By Khadijah Natalie Arbee
I am a muslim women. I wear the niqaab (face veil).
I’m one of those to whom the new law in France would apply. I’m
one of the ones being discussed by politicians, human rights groups
and the media.
I’m one of those whom many feel the need to liberate.
I’m one of those you may think is oppressed.
I’m one of those many of you detest the sight of...
I’m one of those whom you may believe is uneducated; one of the ones
you may think has no voice.
But I do. So let me speak.
I am not Arab, Asian or even African. I am Australian. No, not
‘first generation’, ‘second generation’, or an immigrant. On
my mother’s side, I’m of French-Canadian descent, and on my
father’s side; British. I grew up as a Christian, and attended
church occasionally. I was in the school swim team, and district
netball team. I holidayed with my family in the summer on the Gold
Coast, and I’m educated. I have a university degree.
When I was 18 years of age I was introduced to Islam. I studied it,
and accepted it a year and a half later. By the time I reached 20, I
was wearing the headscarf, and after I married I donned the niqaab.
Because of my husband? No.
My husband did not want me to wear it, although his mother and sister
do, and out of respect for his wishes I didn’t do so for two years.
But I wanted to, and eventually did, and knowing it to be in line with
our religion, my husband knew he had no authority to prevent me, and
he now greatly admires my strength.
Then, I wore it because of my father? No. He’s a catholic.
Because of my brother? Nope, haven’t got one.
My uncle? He’s an atheist.
Then because of my son? My eldest is only 8 years old. Then why??
Because I want to, that’s why.
And seeing as though my niqaab does not hurt anyone, that should be
sufficient reason for all of you liberals of a liberal society; I
should be able to finish my discussion right here. But although it may
be so for any other style of dress, it isn’t enough when it comes to
niqaab for some reason. You want more. So I will continue.
What makes me want to then? Two things: Faith and experience.
Faith? Yeah, faith. Faith in my Creator , faith in His decisions,
faith in Islam. A deep faith. Many wander at the faith of Muslims, at
their conviction and their commitment. It’s a faith, that if you are
not Muslim, is hard to explain or describe. The scripture of Islam,
the Qur’an has scientific miracles in it, such that have captivated
scientists globally, leading many to accept Islam. Moreover, the
Qur’an has not been changed in over a thousand years, since it was
revealed; not one letter moved from its place. I dare say there
isn’t a religious scripture like it, and this lends a clue as to the
root of such faith.
In the Qur’an, Allah Ta'ala tells us to cover ourselves, ‘so as to
be known, but not molested’. So our covering is a protection; a
liberation.
Protection? you ask. Liberation? From what?
This is where I move on to my second reason for veiling. Like I said,
I grew up in a Western secular society, in true Western secular style.
I dressed secular, lived secular, and enjoyed all the ‘liberties’
of such a society. Did I feel liberated, free? Suffice to say, we were
taught we were, so I never thought to think otherwise. It wasn’t
until I became Muslim, and started covering , that I really felt
liberated, and realised , before that I wasn’t.
Yet, time and time again we hear it said that we Muslim women are
forced to veil, are oppressed; treated by our men folk as nothing more
than ‘objects.’ And that niqaab, burqa, hijab; whatever term you
use, is a form of ‘imprisonment’.
But what about the imprisonment of anxiety and depression?
What about the imprisonment of anorexia and bulimia?
What about the imprisonment of frequent rigorous exercise routines?
What about the imprisonment of always feeling the need to look like
the super-model on the cover of Cosmo, or the pop-singer in the music
video?
What about the slavery to fashion?
What about the entrapment of jealousy??
How many women waste their hard-earned money, destroy their physical
and mental health, expose their bodies to vulnerability, abuse and
extortion in order to...... in order to what??
In order to gain approval and praise. Who’s approval and praise?
Men’s.
And yes, it seems even other women too. So it seems non-Muslim women
are not only slaves to men, but slaves to society as a whole.
Before you scream your disagreement, which many of you may do as a
knee-jerk reaction to being told you’re also oppressed , stop and
think. Look around you, contemplate society today, and its values, its
aspirations, its goals, its direction, its past-times, its hobbies....
What good has it done for women to doff more and more clothing?
What good has it done for images of uncovered made-up women to be
plastered on every billboard and magazine, on the TV, in the movies,
and on the net?
