There is no such thing as "faith is a personal choice" for the hijabis
There is something that irks me when it comes to faith when spoken about in Western spaces and community, and it is how faith is only celebrated or accepted when it is a "personal choice", or "between person and God".
In these turbulent times when the Western empire claims to "liberate" "oppressed women" of a certain country in SWANA by bombing it, because their idea of liberation is made of "free hair" and "skirts". What happened to personal choice, then? Because suddenly, choosing to don the hijab and cover our hair, and parts of our bodies, is not the white people's idea of "freedom". All this to justify attacking a country, despite young girls in school being policed for their bodies, in at least one of their own country.
Coming from someone who lives in a Muslim country, and only ever experienced living in a non-Muslim country like, once in my life: I can say there is no such thing as "faith is a personal choice", especially for hijabis. They leave their homes wearing an emblem of their faith, presenting them as the contemporarily, most visible (yes I know Christian women also wear head coverings before you throw that at me, we're speaking about the general public here) people of faith.
For Muslim individuals who identify as women but choose not to, they are faced with personal persecution and judgement. (no, you are not allowed to speak on this/on behalf of them unless you know them by name, know how they express their faith, or even speak the same language as them) In fact, even among hijabis there are constant streams of how to wear the hijab for it to be considered a hijab. I am highlighting just how public the life and existence of a hijabi woman is regardless of their wishes or lifestyle, and not at all so people can continue to parrot their idea of "liberation".
For the most part, I've been treated like I'm of lesser intelligence for my faith (both sides: because I identify as a woman for the most part, and because I choose to believe in Islam). I've seen so-called atheists claim to be atheists when really, they're more antitheist.
And I think - frankly - it's exhausting.
The truth is that, no matter how I see it and try to be understanding, there will always be extremism in many sides of the arguments no matter how well-meaning, no matter how rational we believe we are. Chances are, even I have my own extreme set of values.
This is just a rant from observation, not so much for an action.
I really do not know what else can be done or encourage other than understanding and reflection for how we can be better people for those who carry their differences around us - visible or not.