World Hijab Day: Hollywood Needs To Give Head-Scarf-Wearing Muslim Women The Screen Time They Deserve

Listen. I have a story idea. What if we made a show/movie with a hijabi Muslim woman as the lead? Sounds refreshingly new already, doesn’t it? Here’s how her story would go: She lives with her strict, traditional family in the West and is very unhappy. A big part of that is the piece of cloth covering her head. She constantly feels chained and robbed of her freedom because of the hijab. One day, her life is blessed with the entrance of a dashing, non-Muslim, white boy with innocent intentions. He is her knight in shining armor.

It becomes very clear what she should do to have a life with him. She takes off her hijab. Instantly, her life is filled with sunshine and confetti. She finally knows what freedom tastes like. White boy is all heart and eyes, falls in love with her and she rebelliously rides off into the sunset with him, much to the dismay of her toxic, oppressive family.

Does this storyline sound similar? That’s because it is. This is exactly how Muslim female characters are portrayed onscreen.

Most recently, Apple TV came under fire for their movie “Hala,” which is about a hijabi Muslim girl who “struggles to balance desire with her familial, cultural and religious obligations.” The trailer shows her praying, skateboarding (something her mother disapproves of), being unhappy about the modest clothes her parents make her buy and spending a lot of time with a non-Muslim white boy. She is happy with her white friend and distressed around her parents. This plot was criticized by many for misrepresenting and showing a stereotypical view of Muslim women.

But this isn’t the first time Hollywood has failed Muslim women.

The very popular Netflix series “Elite” has a hijabi character, Nadia. She faces a lot of trials at her new, expensive private school. To get the attention of a white boy she likes, she takes off her hijab, starts going to clubs and drinking alcohol. She starts to live a double life — one around her friends as the hijab-less, happy, partying Nadia and one as the fully covered, tired and unhappy Nadia around her parents.

The movie “Sand Storm” is filled with negative portrayals of Muslims. The men are shown as heavily misogynistic and the women are oppressed and submissive, entirely dependent on the men in their lives.

Nine times out of 10, Muslim women onscreen are shown as the oppressed wife or the niqabi suicide bomber sacrificing herself or the Westerner struggling to stay true to her faith. There’s a limited number of shows that have positive Muslim representation. Author and lecturer Jack Shaheen conducted a study, which showed that in more than 1,000 films showing Arab and Muslim characters — only 12 of those portrayals were positive. Yes, 12.

As a viewer and a hijabi myself, seeing this kind of representation angers and pains me. I can’t imagine the impression these shows would have on a non-Muslim with limited knowledge about Islam and the hijab. While it is important to acknowledge that there are women around the world who are forced to wear the hijab against their will, just focusing on this narrative shuts out the overwhelming majority of Muslim women who choose to cover themselves as a show of devotion to God and as a symbol of pride in being a Muslim. It also feeds into harmful and ignorant Western stereotypes that not only paint Muslim women as oppressed but also demonize Muslim men by showing them as the oppressors.

To me, my hijab is a symbol of freedom, of choice, because I get to choose who gets to see certain parts of me. What can be more liberating than that? My hijab doesn’t oppress me — society’s ignorance does and the film industry plays a huge part in propagating this.

So, Hollywood, how about a show/movie with a hijabi Muslim woman as the lead? Where the storyline does not revolve around her hijab? Where she’s happy with her family and doesn’t need a white (literally) knight to “rescue” her, where she goes about living a completely normal life and her hijab stays on the entire time?

A show that is basically less fiction — and more real life.

Nabeela Iqbal is a sophomore in college, majoring in Print Journalism. She’s extremely passionate about social justice, reading and writing. She hopes to become a journalist someday and give back to her community.