Has it really brought any good for women?
The women in the images may aptly feel good about themselves for a
while, but what does it mean for every other women?
Women who look upon these images usually become anxious, jealous,
unsure and critical of themselves, or all of these things. Many men
who view them will become aroused, or even unhappy, less satisfied
with the partners they already have. What can, and does this lead to?
Cheating, dumping, chastisement, and even harassment of other women,
and even children by, men who cannot find a legitimate outlet for
their constant arousal. And yes, I can hear some of you; ‘then the
men must control themselves!’ Frankly speaking that argument is well
spent, not to mention futile, as most men are, inherently, only able
to react to that, the same way a hungry lion would react if thrown a
juicy piece of steak, and told not to eat it....
Do the uncovered women captured in these images and industries, or
parading around, realise or even care how many young girls are
starving, purging and stressing themselves trying to mirror their
image? No.
It seems they even take perverse pleasure in it. One barely-dressed
singer even boldly and crudely sung recently, ‘Don’t you wish your
girlfriend was hot like me?’
What?!
What is this women and her ilk saying??
What are they implying??
What are they doing to their sisters in humanity??!
So many poor girls, eroding themselves physically and mentally as they
watch with jealousy and anxiety their partners ogle singers like this.
Have the same thing occur to these women, these ‘idols’; have
their partners swoon over another similarly attired, and witness their
reaction! And when their daughters are molested by men they
themselves, or women like them, have aroused, will they reflect?
Will they act?
Will society act?
Yeah, we see it reacting: ban the burqa!
It just amazes me how many women especially, despise my choice of
dress. Yet, would they rather their husband’s secretary to be
dressed like me or otherwise?
Would they rather the waitress serving the table at their anniversary
dinner, be dressed like me or otherwise?
Is it me and my sisters who are turning their husband’s head, or
attracting their boyfriends??
Is it me and my sisters who have led their daughters to anorexia, or
their sons to pornography?
Is it me and my sisters whose bodies and faces solicit their
husband’s/boyfriend’s attention on every corner? Is it me and my
sisters who have aroused that man to rape or harass their sisters?
Whose mode of ‘dress’ is truly oppressive and harmful to women??
So now I’ve spoken, and although I am one, I speak on behalf of
hundreds. I’ve explained to you that the majority of us have chosen
this mode of dress, especially in the West. I have told you that we
love it, we want it, and I’ve exemplified for you the inherent good
in it. I’ve discussed here the issue of niqaab based on the
suggestion that it is oppressive, or harmful to society, as this is
the main reason stated by the French for the ban. When it comes to
other issues of security and communication, then please see
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/11/veiled-threats/
for an excellent refutation of these arguments.
So to those of you who really are so concerned about ‘liberating’
me, then you will listen to what I have said, and let me and my
sisters be.
*If you are receiving this mail for the first time and you would like
Avoid envy, for envy devours good deeds just as fire devours fuel.(Abu
Dawud)
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Muslim leaders seek UN help on 'islamophobia' |
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By Robert Evans
Geneva - Muslim states said on Wednesday that what they call "islamophobia" is sweeping the West and its media and demanded that the United Nations take tougher action against it.
Delegates from Islamic countries, including Pakistan and Egypt, told the United Nations Human Rights Council that treatment of Muslims in Western countries amounted to racism and discrimination and must be fought.
"People of Arab origin face new forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related forms of intolerance and experience discrimination and marginalisation," an Egyptian delegate said, according to a UN summary.
And Pakistan, speaking for the 57-nation Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), said the council's special investigator into religious freedom should look into such racism "especially in Western societies".
Acting for the OIC, Pakistan has tabled a resolution at the council instructing its special investigator on religious freedom "to work closely with mass media organisations to ensure that they create and promote an atmosphere of respect and tolerance for religious and cultural diversity".
The OIC - and its allies in the 47-nation council including Russia, China and Cuba - dub criticism of Muslim practices and linking of terrorism waged under the proclaimed banner of Islamism as "islamophobia" that pillories all Muslims. - Reuters |
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Muslim leaders seek UN help on 'islamophobia' |
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By Robert Evans
Geneva - Muslim states said on Wednesday that what they call "islamophobia" is sweeping the West and its media and demanded that the United Nations take tougher action against it.
