Why You Cover Your Beautiful Hair?

Aku ingat pada suatu hari yang hangat tapi berangin di kota Fayetteville. Hari itu sekitar pukul 3.25 pm waktu setempat, saat aku dan beberapa kawan menunggu Red Bus sebagaimana biasanya. Hari lumayan cerah dan hangat. Dengan senang hati kami duduk-duduk di rumput yang mulai berwarna kecoklatan. Ada yang tiduran sembari menikmati langit biru, ada yang berphoto ria, ada yang bercanda sembari berebut makanan dan ada yang sedang menelpon.

Aku duduk bersama seorang kawan dari Peru. “Are you a Muslim, Ika?” tanyanya saat itu. Pertanyaan yang menjadi awal dari diskusi kami tentang agama dari dua perspektif yang berbeda. “Ya.” Jawabku

“I am not believed in religion.” Katanya. Aku kaget. Kukira dia Katolik. “I think religion is something absurd. Religion is..hm…something like weapon that use by powerful people to get power, right?” Ujarnya.Aku hanya diam. Kenapa bisa?

“But I am believed in God and I prays in my own way,” lanjutnya. Aku diam sejenak,berusaha mencerna kata-katanya seperti mengunyah kulit kacang, tenggorokanku seketika menjadi sakit tanpa alasan. Rasanya aneh mendengar pengakuan seperti itu meski sejak lama aku tahu bahwa di dunia ini ada banyak orang yang tidak percaya Tuhan dan agama.

“Hmm, how if God want you prays in His way?” tanyaku. Dia hanya tersenyum. “I don’t know. But I don’t believed in religion. That’s the point,” jelasnya. Kami tertawa bersama, entah menertawakan apa.

“You know, I am a Muslim just because I born from Muslim family. I don’t know what kind of religion I will chose if I born from non-Muslim family, maybe Christian, Hindu or Buddha.” Ujarku. Dia hanya mengangguk. Lalu kulanjutkan, “I have been learning my religion since I was a little girl. While I am learning it, I keep praying. To understand religion, I must learn, do something that my God asked to me and try to believe it.” Kataku.

“Oh, because you are a Muslim you cover your hair and your body?” Tanyanya lagi. “Ya, of course.” Jawabku. “Why?” tanyanya. “In holy Qur’an, there is a verse that God says to us, to adult woman to cover our bodies. Hm, it is a way to protect us from sexual abuse and something bad.” Aku berharap ia paham dengan penjelasanku. Tapi nampaknya dia masih bingung dan bertanya lagi. “But, how your….hm…your style is different with woman from Arab? They are use dark color and some of them cover their faces.” Dia makin penasaran.

“Ooh, there is a long explanation. But, for simple explanation is… hm, they follow their culture. Islam was founded in Saudi Arabia. But, Muslim people from around the world don’t adopt Arabic culture. So, if you visit Indonesia you will see that so many kinds of methods to wear hijab. Some of us like Arabic woman and some of them cover their faces, another wear hijab like me and the others wear simple hijab. So, we try to understand Islam by our own culture. That’s amazing.” Aku mencoba menjelaskan perbedannya sebisaku. Dia mengangguk. Kuharap sih mengerti dibanding tambah bingung.

Udara di penghujung musim gugur sangat dingin, karena itu berjemur dibawah sinar matahari adalah kemewahan yang tak boleh dilewatkan. Kami masih asyik menikmati kendaraan yang bersileweran di jalan raya, menikmati tawa renyah teman-teman kami, juga langit biru yang sesekali dihiasi garis putih dari jet yang lewat, atau daun-daun yang terbang dan hinggap di pangkuan kami. Rasanya seperti di negeri dongeng.

Aku dan teman-temanku di depan gedung Spring International Language Center (SILC) University of Arkansas

“In Indonesia, it is not easy to wear hijab like Arabic woman because woman in Indonesia work like man. We work in farm land, in plantation, in coastal area, in Island, in factory and in many fields. And, our government never produced a policy about how to wear out clothes. We wear hijab because we want. I started to wear hijab when I attended to Senior High School and it is by my own decision. There is no pressure from my parents or society. It is by heart.”

“But, I still don’t understand how woman have to cover their beautiful hair. Ika, can you take off your headscarf for a few moment? I want to see your hair?” dan sontak aku tertawa ngakak. “Why you laugh?” tanyanya bingung.

“Oh no…” kataku.

“Why? I just want to see your hair. Is it big problem?” Nampaknya dia pikir dia bisa melihat rambutku jika dia memintaku membuka jilbabku.

Aku tersenyum,“Ya. It is a problem. There are some people that allow to seeing my hair like my husband, my father and my son. It is the law about hijab. So, if you want to see my hair you must be my husband, hehehe…” lalu kami tertawa bersama.

Red Bus yang kami tunggu belum juga tiba. Sesekali kami berselonjor dan menikmati hangatnya matahari. Udara dingin seperti berlarian diantara kami, dan langit masih biru dan bersih. Beberapa teman bergabung diantara kami, tapi hanya kami berdua yang terlibat diskusi soal hijab dan agama.

“I think she is your friend from Arab.” Katanya sembari mengarahkan wajahnya ke Panera café. Aku lihat Azza berjalan dengan anaknya yang berusia 5 tahun. “Oh, she is Azza, my classmate.” Kataku.

“Why adult woman have to wear headscarf, but the little girl didn’t?” tanyanya lagi. Ya, aku mengerti bahwa dia bingung. “I like to be a little girl. They are can use beautiful dress and don’t need to follow the law. The role is we must wear hijab after we got menses. You know menses, right?” tanyaku balik. Dia hanya tersenyum. Hidung mancungnya nampak seperti patahan wafer yang ramping dan renyah. Wajahnya masih polos seperti bocah yang baru beranjak remaja. Dia setahun lebih muda dariku.

“When a woman gets menstruation, we are adult. This is the clear sign. So, we have to cover our body because our body is precious.” Dia tersenyum kecil. Lalu aku bertanya, “I think we have to ask people how they are didn’t cover their body. The same meaning as you questioned me. Why women in the world didn’t cover their body? Why they naked in the outside of their home? I don’t understand their feeling…” kataku. Dia hanya menggeleng dan bilang tidak tahu.

Aku melambaikan tangan pada Azza yang tengah berjalan ke arahku bersama gadis kecilnya, dua perempuan yanga sama-sama sangat cantik. “You see, she is from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. But she wear hijab like me, colorful.” Dari arah timur Red Bus datang, kami bangkit ketika mendengar beberapa kawan berteriak senang bahwa Red Bus telah tiba. Isinya penuh sesak sebagaimana biasanya. Tapi kesesakan itu justru menyenangkan bagiku, sebab saat kami sama-sama berebut oksigen dan mengeluarkan karbondioksida, udara didalam bis menjadi hangat.

Depok, 31 Desember 2013