A short video clip sparked a long conversation in our home. Two young women - both reverts to Islam - sat together, one gently teaching the other how to pray. The learner was visibly excited, though unsure and occasionally confused about the sequence. The teacher, instead of correcting harshly, kept encouraging her - celebrating each small step forward. What struck me was not just the interaction in the video, but the reaction beside me. My wife, who comes from a rural background in K-P and has had little formal education, watched with concern. "Why is she not wearing hijab?" she asked, almost instinctively. For her, this visible absence seemed to overshadow the learner's sincerity, eagerness and courage.

This moment, small as it may seem, captures a much larger paradox within our religious and social lives: we often judge people not by the direction they are moving in but by how closely they match a pre-defined image of what they should already be. The question is - where do these standards come from? They are rarely the........

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