HIJAB HYPE

Congratulations to the UK for dismissing the claims of discrimination from Aisha Azmi's for unfair dismissal because she refused to remove her niqab (face veil) while employed as a techer's assistant at a Church of England school.


Read the story here

She was asked by school administrators to remove the niqab after some of her students claimed that it was difficult to understand her during English language lessons.

I used to be an English language teacher (many many moons ago) and I know that, when teaching phonetics and pronunciation, it is necessary that students are able to see your mouth movements.

Her story has sparked a huge and timely debate in the UK about the veil. What is really interesting is that she did not wear it when she had her initial job interview in front of a panel of men!

Now, I've said before that I fully support a woman's right to choose what she wants to wear- be that burqa or bikini- but I do not support the objectification of the hijab in its various forms for political purposes or personal agendas. If she can take it off for her job interview, why can't she take it off to teach her young students?

The comments by Muslims on this issue has been refreshingly reasonable with many agreeing with the court's decision and stating that the niqab is not mandated by Islam. Yay!

What really irks me though is some of the high and mighty responses from some Western women who refuse to recognise that the veil is often a woman's choice. To them the veil stands as the single, most potent symbol of gender based oppression while failing to recognise that, in the West too, many women are still fighting for equal rights.

The Western feminist discourse largely portrays Muslim women as unable to speak for themselves because of the repressive regimes under which they live. Thus the Western woman is bound to speak on behalf of her Muslim sister. This has effectively reduced Muslim female identity to an article of clothing.

The imagery is powerful. The veil is the shroud through which the muffled voices of Muslim women struggle to be heard. The emancipated Western woman seeks to symbolically, but also literally, “unveil” Muslim women as if somehow the act of “unveiling” will free them of the oppressive shackles with which they are bound.

Ironically, by focussing attention on superficial symbols such as the veil, Western feminist discourse serves to distract attention from the feminist objective of achieving fundamental social rights for women.

I welcome the open dialogue and debate on the veil but let's get away from the moral high ground that Western feminism propogates- let's keep this debate about the responsibilities that go hand in hand with rights. Women have a right to choose what they wear but a responsibility to exercise that right in the appropriate context. After all, Aisha Azmi would probably have received the same fate had she shown up to teach her class in a bikini.

My Three Lives

Tonight I want to write about my three lives- the life everyone thinks I have, the life I think I have and the life I really have.- three lives.

Life 1- The life everyone thinks I have
This is my public life. A life where I am competent, diligent, professional, passionate, intolerant of incompetence and stupidity, prone to outbursts if work is not done properly, happy go lucky, committed to a cause. The life that people see at work, at University, at public functions.

Someone once told me that people find me intimidating because I seem to do everything so well- so perfectly. And yet- I don't feel like I do everything so well- so perfectly at all. I pond skim- that's what I do.

Life 2- The life I think I have
This is my private life. The life beyond the public gaze. Loving mother, devoted wife, dutiful daughter, caring friend, reliable sister.

It's the life of my waking day. My conscious life. My 'eyes wide shut' life. My driftwood life.

Life 3- The life I really have
This is my struggle. The life that creeps up on me in those minutes, hours, that I lie in bed at night before drifting off to sleep. The life of a thousand words, thoughts, ideas that live in the back of my head and that are screaming to get out. The life that hides in the shadows.

This life is full of self doubt, of questions I cannot answer, of memories that just won't go away and of secrets- big secrets- secrets too big for such a small life.

On my 25th birthday I cried. Not just shed a tear, I mean I really really cried. I cried because I realised that I had reached 25 and hadn't done any of the things I had hoped I would do in the heedy days of being a teenager, when I thought anything was possible. I hadn't written a book, I hadn't travelled the world, I hadn't forged a career in the literary world, I hadn't made my mark on anything. Instead I was in an abusive marraige, struggling with two young babies and emptiness.

Life happens. I know that now. And sometimes it gets in the way of all the plans you made when you didn't fully understand what life really was and how it could just happen right there in front of you and you'd never know. You'd never know until you woke up one day and thought to yourself 'how did I get here'.

I've embraced the tide of life since then and I've let the tide take me where it wants but I still struggle with a sense of urgency.

And I've started that book. The book about the life I really have.

Better late than never.

Freedom of Speech????

The pro-Israeli lobby is at it again. This time successfully banning an Aussie publisher and a Jewish Academic from speaking because of their views on Israel.

