The right to dress – does it suit your eye?
March 12, 2010
The ban on the niqab violates my human rights.
People talk about rights as stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and how important they are for all of us, or at least for some.
So… you can ask me a simple question, fair enough that is right we all have the right to express, dress and behave the way we like or aspire. But where do we get inspired from?
Every year in the UK there is a festival called Infest. Alternative electronic music fans get together once a year for couple of days to celebrate their music choice. The first time I saw them I thought they were freaks, but no they were normal everyday people dressed the way they wanted to express their own choice. In many cases they were executives in major international corporations. I used to have a friend – she was punk. People were staring at her while she was walking but she couldn’t care less. It was her choice and no one could ever judge her for that. It was her right and nobody banned it.
Society is built on a base of differences, but who defines the differences we have and the acceptance we get from our fellow man?
A few years ago I used to dress with miniskirts and ’sexy’ tops. Sometimes I got looks of admiration, sometimes looks of disgust and many more looks were judgmental. By dressing ’sexy’, and sexy can be defined in many different ways, you are perceived as easy or with low morals.
Now I have chosen to dress modest and to wear a scarf. It is my choice, but yet again I’m perceived to be oppressed.
Why? Simply because of the way I dress. So what defines how I can dress?
Clothes are a way of expressing ourselves, how we feel and what we believe. How we would like people to deal with us. Our clothes are the first impression we give to people and the boundaries we set between us and them. For me, simply, it’s a right. But why then does society or politicians have to choose for me and forbid me to express myself in the way Ι find most appropriate for me?
Wearing hijab, niqab or abaya (a dress) is a choice of a woman – not oppression. Oppression is when you forbid a woman to wear what she feels like just because it doesn’t suit your eye. So where is my human right…?
photo credit: Sylvain Labeste
This whole burqa thing is getting out of control
October 9, 2009
Canada has now caught on to this virus of wiping away the ’freedom of religion’ card in the name of “we want to liberate you”. We don’t know you, we don’t want to know you, in fact, we wish you were wiped off of the face of the earth, but we want to ‘liberate’ you.
“The Muslim Canadian Congress called on the federal government to prohibit the two garments in order to prevent women from covering their faces in public – a practice the group said has no place in a society that supports gender equality.” (Excerpt, The Canadian Press, Toronto)
Who the heck is The Muslim Canadian Congress? The Canadian Muslim community certainly hasn’t heard of them. And when I checked out their website, it was no surprise to me that they were “progressive Muslims” a.k.a. Muslims who have no scholarly knowledge about Islam who want to erradicate the rulings of Allah in order to “liberalize” Muslims.
What makes me upset about this whole ‘burqa’ issue is that’s it’s just all media propoganda. I wish we would all just cut through the junk and say what’s really going on. If a government is going to make a law that prohibits something, don’t they need substatial evidence? Hmm, let’s see.
- How many authentic Islamic scholars did they interview to find out if the niqab is actually a religious tenant or cultural practice?
- How many authentic niqabis did they interview to find out if they were forced to wear the niqab or do it because they believe it’s a religious practice?
- How many cases of ‘oppression due to forced niqab’ do they have recorded in the courts?
Hmm, let’s see….. none, none and …… (surprise) none.
And that’s not all. The media is doing an excellent job of taking false statements and spreading them. Do you really want to know what the majority of the global Muslim community thinks about this issue? Here it goes:
First of all, who the heck wears a burqa?! No one, except for some women in Afghanistan. That garment is part of their culture, not ours. Religiously, the term is niqab, meaning face veil. It is part of the religion of Islam. Yes, I will say it again. It is part of the religion of Islam. It is not a cultural practice. How do I know this? The wives of Prophet Muhammad all wore it. All authentic Islamic scholars will give you substantial evidence that it is a religious practice. Is it compulsory for every women to wear it? The majority of the scholars will say (based on proof that is outside of the scope of this article) that it is permissible to wear it but not compulsory.
What will average Muslims tell you about the niqab? They will say that the hijab is compulsory but the niqab is not and they do not prefer the niqab for themselves. However, they wholeheartedly understand the proofs that it is permissible in Islam to wear and those who choose to wear it have the “freedom of religion” to do so.
It is very, very rare to find niqabis who are forced to wear it. All the niqabis I’ve met wear it because they want to and because they believe it’s a religious practice and they do it out of their own free will. All of them feel liberated by doing it. These people are your average citizens who are peaceful and caring neighbours, who care about the betterment of their children, their society and their country. They just happen to wear an extra piece of 1′x1′ of fabric around their face.
So, again, Canadian government, French government, why in the world are you oppressing our sisters?