Delegates from Islamic countries, including Pakistan and Egypt, told the United Nations Human Rights Council that treatment of Muslims in Western countries amounted to racism and discrimination and must be fought.
"People of Arab origin face new forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related forms of intolerance and experience discrimination and marginalisation," an Egyptian delegate said, according to a UN summary.
And Pakistan, speaking for the 57-nation Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), said the council's special investigator into religious freedom should look into such racism "especially in Western societies".
Acting for the OIC, Pakistan has tabled a resolution at the council instructing its special investigator on religious freedom "to work closely with mass media organisations to ensure that they create and promote an atmosphere of respect and tolerance for religious and cultural diversity".
The OIC - and its allies in the 47-nation council including Russia, China and Cuba - dub criticism of Muslim practices and linking of terrorism waged under the proclaimed banner of Islamism as "islamophobia" that pillories all Muslims. - Reuters
![Reuters]()
Published on the Web by IOL on 2010-06-16 22:19:57 |
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The "War on Terrorism" for Oil: Folly of the Imperial Oil Adventure. Tolling Bells for Humanity |
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by Larry Chin
Faced with the end of the age of oil and systemic collapse, the leaders of the Anglo-American empire have engaged in increasingly violent and transparently futile zero-sum games to salvage what is left of a corrupt governmental and economic milieu.
Empire in crisis
From the BP-Deepwater Horizon catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico, crashing stock markets, and the bloody consequences of manufactured wars, it clear that the empire has lost control of its own criminal system.
As Michael C. Ruppert wrote in his 2004 book Crossing the Rubicon:
“There are many factors that the rulers of the American empire now have to manage as they read their own delusional map of the world. They have to:
- Apportion dwindling resources among competitors, some of whom possess nuclear weapons;
- Maintain and expand their control over enough of the oil and gas remaining to ensure their global dominance and maintain order among the citizens of the Empire;
- Simultaneously manage a global economic system, made possible by hydrocarbon energy that is collapsing and in which the growing population is demanding more things that can only be supplied by using still more hydrocarbon energy;
- Acknowledge that they cannot save their own economy without selling more of these products;
- Control the exploding demand for oil and gas through engineered recessions and wars that break national economies;
- Hide the evidence that they are systematically looting the wealth of all the people on the planet---even their own people---in order to maintain control;
- Maintain a secret revenue system to provide enough off-the-books capital for military advantage; improving their technological posture, and funding covert operations;
- Repress any dissent and head off any exposure to their actions;
- Convince the population that they are honorable;
- Kill off enough of the population so that they can maintain control after oil supplies have dwindled to the point of energy starvation.”
Never has this agenda, its tragic consequences and ultimate futility, been more obvious that with the unprecedented events of the past weeks.
BP-Deepwater Horizon: an “extinction event”
The explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig and the resulting oil super spill in the Gulf of Mexico is the worst man-made disaster, and the largest and most heinous act of environmental destruction in history.
This floating super-bomb remains completely out of control, spewing hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil into the Gulf, spreading in directions that cannot be predicted, becoming exponentially worse by the second. It threatens to dwarf the entire Gulf of Mexico, the entire southern and southeastern coast of the United States and Mississippi River, and is poised to spread into all of the world’s oceans. Wildlife, human life, industries, economies and livelihoods, all potentially face permanent damage and destruction. It is even possible that the Gulf will be rendered impossible to navigate.
What is certain is that this catastrophe, made possible by the oil agenda of the Anglo-American empire--- will continue to kill for generations, potentially rendering the entire Gulf of Mexico a dead zone.
For weeks, BP, government officials, and the corporate media have been engaged in a massive cover-up, lying about the unspeakable actual scale of the disaster, and lying about its clean-up and containment efforts. According to a spokesperson for Greenpeace, there has never been a successful response to an oil spill, and that what BP is doing at present is nothing but “response theater”. All attempts to contain the geyser----each of them series of failed experiments and theories--- have been futile and ineffective.
BP’s use of toxic chemical dispersants has been, at least in part, an attempt to obscure the visual horror of the spill from news cameras. The highly toxic dispersants themselves have further added to the toxicity of the spill, without actually removing any of the oil.
According to this frightening analysis by an experienced expert, what is visible on the surface, already the size of the state of Maryland may be as little as 20% of the actual scale of the spewing man-made volcano of toxic sludge being reported. Gigantic emissions of natural gas threaten to deplete the oxygen of the water in the Gulf.
