Wearing A Hijab

Like wearing a cross necklace for the aesthetic appeal or relative commonality of it rather than to express commitment to Christianity, wearing a hijab does not have to stem from any sort of philosophical allegiance to Islam as a religion.  Wherever a person lives, they could possibly choose to wear something popularly associated with a given religion without the commonly assumed motivation of trying to show devotion to its deity.  Seeing someone wearing a hijab, for instance, does not intrinsically mean that they are a Muslim, much less a devout one.  Maybe they are, and maybe they are not (on both counts).  Ultimately, this expectation is not even reflective of the actual religious philosophy and text (the Quran) it supposedly springs from, as is the case with many lifestyle components evangelical Christians in America promote.

The hijab and the much bulkier burqa are absolutely not a part of Quranic Islam, so wearing them is already not about obeying a supposed command of Allah.  In Arabic culture (though outsiders could obviously wear the same styles), the hijab is the head covering wrapped around the hair and neck but not the face.  The burqa is a full-body covering that envelope the arms and hangs over the legs.  One pertains to a much smaller area of the body than the other, though the terms could be used interchangeably by unfamiliar people.  Neither is actually prescribed in the Quran, contrary to what many people might expect, only in the extra-Quranic legalist doctrines of later Islamic figures.  Muslim legalists and Arabic cultural constructs have become confused with Islam itself by some people who think that association at the level of assumptions and tradition is the same as an inherent conceptual connection.  Someone who has no commitment to Islam could still have a personal interest in wearing Arabic fashion, though it would more likely be with the hijab than the burqa.

As for the idea that seeing a hijab on someone means they are a Muslim, this is only a non sequitur assumption.  The epistemological stance here is like that of someone who sees a person in a church and assumes they are a Christian.  They are not necessarily present because they are a formally committed follower of  Yahweh's/Christ's religion or because they have even a fleeting, surface-level interest in Christianity.  Perhaps they go because of family pressures, similar to how some women might wear a hijab only because of cultural norms and all of the pressures that might come with them.  Perhaps they like the cultural history or influence of church service as a whole, without any philosophical commitment, and attend out of a personal desire to be part of something with others.  Independent of whether a religion is true or even whether people think it is true, some might borrow fashion or lifestyle habits from a former religion they adhered to or from a trend that happens to be affiliated with a religion.

With evangelicals I have encountered, there is a tendency to assume intention and philosophical alignment from things that really might have nothing to directly do with a person's core ideology.  An example among some of these Christians is that drinking alcohol publicly or using profanity might be assumed to signify lack of submission to God, who never opposes such things in themselves.  With the hijab, what of people who are forced to insincerely wear one or who wear it as non-Muslims in various countries because they like the way it looks?  A woman of Middle-Eastern descent might wear a hijab for some unconventional reason.  A foreigner might wear one for some reason besides allegiance to Islam.  The real tenets of Islam and the distinction between them and Arabic culture aside, partaking in things that are associated at a cultural level with expression of Islamic commitment can be done for unrelated, individualistic reasons.