Drawn Together by Modesty

Denise Al-Shammari has kindly agreed to let me post a goodbye letter from her to her customers. She has been running the Islamic clothing store at AlHediya.com for ten years. Her store was one of the the first Islamic clothing stores I added to Modest Clothing Directory. I will always remember her store as #12. Twelve is the unique number (primary key) my database system assigned to her store entry because hers was the twelfth store I entered into the database. I entered ten Christian stores first, then World of Islam, and then AlHediya.com.

Most of the stores I added in 1999 are out of business now, so it has been a great feat for her to have lasted as long as she did.

I will be particularly bummed about the closing because I order all the abaya, hijab, and prayer garments for my “new Muslim convert gift packs” from her. I don’t relish the thought of trying to find a new supplier. I loved getting her bulging plastic mailing bags in the mail filled with stuff to give away.

Here is her letter:

Assalamu alaikum Dara,

Thanks for the support and kind words.

We have found that over the past couple of years, with small Islamic clothing sites opening up all over the Internet, that our customer base has continually gotten smaller and smaller. I assume it is because customers, especially those in the U.S., would rather get their orders delivered fast, from U.S. vendors, regardless of the quality of the clothing. So, we would rather close the business now than watch it continue to decline. That makes us really sad.

We have really enjoyed serving our customers over the past 10 years. The profits allowed us to contribute to some very worthwhile causes and we met some wonderful people.

We were hoping that, by letting our customers know so far in advance about our closing, this would give them a chance to stock up on their favorite items. I think that we are still about the only site that offers such variety and flexibility in our abaya, jilbob and suit lines.

We will miss you all and thank each and every one of you for a terrific decade. Take care and may Allah bless us all!

Denise Al-Shammari
http://www.alhediya.com

These women (Orthodox Jews, Catholic nuns, Orthodox Christian nuns, and Muslims) cover their hair and bodies in obedience to God’s commands to do so.

I know there are exceptions to this statement (i.e., some religious women cover their hair and bodies for other reasons), but I’m not talking about the exceptions.

Insight

Just because Jewish and Muslim women have husbands, if they so choose, doesn’t mean that their husbands force them to cover their hair. They cover their hair for the same reason Christian nuns do—to obey God. The choice to wear a head covering is between a woman and God. Indeed, some Jewish and Muslim husbands don’t even like their wife to be covering her hair.

How would a head covering woman end up being married to a husband who doesn’t agree with her decision to cover? Because people change. Many, many women didn’t cover when they were first married, but through study of God’s word, they have either become aware of God’s command to cover or they knew of the command already and finally had the courage of conviction to obey it.

P.S.

There are also non-monastic, head covering Christian women who cover their hair and dress modestly in obedience to God’s command too. What I’ve said applies to them too.