Author shunned for Israel criticism
Ed Pilkington, New YorkOctober 12, 2006

AUSTRALIAN author and former publisher Carmen Callil has become embroiled
in a dispute over freedom of speech in America after a party celebrating her new
book was cancelled because of her opinion about the modern state of Israel.

A party in honour of Bad Faith, Callil's account of Vichy official Louis Darquier, who arranged the deportation of thousands of Jews, was to be held at the French embassy in New York this week but was cancelled after the embassy became aware of a paragraph in the book's postscript.
In the postscript, Callil says she grew anxious while researching the "helpless terror
of the Jews of France" to see "what the Jews of Israel were passing on to the
Palestinian people. Like the rest of humanity, the Jews of Israel 'forget' the
Palestinians. Everyone forgets."

The embassy said the passage had been brought to its attention after a
guest declined the invitation because of it.

The row is the latest element in a dispute about restrictions on freedom of speech in the US in relation to comments on Israel.

A New York University academic had two speaking engagements called off
after criticism of his views.

Tony Judt, an American Jew who grew up in Britain, was to speak about the influence of the pro-Israeli lobby on US foreign policy and at a separate location on "war and genocide in European memory today".

The first lecture was cancelled by the Polish consulate in New York, which owns the venue, while Mr Judt pulled out of the second after organisers asked him to refrain from direct references to Israel.

In both cases, pro-Israeli organisations and individuals had raised objections to Mr Judt's views on Israel.

Mr Judt said his views had been misrepresented.

"The only thing I have ever said is that Israel, as it is currently constituted as a Jewish state with different rights for different groups, is an anachronism in the modern age of democracies."
GUARDIAN

They sure are a powerful group. Just look at what Mel Gibson had to do to regain some credibility after his comments on Jews. Former KISS band member, Gene Simmons (the one with the tongue) made some really nasty comments about Muslims when he visited Australia in 2004, even going so far as to say "Islam was a "vile culture" that treated women worse than dogs."

Incidentally, the KISS concert was the first concert I ever went to at the ripe old age of 15 (am I showing my age now?)

Oops I (almost) did it again...

I almost did it again. I almost got really narky when someone told me I look like Nefertitti. But it is Ramadan so I held my tongue, smiled sweetly and said thankyou.

Now, it's not that I don't like Nefertitti or anything like that- it's just that I don't see the resemblance and don't understand why people always tell me that I look like her when they find out my origin is Egyptian.

The same with "exotic". Why do people alwways call me "exotic"? What's so 'exotic' about Egypt? When I think exotic, I think clear blue seas, palm trees and relaxation- not an overcrowded Metro car in downtown Cairo!

I don't know, why don't you guys make up your own minds.

Here is Nefertitti....

Here is my idea of 'exotic'...

And here is me....

What? You can't see the resemblance either? I thought so...

Secularism in the Middle East- an impossible dream?

I've been checking out some Middle East blogs lately- Sandmonkey, Big Pharoah, Hossam. I have to commend these bloggers on their vision for secularism in the Middle East but at the same time I have to wonder about the ability of Islamic states to embrace secularism.

It's something I've been thinking about lately because I have an upcoming public lecture and my topic for the talk is Islam and secularism in Australia.

The basic premise of secularism is a separation of the private (religion) from the public (affairs of the State). A nice idea but is it really possible? Although countries like the US and Australia define themselves as secular liberal democracies- just how secular are they?

Last night I watched an interview with Rupert Everett, a gay actor, who said that it is very difficult for gay actors in the US because the US is a very Christian nation. In Australia, the right wing Christian presence is becoming increasingly visible in the political arena as witnessed by the recent debate on the abortion drug RU486.

For secularism to be truly successful, religion must be wholly and solely a private affair. There can be no blurring of the boundaries between private and public. The notion of religion upon which secularism is based is one in which religion is defined as a spiritual practice- one that can be confined to the private and separated from the public. But what if a broader notion of religion is present- where religion is seen to be more a way of life than a private practice? This is precisely the dilemma facing Islam and secularism.

Secular Muslims, like myself, have no trouble confining religion to the private realm. Indeed, I have grown up with the notion that my religion was purely a private affair- something between me and God- and I thank my parents for instilling this in me.

