[Bosnian Muslim women talk during events to observe World Hijab Day, celebrating the veil traditionally worn by Muslim women, in Sarajevo, Bosnia, on Wednesday. (Image from Sioux City Journal)]
New Mexico: College campuses across the United States honored "World Hijab Day" with Muslim female students showing non-Muslims how to wear the head covering used by most of the women who practice Islam.
Students at the University of New Mexico hosted a booth on campus and helped non-Muslims try on the hijab before they posted selfies on social media, Sioux City Journal reported.
Sarah Rivali of Albuquerque City tried on the hijab along with a few dozen other women for the first time. She says the head covering made her feel beautiful.
The World Hijab Day, founded in 2013 by New Yorker Nazma Khan, started in response to Muslim women being harassed for wearing the head covering used by some women who practice Islam. Organizers ask non-Muslim women to wear hijabs for a day in solidarity with Muslim women worldwide.
Some Muslim women say they are mixed for the purpose of "World Hijab Day" amid Islamophobia and President Donald Trump's travel ban on several Muslim-majority countries.
The day is not just about wearing hijab, but serves as an opportunity to put yourself in the shoes of a hijab-wearing woman and think of the reasons of why they stand against a negative stance like Nazma Khan, who recalls her personal experience with the following words: "I experienced a great deal of discrimination due to my hijab. In middle school, I was called 'Batman' or 'ninja.'
"When I entered university after 9/11, I was called Osama Bin Laden and a terrorist. It was awful. I figured the only way to end this discrimination would be to ask my fellow sisters to experience wearing the hijab for themselves."
Why should anyone feel the need to call a young girl such insulting names? Other similar occurrences happened last year, too. In October, Silke Raats, a Belgian university student, cancelled her social experiment after she went to school wearing hijab, BBC Turkey reported.
Her friends thought she had gone mad, become a member of DAESH or was planning to marry a Muslim man.