The unprecedented amount of oil bursting out---perhaps as much as 4 barrels of oil per second---also raises questions about the actual size of the reservoir itself. Quoting the same analysis:
“This is an out of control volcano of oil spewing up with 70,000 psi behind it, from a reservoir nearly the size of the Gulf, with an estimated trillions of barrels of oil and gas tucked away. It is this deposit that has me reminding people of what the Shell geologist told me about the deposit. This was the quote, ‘Energy shortage..., Hell! We are afraid of running out of air to burn.’ The deposit is very large. It covers an area off shore something like 25,000 square miles. Natural Gas and Oil is leaking out of the deposit as far inland as Central Alabama and way over into Florida and even over to Louisiana almost as far as Texas. What we are seeing now could be small compared to what may yet unfold if things break apart, as they can do under such circumstances. If this thing blew, it could be like the Yellowstone Caldera, except from below a mile of sea, with a 1/4-mile opening, with up to 150,000 psi of oil and natural gas behind it.
That would be an extinction event.”
Leaked memos suggests that government officials were aware of a potential for a nightmare scenario. Will it simply be “allowed to happen” as the days, weeks and months pass?
BP, Halliburton and Transocean---notorious icons of “disaster capitalism”---enjoy long and enduring ties to the world governments, and their worldwide oil strategies.
Both the Bush-Cheney and Obama administrations, the Minerals Management Service (MMS) directly involved with allowing BP to operate Deepwater Horizon in reckless fashion, sheltering BP from regulatory requirements. This despite the fact that BP has a history of recklessness and disaster, known throughout the energy industry.
The case implicates Dick Cheney and the National Energy Policy Development Group (NEPDG), Cheney’s secret “energy task force”, which may have provided BP and other oil giants with the license to “fast track” into production without proper safeguards, and without proper regard to potential catastrophic spills or permanent environmental damage.
What, if any, punishment will BP face for turning the entire Gulf of Mexico into a dead zone; for threatening all of humanity? A series of useless hearings in which corrupt and feckless members of Congress help the directors of BP, Halliburton and Transocean maintain their innocence, conceding “mistakes”? Fines? Promises that “it will never happen again” while an apocalypse is happening?
Transocean has in fact, already profited from the disaster. The corporation was just paid $ 401 million in insurance, while petitioning to cap its liability for the disaster.
The economic cost alone can potentially bring down a world economy already teetering on the brink of collapse. Oil prices will be disrupted for decades
It is bitterly ironic that the Deepwater Horizon, which just weeks ago was viewed as the empire’s last greatest hope, will instead serve as its suicide.
Yet, even as the mega-volcano of toxic sludge relentlessly dwarfs more geography over the coming weeks and months, the empire’s leaders still refuse to stop.
The Obama administration has granted 27 new waivers to big oil companies since the BP explosion, allowing them to engage in yet more drilling and exploration, without proper environmental review---in the Gulf of Mexico.
The Kerry-Lieberman energy bill, pushed through Congress in recent days, establishes yet more offshore drilling around the country, along with “clean coal” (a fraud and myth, perpetrated by the coal industry, that Congress and the Obama administration continue to push).
More “war on terrorism” for more oil
As unintended oil calamity unfolds in the Gulf of Mexico, the planned oil chaos in the Middle East and Central Asia.
It is not clear if the foiled Times Square bombing was an attempted act of “real” terrorism or revenge, a false flag incident, a military-intelligence double or triple cross carried out by competing intelligence agencies, or a complete fabrication.
While the specifics of the case against alleged bomber Faisal Shahzad remain in the hands of deceptive US officials and law enforcement, the foiled plot provides the Obama administration with a twofold propaganda bonanza. The administration now has the pretext with which it can expand the “war on terrorism” into Pakistan, Waziristan and Iran, and further strengthen the foothold on the largest remaining oil and gas supplies of the Middle East and Central Asia. It was also a “wag the dog” diversion from the BP cataclysm in the Gulf of Mexico and crashing world stock markets.
Shazad’s connections to the CIA and MI6 raise immediate suspicions:
“A man arrested in Pakistan in connection with the Times Square car bombing attempt who had traveled with accused bomber Faisal Shahzad is a member of a terrorist organization that is controlled by British MI6 and the CIA.
