u/LogicalAwareness9361
I’ve seen a lot of people say that dressing modestly (abaya and hijab) is actually a lot cooler during the summertime, but that’s just not true for my personal experience or friends that I know.
Wearing hijab during the summertime (and I’m only in Canada - can’t imagine a warmer climate) was SO unbearably hard I always felt like I was suffocating and about to pass out.
I had friends who refused to leave the house because of how uncomfortable it was.
At what point do we accept that Allah didn’t intend for intense hardship on women?
A common sentiment of encouragement from other Muslims was usually “well if you can’t handle this heat, how could you handle the hellfire?”
And I just can’t understand that. I do understand that this life is a test and we should struggle and strive for goodness but at what point does it stop being a struggle / striving and start just being torturous ?
Could you not just wear a VERY thin, lacelike abaya and hijab? White to reflect maximum sunlight, cotton to stay cool through absorbtion and evaporation of sweat and some kind of lacelike fabric pattern so it does not insulate and is maximally breathable?
I’m not a Muslim, so I’m not sure if my input will be at all useful: IMO widespread AC inhibits the body from acclimating, also there are different ways that weather can feel hot. Covering up definitely reduces solar irradiance and if the wind is blowing it makes sense to me that portable shade is worth the reduced natural convection.
My understanding is that the instruction is to modesty, not to a specific garment. I don’t know about in Arabic, but in my experience modest is used as a relative term, it’s always in comparison to the norm, (eg a modest home) or a person is modest if they brag/seek praise less than normal.
I understand hijabis to wear their hijabs as identity markers. Like as a symbol of their culture. I’m proud that Canada has made progress towards being a diverse and accepting society where different cultures can grow and complement each other. I think cultures that have survived colonization should be proud of that cultural achievement, and should wear their identity markers with pride. But is wearing hijab with pride modest? Maybe it could be viewed as an ostentatious display of self-righteousness. Do Muslims believe in receiving guidance through prayer?