the national dress of Oman

This is a model wearing what I had considered the national dress of Oman, and especially the Capital City of Muscat. In the Hajar mountains I saw women and girls dressed in these when climbing, and it reminded me of Pakistani shalwar Kameez, but the pants were more fitted, but the top was looser and longer. The hair was generally covered in all hijab (headscarf) styles.

A woman cab driver in Oman.

Omani girls!!!!! The way I saw them loving and rocking their abayas, I realized not only did girls choose their hijabs, but they loved them. I came to love hijab in Oman because a. I had the freedom to choose it, and b. I had the choice to wear it in the way I felt was right, modest, but not void of my own expression. As I have learnt more and more about Islam, and can generally dicern the blurred lines of culture people infuse with it, I can make an educated expression of my beliefs and my personality. What people have to understand, on both sides of the fence (the religious and the disbelieving) is that a belief doesn't canel out a person (yes Dad, this comment is for you and any non-muslim parent who calls their headscarf wearing children brainwashed) , nor does a unique personality expressed compromise belief, faith, and love of Allah subhanhu wa ta'ala.