“Jaish-e-Muhammad, the group now emerging in connection with the Times Square incident, was founded by Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, the 9/11 bagman who delivered $100,000 from the United Arab Emirates to Mohammed Atta at the behest of General Mahmud Ahmed, then head of the ISI. Mahmud Ahmed, the man who ordered Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh to bankroll the attacks on the Pentagon and the WorldTradeCenter, was meeting with Republican Congressman Porter Goss and Democratic Senator Bob Graham in Washington DC on the morning of 9/11. In the days before and after the attack, Ahmed also met with CIA Head George Tenet as well as current Vice-President Joe Biden, then Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
In a report on Jaish-e-Muhammad’s involvement in the murder of Daniel Pearl, who was investigating the ISI, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reportedthat the Pakistani government, “Believe that Saeed Sheikh’s power comes not from the ISI, but from his connections with our own CIA.”
Other suspicious factors include the presence of Special Forces immediately on scene, and the “mysterious white men” captured on video initially believed to be part of the bomb plot.According to an early CNN report, “a video obtained from a tourist in the area shows a person apparently running north on Broadway, while another video shows a balding man with dark hair removing a shirt and putting it in a bag before walking out of view of the camera, which was inside a restaurant.
Regardless of how the Times Square bombing case develops, “war on terrorism” is a perpetual covert operation designed to justify perpetual war, and endless new resource conflict.
As noted in Michel Chossudovsky’s America’s “War on Terrorism”, “the significant development of ‘radical Islam’ in the wake of September 11, in the Middle East and Central Asia, is consistent with Washington’s hidden agenda. The latter consists of sustaining rather than combating international terrorism, with a view to destabilizing national societies…” Virtually all of the world’s “Islamic terror” fronts---Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, etc.---are manipulations by the CIA and Pakistan’s ISI (a branch of the CIA) and nurtured for years with US government support.
The US government has been funding Taliban militants, and buying off defectors of various tribal factions, at the same time as Washington decries the “resurgent” Taliban.
The initial reporting of the Times Square plot in the mainstream corporate media linked Shahzad to Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud, brother of slain former Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud.
Subsequent reporting has been rife with conflicting information, from quotes of Mehsud promising new attacks on the US, denials, counter-denials, speculation, and confusion that becomes even more complicated when one traces recent events involving the Mehsuds and the Taliban going back two years.
Qari Zainuddin, Mehsud’s Taliban rival, was shot dead in late 2009. Zainuddin, who had split from Mehsud’s Taliban faction, was accused of being a top Al-Qaeda asset.
In early 2010, seven CIA agents were killed by militants supposedly avenging Baitullah Mehsud, who was believed by many to be an Al-Qaeda ally, and a CIA asset, linked to the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.
Other Pakistani men alleged to have direct connections to Shahzad have been arrested in Massachusetts Although it is “unclear whether they were witting accomplices or simply innocent money dealers”, the connection to Pakistan itself may prove enough to serve the purposes of war hawks in Washington.
The FBI has sent agents into Pakistan. The Obama administration and members of Congress, such as Senator Dianne Feinstein, are, in typical post-9/11 fashion, complaining about “intelligence failures” and vowing yet more aggressive domestic security. The “certain” ties to Pakistan, Waziristan, Iran, etc. will be used as fodder towards the next military attack..
The final hour
The signs are unavoidable and clear: the Anglo-American empire has run out of time, and oil, and humanity itself has paid the steepest cost.
From war and chaos, catastrophic financial meltdowns, or the mega-disaster in the Gulf of Mexico that could ultimately render all else moot, events are well beyond the empire’s ability to control or hide any of it.
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=19180 |
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The Legacy of Muslim Kung Fu Masters |
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by FSTC Limited
A group of school children practice martial arts formation under
the watch of their teacher in the Great Mosque of Xi'an.
An important legacy of Islam in China is represented by Muslim Kung Fu, developed throughout history by Muslim Masters, who merged in their endeavour and training between physical and spiritual perfection. The following short survey by Mohammed Khamouch and the longer article referred to below by the same author analyse this legacy and shed light on its different historical and cultural dimensions.
