Muslim Caller: My Parents Didn't Want Me To Wear A Headscarf But This Is Why I do

22 May 2017, 12:43 | Updated: 22 May 2017, 16:40

This Muslim lawyer decided to wear the headscarf at 21, even though her parents didn't want her to. She explained to Beverley Turner why.

Beverley Turner was discussing Melania Trump's decision to forgo the headscarf during the presidential visit to Saudi Arabia.

The LBC Presenter praised her for it, as did this Muslim caller, Zareen, who pointed out that the choice to wear a headscarf is cultural, and no one should feel pressured to wear one. 

Zareen told Beverley that it was her choice, at 21, to start wearing hijab - even though her parents, and Pakistani community, had never encouraged her to do so. 

In this clip, she explains why she decided to start wearing one. 

When Beverley opened the hour she spoke about how she disagrees with the pressure for Islamic women to wear the hijab, referencing the poor women's rights in Saudi Arabia. 

When Zareen first spoke to Beverley, she pointed out that the poor women's rights are part of the cultur in Saudi Arabia, and not as a direct result of Islam. 

Beverley praised the caller for this, saying she 'stood corrected', and thanked Zareen for raising the point. She then asked the caller why she wears a headscarf. 

Zareen said: "I didn't start wearing a headscarf until I was 21. I'd read a lot and I was quite old by then, in my understanding. I'd gone to university at that point, I'd seen everything, and I decided to wear the headscarf because I'd read the Quaran, I'd read the translation.

"I have to say, the Pakistani community here, who came from an educated background originally, did not see religion as a thing to be followed, it was more culture, there was more emphasis on the the culmination of culture, rather than religion.

"But I went against my parents wishes when I wore the headscarf, it wasn't something which was imposed upon me, or something my parents brought me up to think I should be doing."

Zareem went onto speak about the idea that wearing the hijab make her 'oppressed'. 

She said: "We're being unfairly targeted by Western society saying that we're being oppressed, we're not being oppressed. I'm just following my abrhamic religion.