As a Muslim woman who chooses to wear the hijab, I have often been asked why I wear one – while climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, walking in the Jordanian desert or standing in front of the UK’s leading businesswomen.

Axar.az reports citing The National that never minds that headscarves have been worn throughout history, or that powerful women who are not Muslim, from Queen Elizabeth II to Joanna Lumley, have worn them.

None of that matters. The nuances are lost. People focus on the politics of the headscarf and the "Muslimness" of it. Just as unfortunate is the fact that some Muslims seem more concerned about the piece of cloth than they are about the women who wear it.

Choosing to wear a hijab –or not – should be a matter of individual choice. No woman should be abused or warrants praise for choosing to wear, or not wear, one. It doesn't need to be announced, celebrated or abused. When it is, the hijab becomes conflated with the woman. The hijab does not solely define a woman, nor her faith.

In today's culture wars, the hijab has become increasingly political. What those of us who engage in conversations about such issues need to do is to stop making the debate about the individual. If a woman’s hijab is relevant to your life, let's have a grown-up discussion about it. Your adulation if we wear it and hatred if we don't, or vice versa, means nothing if we don't have the right to make our own choices, without that choice being held up for close scrutiny at every turn – especially if we don’t have respect.