But for many other Muslims it seems that Islam cannot be a private practice- it is, for them, a "way of life". Islam is the lens through which they view the world, the lens through which they articulate their needs, their views, their opinions- their world view is "I am Muslim therefore..." They define their identity wholly and solely as religious. But religion has no place in the public sphere of the secular state. So where does that leave them? and more importantly what does that mean for a secular experiment in the Middle East?

Secularism is brought into question where the state favours one religion over another- as Christianity is in both the US and Australia. If countries like the US and Australia are operating as pseudo-secular, how can we expect Islamic states to embrace secular democracy? There is no doubt in my mind that should secularism be introduced anywhere in the Middle East, Islam would be the religion of favour.

Is true secularism in the Mid East a pipe dream?

Lifting the Veil

Ok. It had to happen sometime. I've been thinking about writing about the hijab, burqa, nikab and various forms of Islamic women's dress for some time and now's as good a time as any.

I am a Muslim woman- nobody can deny me this part of my identity. As far as I am concerned, the hijab, in its various forms, is a choice. It is not mandated by the Koran. I choose not to wear it. I believe that modesty can be displayed in many forms. I believe that I do not need to cover my hair to be modest.

I have, in the past, toyed with the idea of donning the hijab. At that time, I was feeling particularly angry and distressed by the acts of violence directed at women wearing the hijab in Australia. But when I really thought about it, the reason that I would have put on the hijab would have been to assert my identity- an act of defiance really- a statement. In doing so, I would have been guilty of what I have accused Western feminists of doing- of objectifying the hijab and reducing it to a symbol. So, to wear the hijab because I was angry would not have been the right reason.

I listened to and read the stories of hijabi women who declared that they rejoiced in covering their bodies, that the hijab gave them a sense of control over their bodies, that they felt they were being appreciated for their brains more than their looks. As much as I tried, I simply could not relate to this notion. Even when I was disturbed by the comments of some men in my workplace about my looks, I still could not relate to this notion. Even when a male colleague told me that I should "uglify" myself to be taken more seriously, I still could not relate to the notion of having to cover myself to be respected. I simply could not relate the problem back to me- if men cannot conduct themselves in a professional manner- that is their problem, not mine.

I visited Egypt earlier this year, and it was this trip that cemented my decision not to wear the hijab. It seemed to me that I was the only Muslim woman who did not wear it. Whenever I had a conversation with someone where I revealed that I was indeed Muslim, invariably I was asked why I did not wear the hijab. At first, the question threw me and I simply could not offer an answer other than that I lived in a Western country and that my work demanded a lot of public appearances where it was easier for me to get people to relate to what I was saying if I appeared to be like them.

But the more I observed the phenomenon of the hijab in Egypt, the more I rejected it. The hijab has become a fashion statement. Young women wear nude coloured body hugging tops underneath revealing halter necks, tight jeans, a brightly coloured scarf on their heads- this is the new 'hijabi'. They, like the Western feminist discourse on the veil, have objectified the hijab- it is not about maintaining any semblance of modesty or being appreciated for their brains.

I started asking women why they wore the hijab. Their responses varied:
I did not want to be mistaken for a Christian
The girls at school teased me
My hair is difficult to manage and I am too busy to go to the hairdresser every week
The cost of hair products is too high

Not a single woman I spoke to mentioned it as a religious choice. Not a single woman I spoke to "rejoiced" in covering her body.

My friend gave me some words of wisdom for which I am grateful. She said "Whenever anyone asks me why I do not wear the veil I simply reply that my hijab is in my heart"

I like that. My hijab is in my heart. And for now at least, that's where it is staying.

Dead or not?

Reports of OBL's death from Typhoid are causing confusion:

SPECULATION about the death of Osama bin Laden continued to swirl across
the globe last night, but in the three capitals most likely to be the first to
know if and when he dies - Riyadh, Islamabad and Washington - there were
blanket denials of any knowledge of French reports that the al-Qaeda leader
had succumbed to typhoid last month.

