Q.What is No Hijab Day and why was it created?

No Hijab Day is an annual event (February 1) created by Yasmine Mohammed to support women who are forced to wear the hijab. It highlights the lack of choice in Islamic countries and communities where removing the hijab is criminalized and can lead to arrest, violence, or even death.

You can read more about it in Yasmine’s book Unveiled. 

 

Q. How is it different from World Hijab Day?

World Hijab Day encourages people to try wearing hijab for “solidarity” and normalizes hijab.
No Hijab Day stands with women for whom hijab is not a choice, and who want the right to remove it without punishment. It helps educate people about the realities of hijab in Islamic countries and communities. 

 

Q. What is the main message of No Hijab Day?

No Hijab Day simply centers the voices of women who are forced to veil and cannot express autonomy over their own bodies. It empowers them to reclaim their voices. It also educates Westerners about the reality of hijab and allows them to show up in solidarity.

 

Q. Isn’t hijab a choice?

No, hijab isn’t a choice. Women and girls are coerced, indoctrinated, harassed, forced, stigmatized, flogged, imprisoned, acid attacked, and murdered into wearing hijab. And this starts from a very young age and is systematic. If it was a real choice, women wouldn’t be threatened to death for refusing to wear it. 

 

 

Q. How can I join the campaign?

You can buy a t-shirt/ hoodie and a banner/ poster from the website (or make your own). On February 1st, we are going out onto the streets to stand over a bridge, on a street corner, or on a campus, to show our solidarity with women who are courageously refusing to wear hijab or those forced into it despite their wishes. 

 

Q. Who participates in No Hijab Day? Only ex-Muslims?

Everyone can participate. Participants include:

• Women in Iran, Afghanistan, and other countries with compulsory hijab

• Muslim women who believe hijab must not be forced on women 

• Ex-Muslims

• Human rights activists

• Anyone who supports bodily autonomy

• Women against patriarchal sexist religious laws that force women & girls to wear hijab

• Women who are worried about the future and the attempts to normalize hijab wearing, and encroach on our secular freedoms

 

Q. What does it mean for women who are forced to wear the hijab?

It gives them a day where the world sees them, acknowledges their struggle, and publicly supports their fight for basic freedom and bodily autonomy, the right to show their hair without fear.

 

Q. Is No Hijab Day anti-Islam or simply pro-choice?

No Hijab Day is simply pro-choice.
It demands that hijab not be enforced by law, family, or violence. It demands that women be offered autonomy, dignity, and freedom to wear what they would choose themselves, and not dictated by religious rules and expectations. It also demands that those who openly criticize the hijab, be allowed to do so without any threats, stigma, or incorrect accusations of racism. 

 

 

Q. Why do some people object to No Hijab Day?

Because:

• They want to maintain the narrative that hijab is always “empowering”

• They ignore or deny compulsory hijab laws

• They see it as threatening political or religious control over women

• They benefit from women’s subjugation 

 

Q. What risks do women face when removing the hijab in countries where it’s mandatory?

In places like Iran and Afghanistan, women risk:

• Arrest

• Flogging or imprisonment

• Physical violence, assault, and rape

• Getting murdered either by the morality police/ government or through honour violence perpetrated by their male guardians 

• Losing jobs, education, or custody of their children

• Being shot during protests

 

Q. How can people support women participating in No Hijab Day?

• Participate in protests around the world to draw attention to the issue on February 1st

• Organize your own little protest whether alone or with your group around the world, get a banner and t-shirts/ hoodies from the website and go conquer a bridge in your town on February 1st

• Take videos/ pictures on February 1st and share to social media

• Share our stories 

• Help us make #FreeFromHijab and #NoHijabDay go viral

• Amplify videos and testimonies

• Push media to cover forced hijab laws

• Speak out against regimes that punish women for noncompliance

 

Q. What is the larger message about bodily autonomy, freedom, and women’s rights?

No Hijab Day says:
Your body is yours. Your hair is yours. Your choice is yours. Women deserve the right to dress or undress without fear, coercion, or punishment. And this includes Muslim women around the world. 

 

 

 

Q. I am a man. Can I join this campaign?

Yes! You can definitely join the No Hijab Day campaign. You can buy the t-shirt/ hoodie or banners and start your own protests in your city or join a group who is already organizing one. If you know a woman who would like to join, you can support her, and take pictures and videos to amplify our voices. You can also donate on the website to help us provide more t-shirts/ banners for those who can’t afford it. And last but not least, spread the word so more people can find out about it.

 

Q. I can’t afford to buy a t-shirt or a banner but I would love to join the campaign on February 1st. Can you help?

Yes, we can. If you can’t buy your own merch for the day of the protest, we can send them to you if you contact us in time. Fill out the Contact Us form on the website and one of our volunteers will get in touch with you.