Bella Hadid Shared A Powerful Message About Muslim Women & Solidarity

Alongside countries such as France, Switzerland, Bulgaria, and Austria, Sri Lanka will become the latest nation to implement a ban on face veils in law, adding to the ever-growing conversation around the hijab (head covering) and niqab (face veil) bans that are spreading globally. And it seems conversations around these bans - and the subsequent Islamophobia that Muslim women are subjected to - have now hit the catwalks. Bella Hadid joined the conversation, posting a series of powerful Instagram posts to stand in solidarity with hijab-wearing Muslim women, reminding people of the origins of the hijab.

On Jan. 28, Vogue France posted an image of Julia Fox wearing a black headscarf to Instagram with the caption “Yes to the headscarf!” Many were quick to criticise the French magazine for the hypocrisy of praising a white non-Muslim woman for wearing a headscarf whilst the French Government legislates and controls how Muslim women can wear the hijab and niqab.

Split across three different Instagram posts, Hadid shared her thoughts; the first is written beneath a photo from a recent project by French publication Yard, which aimed to combat harmful stereotypes against hijabi women. In the caption she encourages solidarity, writing: “Stand up for your Muslim friends. If you see something , say something.”

“Although fashion is a way to push the boundaries and somehow make things more acceptable, I want us to remember where the Hijab resonated from and why it is so important to Muslim women world wide. I have seen first hand, the discrimination that PoC & Muslim people face on a regular basis in fashion. I know many of my Muslim sisters have faced unfair projections of others. It’s biased, prejudice and straight up racist.”

Following the hijab bans in a number of countries, there’s been a rise in protests across the world. Just last month, hijab-wearing college girls in the Karnataka district of India took to the streets outside their college after they were denied entry into the classroom for wearing a hijab.

In Hadid’s statement, speaking on the restrictions imposed on and experienced by Muslim women, she added, “It’s not your job to tell women whether or not they can STUDY or PLAY SPORTS, ESPECIALLY when it is pertaining to their faith and safety.”

“I urge France, India, Quebec, Belgium, and any other countries in the world who are discriminatory against Muslim women, to rethink what decisions you have made or are trying to make in the future about a body that is not yours.”