Significantly, in view of claims that it was Saudi intelligence that was said to be the original source for the report, an official statement issued by the Government in Riyadh said: "The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has no evidence to support recent media reports that Osama bin Laden is dead.
"Information that has been reported otherwise is purely speculative and cannot be independently verified."
Internet monitors who track terrorist chatter also said they had come across nothing to support the reports. The Washington-based IntelCentre, which monitors terrorism communications, was quoted as saying it was not aware of any similar reports on the internet.
Officials in Pakistan, where bin Laden is believed to be based in the remote North Waziristan district, insisted they knew nothing that would confirm the reports of his death on August 23. Pakistan's Interior Minister, Aftab Sherpao, said: "No, we do not have any such information." The French regional daily L'Est Republicain reported on Saturday that Saudi intelligence first got reports of bin Laden's death on September 4 and that last Thursday this was passed to the French DGSE foreign intelligence service, which relayed it to President Jacques Chirac's office. Australian officials were treating the claim cautiously, with Deputy Prime Minister Mark Vaile warning against premature celebrations.

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,20469613-954,00.html

Bugger! Guess I have to cancel the Ding Dong the Witch is Dead Party I was planning!

Enablers

I'm angry.
I know that's not unusual but I really need to vent.

There are a lot of Muslim community organisations here in Australia that claim to work for the well being of the Muslim communities here. One of them is a Muslim women's organisation that gets government funding to provide services to Muslim women.

While these kinds of organisations may do some good work, they are often staffed by inexperienced women who have a particular view of Islamic teachings. Very few are secular Muslims. Most wear the hijab or the burqa. That's fine. I have no problem with that- while I do not agree with it I will always defend a woman's right to wear it if she so chooses- just as I would defend a woman's right to wear a bikini if she so chooses.

The problem is that these organisations often only provide services to like minded women. Often the kinds of 'services' they provide serve, not to assist women to integrate and participate in the broader community, but to keep them in their place. I call these organisations The Enablers.

They advocate for Sharia divorce courts. Why? We have a legal system in Australia to deal with divorces regardless of religion.

They advocate for Muslim women only swimming sessions at local pools. Why? Most pools have women's only sessions but they will not mix with Western women.

They advocate for Muslim women only English language classes. Why? Nearly all higher education institutions are mixed sex.

But what really pisses me off is that they often have first hand information about women and young girls being beaten by their husbands and fathers. And they do nothing about it. They work under a shroud of silence and enable these abusive conditions to continue. They prefer to deal with problems themselves and will not admit that they simply do not have the capacity to find solutions.

I've met a lot of Muslim women who do not wear hijab and who have gone to these kinds of organisations seeking assistance. They have been treated as outsiders, as somehow less Muslim and therefore less worthy.

It's not unusual for Muslims in the diaspora to take the moral highground. Heck! Every Muslim I meet tries to make out that they are more Muslim than the Muslim I met before them! But it really starts to get serious when there are women and girls being beaten and the only people offering assistance are there to keep them where they are. It's shameful.

Ramadan Kareem

Well, it is a bit late (oops) but a blessed and prosperous Ramadan to all.

This year my Ramadan resolutions are:
I shall contemplate the meaning of my life on this beautiful Earth
I shall pray for peace in the Middle East
I shall empathise with the millions of people in the world for whom no water and no food are part of the everyday challenges of life
I shall call my parents more often and break fast with them as often as I can
I shall thank Allah each and everyday for my family and friends

Why oh why

Why do I have to read Focault? Have been avoiding it all this time and now can no longer do it. This is particularly harrowing considering I have just returned from a conference where the snotty nosed academics with oh-so-proper British accents began every paragraph with a quote from Focault or some long dead obscure French philosopher.

As they so eloquently rambled on about something that I am sure is of no consequence I looked around the room thinking I was the only stupid one who didn't understand a word of what they were saying. Then I spotted them. The Colleagues- there they were in full force to support the speaker, nodding their heads in unison like a flock of silly pidgeons and frowning where appropriate as if on cue.

Why do academics do that? Why do they take their little posse with them to their presentations and why do they talk only to their posse as if nobody else in the room is allowed into their own little world? And why do their posse have a series of prepared questions that only confound the whole bloody thing even more? Do they mean to make me feel stupid? Is is a conspiracy aimed at eradicating all the dumb asses from academia?

Gladly, I was not the only one who left the room feeling even more confused than when I had entered. A few people spotted the bewildered look on my face (was I that obvious) and mumbled as they walked past "what was that about?" Should I be taking comfort in the fact that I am not the only dumb ass?

YEPP- I have now officially joined the 21st Century...

I am now the proud owner of an MP3 player! For someone who only got a mobile phone about six months ago (yes it's true- my excuse was I didn't want people bothering me all day), this is actually quite a big feat! Feel so ooooooh technologically savvy now, especially because it is such a tiny little thing that's able to do so much.
I bought it for work so that I could make voice files but I was even more excited by the fact that I could download all my daggy music and listen to it through headphones and no-one will ever know. Here are some of the songs I downloaded- sing along with me if you know the words (and you know you do)...

