudly and unapologetically.
But does it mean that a non-Hijabi achiever like Dalilah Muhammad do not deserve to be applauded and celebrated like the Hijabi medallists?
We must remember that the matter of a woman’s Hijab is between her and God.
Hijab is a part of Islamic faith but not the be-all and end-all of it.
Just as it is wrong to undermine a woman’s ability because of presence of Hijab, it is wrong to not undermine her achievements because of absence of Hijab.
Winning an Olympic gold medal is a huge achievement for anyone. More so when it’s a woman and a Muslim woman at that.—-AGENCIES