The Legacy of Muslim China is the legacy of Muslim Kung Fu. Muslim Masters have trained continuously and arduously, venturing the never-ending journey towards physical and spiritual perfection, poised by serving a lifelong inspiration to their Muslim communities and the proud nation of China. They have perceptively disseminated their knowledge of the art, unreadily revealed by the ancient masters to only a few truly dedicated students who were allowed a glimpse of a particular technique, after their sincerity and total devotion for the art was thoroughly tested. The high calibre of Muslim Kung fu Masters was deemed with an open mind and excelling to a high degree in both a combative and a philosophical approach.
A 1400 year chronology of Islam in China is nearly as old as the following reminder by the Prophet Muhammad: "The strong man is not the one who throws people in wrestling. The strong man is the one who has control of himself when he is angry". Such "hikmah" (wisdom) adhered to by Muslim Masters for centuries, intertwined with self development and cultivation of "Chi" (inner energy) utilized to tame the animal within and to help further their mastery of martial arts.
Muslim Masters have succeeded in harmonizing the internal and external form of Kung fu, thus successfully remaining akin to their original faith, applying tremendous "ijtihad" (effort), in producing ultimately effective and indigenous martial arts of their own, based on their religious (Islamic) creed, ethical manner, free from supposition and animosity. Coined under the term "Jiao-men", meaning sect fighting, ascribed by the "Hui" spiritual elders as "holy practice", in defense of their plight and to foster endurance among Muslim youth who were taught within boundaries of Mosque court yards, it sporadically sprouted with the "Muslim Fist" style, which later diligently produced a galaxy of Muslim Kung Fu Masters.
Indigenous Muslim martial arts were often epitomized with distinctive Islamic (Arabic) names and their technical effectiveness peaked within Kung Fu circles. Their ubiquitous presence immediately became transparent throughout China, from winning many free style fighting competitions to training senior bodyguards of China's president. Muslim interpretation of Kung Fu literally ranked amongst China's most predominant styles, marveled by many for its originality in the art of expressing the human body, gracefully embraced by Shaolin monks and other schools of "Quanshu" (i.e. pugilistic art).
The Chinese Muslim legacy experienced spontaneous struggles amidst economical strife, vested from their Arab and Persian ancestors who first docked the famous ports of Guangzhou and al-Zaytun (Quanzhou), from their perilous sea and land journeys, in search of auspicious trade, which transformed them to Masters of the early medieval East and West trade. Centuries later Master Cheng Ho, a well known Muslim figure who traversed far and wide, successfully combined both his martial arts expertise and commander-in-chief of the Ming's navy.
Resources:
http://muslimheritage.com/topics/default.cfm?TaxonomyTypeID=108&TaxonomySubTypeID=126&TaxonomyThirdLevelID=279&ArticleID=683 |
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How I Came to Love the Veil |
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By Yvonne Ridley
Sunday, October 22, 2006; Page B01
LONDON
I used to look at veiled women as quiet, oppressed creatures -- until I was
captured by the Taliban
In September 2001, just 15 days after the terrorist attacks on the United
States, I snuck into Afghanistan, clad in a head-to-toe blue burqa,
intending to write a newspaper account of life under the repressive regime.
Instead, I was discovered, arrested and detained for 10 days. I spat and
swore at my captors; they called me a "bad" woman but let me go after I
promised to read the Koran and study Islam. (Frankly, I'm not sure who was
happier when I was freed -- they or I.)
Back home in London, I kept my word about studying Islam -- and was amazed
by what I discovered. I'd been expecting Koran chapters on how to beat your
wife and oppress your daughters; instead, I found passages promoting the
liberation of women. Two-and-a-half years after my capture, I converted to
Islam, provoking a mixture of astonishment, disappointment and encouragement
among friends and relatives.
Now, it is with disgust and dismay that I watch here in Britain as former
foreign secretary Jack Straw describes the Muslim nikab -- a face veil that
reveals only the eyes -- as an unwelcome barrier to integration, with Prime
Minister Tony Blair, writer Salman Rushdie and even Italian Prime Minister
Romano Prodi leaping to his defense.
Having been on both sides of the veil, I can tell you that most Western male
politicians and journalists who lament the oppression of women in the
Islamic world have no idea what they are talking about. They go on about
veils, child brides, female circumcision, honor killings and forced
marriages, and they wrongly blame Islam for all this -- their arrogance
surpassed only by their ignorance.
