Islam sees hijab as an obligatory code of dress, not a religious symbol displaying one’s affiliations.
Believing that hijab is her crown, Merium Bhuiyan, 34, a Muslim teacher at Uxbridge College, never removes it utside home.
Hoping to create a safe space for Muslim women where they can take off hijabs, Bhuiyan has become one of the first event organizers to host “halal parties” in London.
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“When I’ve looked for something similar in the past, it was either very expensive or there might have been male DJs and male photographers,” she told MyLondon.
“Whereas my event is completely private and it’s a place where women can take off their headscarves to just do their thing. No one’s going to hit on them. No one’s going to get drunk and sloppy.
“It’s just a safe space for women to party and meet each other. And once you’re inside, you don’t have to be a daughter or a mum or whoever it is you are outside.”
The parties welcomes women of all backgrounds (Image: Merium Bhuiyan)
As the vice-chair of the Islington Faiths Forum, Bhuiyan has done extensive work with the Muslim community in North London and was a speaker at Islington’s first Islamophobia awareness talk last year.
Organizing the twelfth halal party ahead of Ramadan, Bhuiyan invited women of all backgrounds to join her halal parties so long as they follow the event’s only rule: “no boys, no booze, no babies”.
The concept of halal, — meaning permissible in Arabic — has traditionally been applied to food.
It is the duty of every Muslim to seek what is halal and keep away from haram not only as regards food but also in all the other affairs of his life.