Let me introduce myself. My name is Marlina, I am the founder of Fateema sports hijab :) I am a mother of 4 and a medical doctor working as a GP.
How did it start?
I was an avid runner, I say was cos I stopped running after falling pregnant with my 4th child (temporarily of course, trying to rebuild my strength to start again hopefully 😄). Anyway, when I started running every other day, I struggled to find a comfortable hijab. Normal hijabs that I wore were just too hot and made me sweaty. I always wished I could wear something that will feel as if “I’m not wearing anything on my head” Lol. A bit of wishful thinking right?
So I bought a few different sports hijabs, and although they felt better to wear during exercise, I was still unsatisfied. I tried wearing them on their own, but my hair kept poking out! I wore an inner scarf, but it was making my head too hot and stuffy. While I ran, most of them moved so I had to keep readjusting them. They were not cheap too, which was very frustrating! 😓
So I did my own research. I looked at all the different brands of sports hijabs available and compared them by their characteristics and price. I went through reviews and comments from users of these hijabs and made a list of problems they had. I figured out that I needed to design a better sports hijab. I wanted a good quality sports hijab that is cooling, light, stays put, keeps all my hair in and still look good wearing it. Oh, and I want it to be affordable so that more muslim women can be active and actually enjoy exercising!
More muslim women should be able to lead an active and healthy lifestyle, without having to compromise their religious obligations. Working as a GP, I see patients with chronic diseases all the time, and this made me realise the importance of making our health a priority.
For even the Prophet (pbuh) said that, “The strong believer is more beloved to Allah than the weak believer, but there is goodness in both of them”.
💡Thus, the idea of Fateema sports hijab was born. My little baby Fatimah was born about the same time the sports hijabs arrived on my doorstep to be launched. You might have guessed it by now, yes the name Fateema was inspired by my baby girl’s name, and of course came from the inspiration of Fatimah radiyallahu anha, one of the greatest women in Islam as mentioned my Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).
❤️ Thank you and may Allah bless for supporting us, and please make du’a that Fateema sports hijab will one day be a world leading sports hijab brand, InshaAllah !