These cultural issues and customs have nothing to do with Islam. A careful
reading of the Koran shows that just about everything that Western feminists
fought for in the 1970s was available to Muslim women 1,400 years ago. Women
in Islam are considered equal to men in spirituality, education and worth,
and a woman's gift for childbirth and child-rearing is regarded as a
positive attribute.
When Islam offers women so much, why are Western men so obsessed with Muslim
women's attire? Even British government ministers Gordon Brown and John Reid
have made disparaging remarks about the nikab -- and they hail from across
the Scottish border, where men wear skirts.
When I converted to Islam and began wearing a headscarf, the repercussions
were enormous. All I did was cover my head and hair -- but I instantly
became a second-class citizen. I knew I'd hear from the odd Islamophobe, but
I didn't expect so much open hostility from strangers. Cabs passed me by at
night, their "for hire" lights glowing. One cabbie, after dropping off a
white passenger right in front of me, glared at me when I rapped on his
window, then drove off. Another said, "Don't leave a bomb in the back seat"
and asked, "Where's bin Laden hiding?"
Yes, it is a religious obligation for Muslim women to dress modestly, but
the majority of Muslim women I know like wearing the hijab, which leaves the
face uncovered, though a few prefer the nikab. It is a personal statement:
My dress tells you that I am a Muslim and that I expect to be treated
respectfully, much as a Wall Street banker would say that a business suit
defines him as an executive to be taken seriously. And, especially among
converts to the faith like me, the attention of men who confront women with
inappropriate, leering behavior is not tolerable.
I was a Western feminist for many years, but I've discovered that Muslim
feminists are more radical than their secular counterparts. We hate those
ghastly beauty pageants, and tried to stop laughing in 2003 when judges of
the Miss Earth competition hailed the emergence of a bikini-clad Miss
Afghanistan, Vida Samadzai, as a giant leap for women's liberation. They
even gave Samadzai a special award for "representing the victory of women's
rights."
Some young Muslim feminists consider the hijab and the nikab political
symbols, too, a way of rejecting Western excesses such as binge drinking,
casual sex and drug use. What is more liberating: being judged on the length
of your skirt and the size of your surgically enhanced breasts, or being
judged on your character and intelligence? In Islam, superiority is achieved
through piety -- not beauty, wealth, power, position or sex.
I didn't know whether to scream or laugh when Italy's Prodi joined the
debate last week by declaring that it is "common sense" not to wear the
nikab because it makes social relations "more difficult." Nonsense. If this
is the case, then why are cellphones, landlines, e-mail, text messaging and
fax machines in daily use? And no one switches off the radio because they
can't see the presenter's face.
Under Islam, I am respected. It tells me that I have a right to an education
and that it is my duty to seek out knowledge, regardless of whether I am
single or married. Nowhere in the framework of Islam are we told that women
must wash, clean or cook for men. As for how Muslim men are allowed to beat
their wives -- it's simply not true. Critics of Islam will quote random
Koranic verses or hadith, but usually out of context. If a man does raise a
finger against his wife, he is not allowed to leave a mark on her body,
which is the Koran's way of saying, "Don't beat your wife, stupid."
It is not just Muslim men who must reevaluate the place and treatment of
women. According to a recent National Domestic Violence Hotline survey, 4
million American women experience a serious assault by a partner during an
average 12-month period. More than three women are killed by their husbands
and boyfriends every day -- that is nearly 5,500 since 9/11.
Violent men don't come from any particular religious or cultural category;
one in three women around the world has been beaten, coerced into sex or
otherwise abused in her lifetime, according to the hotline survey. This is a
global problem that transcends religion, wealth, class, race and culture.
But it is also true that in the West, men still believe that they are
superior to women, despite protests to the contrary. They still receive
better pay for equal work -- whether in the mailroom or the boardroom -- and
women are still treated as sexualized commodities whose power and influence
flow directly from their appearance.
And for those who are still trying to claim that Islam oppresses women,
recall this 1992 statement from the Rev. Pat Robertson, offering his views
on empowered women: Feminism is a "socialist, anti-family political movement
that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice
witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians."
Now you tell me who is civilized and who is not.
Yvonne Ridley is political editor of Islam Channel TV in London and coauthor
of "In the Hands of the Taliban: Her Extraordinary Story" (Robson Books). |
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