Rising Muslim star speaks out on dressing ‘modestly’

Australian actor Safia Arain reveals the challenges she has faced in her career so far and why her decision to embrace modest dressing is so revolutionary.

Safia stars in ABC TV’s House Of Gods. Picture: Steven Chee for Stellar

Safia Arain’s plan A was to become an actor. Her plan B? It didn’t exist, much to the initial concern of her parents.

But Arain knew that having a backup plan would mean giving herself an out if it became too hard. “I knew the whole way through that acting was really where I needed to be and what I wanted to do,” she tells Stellar. “So I went for it.”

Her laser focus paid off with a quick succession of sharp roles.

After graduating from Sydney’s Screenwise film and TV school in 2019, Arain has appeared as a series regular in all four seasons of the Stan dramedy Bump and has featured in the drama series Last King Of the Cross, Underbelly: Vanishing Act, Pieces Of Her and Amazing Grace. Last year’s release The Appleton Ladies’ Potato Race gave Arain her first feature-film role.

She’s red-y! Safia Arain. Picture: Steven Chee for Stellar

‘I was never sure that I could be a Muslim and an actor.’ Picture: Steven Chee for Stellar

Even so, there have been challenges for the UK-born, Sydney-raised star of Pakistani heritage. “I was never sure that I could be a Muslim and an actor,” she explains.

“They seemed like two opposing things. How could I be a Muslim actor who doesn’t do kissing scenes, who doesn’t do nudity or sex scenes? I didn’t know if that was possible. And I hadn’t seen many Muslim actors before me in Australia or in the West who stuck to the same boundary that I would want to have. But I just stuck to it, and a path presented itself.”

That determination led her to House Of Gods, a new six-part ABC drama centred on an Iraqi Australian family in Western Sydney whose patriarch is elected head cleric of their local mosque. Nearly all of the main characters in the series are Arab; to that end, the actors are of Arab or Middle-Eastern heritage, or else Muslim.

Picture: Steven Chee for Stellar

“People of faith are looked at in a certain way, let alone people of the Muslim faith, let alone women of the Muslim faith,” Arain says.

“The show breaks stereotypes but it’s not trying to be palatable for audiences. It just tries to be truthful.”

While Arain likes to bare truths both on and off the screen, her preference for a more conservative wardrobe reflects a different kind of boldness.

See the full shoot inside Stellar this Sunday. Picture: Stellar

Although often linked to the Islamic faith, the act of modest dressing is observed by a wide range of people across the world, including those who follow the tenets of Mormonism and Orthodox Judaism.

“Modest fashion is different for every person,” Arain tells Stellar.

“I dress modestly so I can feel the most comfortable, the most beautiful and the most close to my faith. It teaches me not to centre my value and my worth around my physical looks. I feel like, in a society that profits off of women’s bodies, choosing to dress modestly is very liberating and almost kind of revolutionary.”

For Arain, it’s important that the decision to cover up – or not – is an autonomous one. “We say as women, ‘My body, my choice’. I have the choice to cover or not to cover. If you want to dress modestly, dress modestly. If you want to dress revealingly, do it. Whatever makes you feel your best.”

House Of Gods premieres at 8.30pm on February 25 on ABC TV and iview.