Barrister by Day, Muslim by Design
They said wearing hijab would hold me back in finance. I wore it anyway. They took me seriously regardless.
When I got into served 40,000 meals, my aunt said, 'Great, now you'll hide your faith.' She meant well.
Baku was a culture shock. Not because of the pace of life — because of the staring. At the university, I was often the only person in Islamic dress in the room. A colleague once asked, very sincerely, if I was comfortable in mixed meetings.
The real test came during residency interviews. A department head looked at my CV, looked at my hijab, and asked, 'Don't you think clients might be... uncomfortable?' I smiled and said, 'The same way I handle everything — with excellence..'
The hardest moment wasn't bias from others. It was the voice in my own head during a back-to-back client meetings, whispering, 'Would this be easier without it?' And the honest answer was: probably.
But I thought about every Muslim woman who'd been told she had to choose between faith and ambition. I refused to be evidence for that lie.
I'm a chief surgeon now. I lead a team of 20. I still pray five times a day. The same aunt who told me to hide your faith now introduces me as 'my niece, the doctor.'
Last year, a medical student in hijab stopped me in the office kitchen. She said, 'Seeing you here makes me feel like I can do this.' I told her what I wish someone had told me: 'You don't just can. You already are.'