Nutbush City Limits
Supernatural Thing
Bat out of Hell (awesome to work out to)
Picture of You (yes, the old Boyzone song!)
Let it Flow from the Waiting to Exhale soundtrack
Water Runs Dry (Boyz to Men- aaaaah)
No Diggity- a Blackstreet classic
Mr Boombastic


Now all I have to do is to learn how to not sing loudly along with the music coz people are starting to look at me funny...

On Speaking Out...

There are many calls for 'moderate' Muslims to speak out against terrorism. In fact, Letters to the Editor and Editorials in most of our popular newspapers often ask "why don't Muslims speak out and condemn terrorism and violence." Silence is often interpreted as a sign that Muslims the world over condone terrorism and is used by some to further support the stereotype of the ugly, violent Arab.

I came across this interesting piece in "They Dare to Speak Out" by Paul Findley...

"...the late I.F. "Izzy" Stone, a widely respected author, commentator, and self-styled radical, told me why many of his fellow Jews work so
aggressively to stifle free speech. He explained that, because Jews in
Israel seem constantly at war with Arabs, Jews in America feel that they are in the same war. To them, free speech is a luxury that can be
sacrificed where debate might weaken US support for an Israel at war."

The same can be said of Muslims in the West. TheMilitant Islamists not only know this, but use this to their full advantage. Bin Laden's continual reference to the "Islamic nation" is not by accident. His carefully selected words are designed to
exploit the notion that Muslims around the globe are involved in the war
with Israel. And it's working.

When Mohammed Siddique Khan, the ringleader of the London bombings, a British born, second generation Pakistani said in his video message "I am directly responsible for protecting and avenging my Muslim brothers and sisters" he was not referring to Muslims in Pakistan or Britain. He was referring to Muslims at war with Israel and the US in Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan.

In my experience, everytime I've met a Jewish person, he or she will sooner or later bring up the Palestine/Israel issue. The first time this happened I was surprised. Why should I want to discuss this issue with anyone? Why should I have any interest in this issue at all? I'm not Palestinian. I'm not Israeli. But I am Muslim.

And therein, ladies and gentlemen, lies the crux of the matter. Because I am Muslim, it is assumed that I have something to say on the issue even if I'd much rather talk about the mating habits of the African sand fly!

Three Lives

I have a theory. Actually I have many theories- but just one will do for now.
My theory is that everyone has at least two identities-
The one you give to yourself- I am an Australian Muslim who advocates for a progressive interpretation of the Koran and Islamic teachings.
And the one everyone else gives you- I am a Muslim and therefore a terrorist sympathiser who wants to wipe out the heathens.

Scenario:
I walk into a coffee shop downtown to get my 'must have or I will be a bitch all day' morning coffee. I'm dressed in my usual corporate uniform- pencil skirt and blouse. It's packed as usual only because they make the best bloody coffee on this earth! The girl behind the counter and I start chatting- it's usually a guy there who always tries some lame pick up line on me, but today he's graduated to making the coffees.
She says "You look so exotic. Where are you from?"
I say "Sydney", but she's not buying it- she wants to know where I'm REALLY from.
So I tell her I'm originally from Egypt.
Lame pick-up line guy overhears this and looks up from behind the coffe machine.
He asks "Are you Muslim?'
"Yep" I answer
Suddenly he starts seething "So what do you think of terrorism?"
I'm thinking 'whoa! what happened to lame pick up line guy? are you his evil twin or something?'
Instead I say "Well are you asking me because you really want to know- because I've been coming here every morning for 6 months and you've never asked me that? But I will tell you that I absolutely do not condone the murder of innocent people for any cause"
He's still seething and the nice behind the counter girl takes my money but doesn't look at me or say a word.
As I make my way out of the crowded cafe, he yells:
"Look out everyone. She's a Muslim terrorist. She's gonna blow up the cafe."
Everyone stops and stares.

So, what do I do?
a. Cry into my coffee cup
b. Play along and make a loud BOOM sound
c. Turn to him and say "Right mate, you've just blown your chance of ever getting my number"
d. Walk out silently seething and vow to go through the painful process of wheening myself off this fabulous coffee so that I never have to step foot in there again.