Women who wear niqab, in their own words
First-person accounts published by the women themselves. Linked rather than reproduced, so the account stays where its author put it and remains hers to edit or remove.
Everything else on this site argues from texts. This section does not. A woman's account of her own life is not evidence of a ruling, and is not offered as any.
Why these are links
We do not reproduce these accounts as site content. Each stays where its author published it.
That is deliberate. These women wrote publicly, but publishing publicly is not the same as consenting to be anthologised on somebody else's site, and if any of them later takes a piece down, or changes her mind, the link should break rather than the account outliving her decision. Some live in countries where being identified as a niqab wearer carries real cost.
Accounts
My Niqab Story — Samar Asamoah, on crossing what she describes as a mental and physical barrier seven years after becoming Muslim.
What's it like to wear the niqab in the West?: Madiyah Umm Yusuf, including the part usually left out: that at the start it is not easy, and one feels odd and uncomfortable.
A Muslim Woman's Story — Aliyah bint Les Yaqub, who describes the niqab as what makes it possible for her to go out at all, and frames it as freedom rather than restriction.
Your Niqab Questions Answered — AYEINA, a personal FAQ on wearing niqab, written from the author's own experience.
From Malaysia
Pengalaman Aku Berniqab: an account of beginning, including the practical question of whether to start with a half niqab.
Kenapa aku cuba untuk memakai niqab? — Dya Mohamad, on the attempt rather than the arrival.
What is missing
These are the accounts that were public and findable. They over-represent women who write in English, who blog, and who are settled enough in the practice to describe it.
Women who wear niqab and do not write, or who write in Arabic, or who are in the middle of deciding, are not here. That is a limitation of the method, not a picture of who wears niqab.
One woman's account also does not stand in for every woman who wears niqab, any more than one person's experience represents an entire group.
If you wear niqab, or once did, and would like your account included or removed, [get in touch](/voices/submit). Contributions may be anonymous or pseudonymous, and may be withdrawn at any time without giving a reason. A change of heart, or a change in life circumstances, is honoured too. An account written while wearing niqab does not obligate its author if she later stops.