PETALING JAYA – Falling in-love with Islamic headscarf or hijab, Malaysia’s first-ever playboy girl has decided to revert to Islam on her birthday, months after taking up a new job as a hijab model.
“I hope everyone will pray that I will be steadfast and committed in my new journey,” Felixia Yeap said in her post on her Facebook page that has more than 750,000 likes, Malaysia Chronicle reported.
“Only Allah can repay all those who prayed for my new life,” the 28-year-old added.
The status announcing her plan to revert to Islam was widely accepted by many of her fans, who congratulated her on her decision.
Yeap used to pose in Playboy Philippines after taking the modeling career three years ago.
During these years, she lamenting feelings that she was “used” by men who were only out looking for fun instead of a wife for marriage.
In 2013, the young Malaysian’s life changed after falling in love with hijab after she received an offer to parade in the hijab for a commercial casting, the occasion that gave her unprecedented feelings of protection, happiness and safety.
“I believe I am worth more than just showing off my body. I am more than this.
“And I don’t feel proud if attention- or fame-seeking model wannabes out there look at me as their idol or role model,” she said in a blog post titled “The Truth Behind My Hijab” last year.
Muslim Malays form about 60% of Malaysia’s 26-million population, while Christians make up around 9.1%.
Islam sees hijab as an obligatory code of dress, not a religious symbol displaying one’s affiliations.
The status of women in Islam is often the target of attacks in the secular media, with many citing the Islamic dress as an example of the “subjugation” of women under Islamic law.
Yet, the truth is that 1400 years ago, Islam recognized women’s rights in a way that grants them the utmost protection and respect as well, a combination other systems fail to offer.
Islam granted them freedom of expression, political participation, business and financial rights, and asked the rest of society to hold them in high esteem and offer them due respect as mothers, sisters, wives, and daughters.