Note: Update
CAIR-CAN publishes an official press release on the issue of the Canadian ban of the niqab:
Statement by Canadian Islamic Scholars and Mainstream Muslim Organizations Reaffirms Freedom of Religious Expression
http://www.caircan.ca/itn_more.php?id=3056_0_2_0_C
How Greece welcomes its female Muslims
October 4, 2009
Source: IslamOnline.net
As the first step in our journey to discover the European Muslim women’s opportunities and challenges that are hindering them from integrating into Europe’s different communities, IslamOnline.net (IOL)’s European Muslims Page is quoting Anna Stamou on the status of Greek Muslim women.
Name: Anna Stamou
Profession: Anna Stamou is one of the National Board Members of Muslim Association of Greece (MAG)
Country: Greece
IslamOnline.net (IOL): How do you evaluate the Muslim women’s situation in Europe?
Mrs. Stamou: I believe that the Muslim women in Europe have many opportunities to succeed in their fields of interest. However, they still face more challenges since the European atmosphere is not Muslim-friendly, though Europe is a tolerant continent.
IOL: What are the major problems facing Muslim women in the West? And how do you suggest they should react to these problems?
Mrs.Stamou: In this context, I recall a Greek saying “The Muslim woman has to prove that she is not an elephant,” this means that she must change the stereotypes that perceive the Muslim women as being oppressed, hidden behind their veils, brain washed, and with no free will and no rights.
After a Muslim woman manages to prove all these stereotypes wrong, then she has to encounter all major problems that any ordinary European woman has: starting with unemployment and having less career opportunities than men.
However, with faith and high educational level, a Muslim woman is able to cope with all challenges in life and to reflect her true reality.
IOL: What is the status of Muslim women in Greece? Are there any key figures who occupy high positions in society?
Mrs. Stamou: Greece is divided into two main Muslim communities that rarely communicate. The smaller but the older community is the Greek Muslim minority of Thrace while the bigger but newer is the Muslim immigrants’ community. The later live all over Greece. The Greek converts mingle with the immigrant and mostly with the Arabic-speaking community.
The majority of the immigrant women in Greece are not active, especially for those women who try to provide Islamic education for other women or for their children. The successful women in Thrace have (in the majority) weak religious conscience and they try to manage their lives showing up their secular face.
Though we have some Greek Muslim women working in politics, they don’t wear hijab and they have never demanded any rights for Muslims. They pursue only their local claims (which are really a lot). The active women are the Greek converts who maintain their Greek culture and practice Islam freely.
IOL: What are your contributions in favor of the Muslim women in your country?
Mrs.Stamou: Since I became a Muslim, all my focus was on providing Islamic information, material, and inspiration for fellow Muslims. I started with publishing books and an Islamic cultural newspaper then my efforts included supporting other converts.
Now my responsibilities increased since I joined the Greeks Rethink team. I’m also responsible for the marketing and public relations of the Muslim Association of Greece.
I wish I could have the opportunity to organize a supporting program only for Muslim women, but so far this is not feasible because most of the Muslim women in my area have to reach the first integration step which is to learn Greek.
The Ministry of Education and the local authorities have launched very useful programs for teaching Greek to immigrants. Definitely we support those programs and encourage every Muslim woman who does not speak Greek to go and attend one of these programs. We are looking forward for the coming steps.
In fact, my team and I have many dreams and plans for Muslims in Greece. I strongly believe that all our activities will benefit my beloved country, because we do love Greece and Islam; an irresistible combination!
Behead the headless!
January 8, 2009
If I weren’t a Muslim, I would be scared of Islam. I mean, bombing innocent people and stoning women to death, it just seems like a barbaric religion that takes us back into ancient times that I would be mind-boggled as to why anyone would want to convert to Islam, let alone the tens of thousands that do so every year.
I would be scared too. But the fact is that none of that is true. Except for the part about the converts to Islam. That’s true.
Muslim haters have twisted the facts so much, that I don’t know what religion their words represent anymore. Maybe their own. The Islam that I know (and have proof of) says that killing a human being is like killing all of humanity.
“…whosoever kills a human being without (any reason like) man slaughter, or corruption on earth, it is as though he had killed all mankind and whoever saves a life it is as though he had saved the lives of all mankind.” (Quran 5:32)
I don’t care if that human being is white, black, red or yellow. Muslim, Christian, Jew or Atheist. Old, young, child or baby. A human is a human and it does not deserve to be slaughtered. That’s Islam. And that’s what it means to protect human sacredness.
Muslims stand up to any oppressor that breaks this sanctity and that’s what I like about the Greek spirit. We will always fight for freedom. That’s why we defend Gaza and the world leaders need to stop being scared of bullies who have the audacity to terrorize and then label the oppressed as terrorists. They need to come together and stand up with us against the real bully who beheads the headless.
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said, “Help your brother, whether he is an oppressor or he is oppressed.” The Prophet was asked: “It is right to help him if he is oppressed, but how should we help him if he is an oppressor?” He replied: “By preventing him from oppressing others.” (Sahih Bukhari)
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