Superheroes: I Am Batman!

Besides being one of my favourite comic book characters, Batman has been someone I can relate to. Yes strange as it sounds, I can relate to a fictional billionaire comic book character. It’s the fact that he lives two lives you see, two lives which he is forced to accommodate in order to do what he feels is right.

It’s about having everything you could want in this world but feeling like there is more to it. It’s about not caring about money. it’s about going through a metamorphosis in order to cope with the past. It’s about hiding who you really are and pretending to be someone you are not in order to protect yourself and the ones you love. It’s about suiting up each and everyday and hoping no one learns your secret. It’s about trusting a selected few with your secret and hoping that you made the right choice. It’s about having to switch between these two completely different characters at a switch of a moment. It’s about the tiny panic attacks you have when you don’t know whether you will be caught or not. It’s about a secret which could be used to take advantage of you. It’s about the choices you have to make everyday as two different people. It’s about not being able to let the ones you love know. It’s about pretending to be someone you don’t really want to be. It’s about all those secrets you have to keep to yourself.

I have to say every time I wear my hijab after leaving home making sure no one sees me, it reminds me of suiting up in the batcave. Every time I have to lie and leave a crowd because I can’t let them know who I really am, it reminds me of him. Every time I have to make a choice between acting like a non-Hijabi (even though I don’t want to) and a Hijabi, it reminds me of him.  Every time I have to look at myself in the mirror and choose who I have to be today, it reminds me of him. Honestly every time I have to slide back my hijab before I go in front of my family it reminds me of him taking off his mask.

Yes, Batman is super cool with his batmobile, batsuit and fight against crime. I am too, with my prius, hijab and fight against the close minded 😀

I personally like to believe that every Hijabi and Niqabi is a superhero in their own right. We all have to make sacrifices, we all have to fight something and we all have to rise above the challenges that face us. It’s not easy making the choices we make, and it’s definitely not easy going through with them. But we do it with hopes of a better afterlife and some shred of understanding from those around us. Unfortunately most of the time we are made out to be the Mutants, menaces and vigilantes of the superhero world. But I think if we can learn one thing from these comics, it’s that you have to fight for what you believe in.

Stay strong and much love to all my superheroes!

Peace!