forum A Question for Hijab-Wearing Muslims

Started March 15, 2020 by @LilNerdyGingerKitsune

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Hello, hope someone could help me out on this!

Just for a quick background, my book is a slice-of-life, graphic novel about housemaids working together in an Edwardian manor. Because I have a whole house staff to fill, I have a lot of supporting characters, and I try to make them as diverse as possible (People of color, plus-size characters, a character with autism, other characters with mental/physical disabilities, and different religions).
To get to the question at hand:
I have a female Muslim character who I draw wearing a hijab. In the story, all the female housemaids room together, and often hang/talk before bed. Do Muslim women wear their hijab if in a room with only other women? And is it insensitive to draw her without her hijab if that is the case?

I don't know if this is a stupid question, but the internet hasn't been helpful with this and I really want to make sure her portrayal is as respectful as possible!
Thank you!

Hi! I'm Muslim so I'm going to explain this as plainly as I can. Hopefully it makes sense outside of my head! Muslim women who wear hijab and referred to as Hijabi, and they don't usually wear hijab when chilling with other women, regardless of faith. Hijabis only wear hijab when around men, which is usually outside their homes. So if you want to draw her without her hijab, that would be fine, but the main point of including this shouldn't be the shock everyone has when they see her hair, more like it should just be a background feature, to normalize Hijabi women. Hope this helps!

Thanks so much, this was really helpful!

No problem! I'm glad I could help!