Salaamualaikum and Hello!

Two things are sharply clear in my mind as March 2021 begins: That we are nearly through the Islamic month of Rajab and into Sha’baan, which is a gallop towards Ramadan. And, we’re reaching a year of coronavirus living/sheltering in place (if you’re like my family). The immense weight and juxtaposition of those two things is not lost on me for a second.

NPR recently published an article where they asked listeners to tell them what was #TheMoment when COVID-19 became really real for them, the moment they knew that things were fundamentally changing. For me it was Friday, March 13, the last day my kids were in school, knowing already that our public school district had made the call to shut down for two weeks (haha) to “flatten the curve.” The next day my daughter was to take the SAT for the first time. My eldest son’s private autism school, a lifeline for our family hadn’t made the call to close.

But then in rapid fire, a phone call came saying my son’s school was closing, and there would be no immediate plans as to how his education would continue. Soon after, hours before she would take the exam after prepping for weeks, my daughter’s SATs were cancelled.

In two weeks, my kids will have been home with me in a sheltering-in-place that has lasted a year. Ramadan and the holy days of Dhul Hijjah spent in quarantine. Eid holidays spent at home, the second one with my husband and his parents quarantining in a hotel for two weeks after he went on a legit rescue mission to India when his mother contracted COVID to facilitate her care and subsequent recovery and bring his parents back home to the U.S., Alhamdullilah. That Eid ul Adha we dressed up, wore masks and met at a distance.

We all have stories to share – difficulties swallowed, challenges managed, silver linings. Perhaps you faced job loss. Perhaps you lost a loved one or were sick with COVID yourself. Jummah prayers shut down (and then in some masajid, cautiously opened with social distancing measures in place). Virtual schooling, in-person schooling with precautions in place, fighting in school districts across the country to try and figure out what to do for the kids.

And on and on and on.

The phrase bandied about in the first half of all this was “We are all in this together.” But I really don’t know about that, with so many inequities and inequalities laid bare by the pandemic in addition to ongoing divisiveness around how to best combat and/or live with COVID. What I do know, though, is that people around the country and the world have shown their strength and resilience in ways both big and small, through actions and intentions. We want to uplift that at Haute Hijab as we prepare for the coming of Ramadan in April.

As hard as it is to remember sometimes, it is worth reminding ourselves that Allah (S) is bigger than anything we are going through. And, in the same way that we must acknowledge the difficulties we have gone through and are living with, we also should remind ourselves of our strength and resiliency. In all my interactions with all of you this past year, I’ve seen just how strong you are, even when you don’t feel it yourself. And, that’s worth remembering.

March is Women’s History Month, and in the spirit of that and focusing on stories of resilience and strength, we are excited to bringing you a series focused on the Sahabiyat or Sahaba, the wonderful female companions of the Prophet Muhammad (saw) who worked to spread Islam and were the embodiment of so many attributes of strength, patience, vulnerability, wisdom, courage, faith and love that are the building blocks of our faith. We have a number of writers who will be writing about a Sahabiyat they admire and what we can learn from them in our modern times.

As we move towards the end of the month, we will turn our attention to pre-Ramadan prep, with the month of Sha’baan coming in the middle of March (don’t forget to finish your make-up fasts!). As per HH tradition, we’ll have a number of helpful articles about how to get ready for Ramadan physically and spiritually.

On the product side of things, this is a VERY exciting month as well, with two new products dropping, one of which you’ve been waiting for a long time: Our Next-Generation Ultimate Underscarves! Our underscarves have been a fan favorite for years, and we’ve been listening to your comments and constructive criticism about them, taking notes and working on improvements. We are excited to launch the next chapter in our underscarves and hope you’ll love the tweaks we’ve made. Also, we are excited to be bringing you a brand-new satin-lined underscarf for women with natural hair texture. This has been a long time coming!

Also coming towards the end of the month is a new iteration of our favorite Shaping Scrunchie, so stay tuned for that as well!

From March 2020 to March 2021, it feels simultaneously like a blur and the longest year ever. I’m looking for anything and everything to celebrate, to make special in our home, to praise my children. My youngest received an award last week - we made a big deal about it. My nephew started his first full time job with benefits, we cooked and sent over dinner for him. My daughter is graduating from high school after a senior year nobody wanted, we are showering her with hugs and kisses. Whatever we can do to let them know we are proud of their efforts knowing how hard it has been.

I hope you find whatever you need to keep you moving forward, whether that means the will to get out of bed or to complete that project you’ve been working on or whatever it is for you. If resilience is the capacity to recover from difficulty and our innate toughness, then I’d say every single one of us is oozing with resilience for still being here, however we are here.

Keep all of us here at HH in your du’as, as all of you are in ours.

Editorially yours,

Dilshad