Muslims ‘Unveiled’

#80 His Excellency {``The reason Muslim women wear hijab has more to do with warding off sexual assault than unwanted gazes. Remember, the UK has one of the highest rape rate in the world``}

Your Excellency,
Pray tell how wearing the hijab protects these Muslim women from that horrible rape rate. In fact, for those specializing in raping Muslim women, this advertisement may be a real boon. Now, they can focus their attention on the hated Muslims.

The last word.
NOBODY , East or West, can say it better!









....................................ALLAMA IQBAL.

Re: # 79

Correction to #76. Pl read this para as

The culprit i.e. the idea of getting aroused by looking at a women is in the mind of man. If u sanction the same idea to women since they too are an equal part of God`s creation, why dont men in UK/west cover their bodies much like arabs and be not a cause of arousing women?

i/o

The culprit i.e. the idea of getting aroused by looking at a women is in the mind of man. If u sanction the same idea to womwn since they too are an equal part of God`s creation, why dont men in UK/west cover their bodies much like arabs and be not be a cause for arousing women?

Re: # 82

Echo,

Can u translate this, at least a briefly?

I don`t see why some of my brothers are being so dramatic about this. The simple fact is that the vast majority of British Muslims -- i.e. those either born here or raised here--are in terms of practise Anglicised to a large degree even if they are practising Muslims (proof of this is that you can go and talk to almost any parent of these second and third gen muslims and they will inevitably moan about `how westernised our child has become: pakkay angrez ho gaye hain!)--and that they will never leave this country as it is their home so why not make it easier for themselves to integrate by adapting local customs as long as these don`t infringe on the shariah. after all, shariah does not specify a particular kind of dress it just says you should be modestly attired. now in indo-pak that might be fulfilled with the shalwar kameez or sari, in arabia by the jilbab and niqab, but not in the UK.

why make yourself a target to bigots (a minority)?
**
those who don`t like it can always leave (those who make the most noise are the ones least likely to go!)

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the way to fight islamophobia is not by becoming more insular, it is by engaging in the community and making a difference. get educated, get the top jobs and influence the decision makers just like the Jews have done.

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most importantly, lose the victim mentality. think of yourself as British and you`re more likely to be accepted as one. consider yourself as an outsider and you`ll remain one all your life.

**

the tight-jeans-wearing, butt-showing, tight-t-sheet-with headscarf is a typically British muslimah manifestation. you would not get that in pakistan even though the girl`s parents may be from pakistan!

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there is cultural symbiosis taking place.

**

most of those people who convert to islam are doing so due to intellectual sufis like gai eaton and t j winter (shaykh abd al hakim) or the late martin lings who all look like and sound like upper class brits with their tweed jackets and plummy accents who just happen to be muslims!

why? because they look FAMILIAR to the majority and yet they have the inner light of islam which can attract people. others like abu hamza just look scary and turn people off. same goes for `ninjas`...

This is what I posted on Aparna`s thread about a similar topic:

Aparna,
A very thoughtful and interesting perspective - especially the part about Hindu women covering their heads. The reason that many Muslims, including some supportive men, are against the hijab, niqab, and burka is that we seem to be losing ground that was covered a long long time ago. From the 20s through most of the 70s, Muslims have been constantly modernizing and uplifting the educational, social, and legal positions of our women. All of a sudden, just like the assaults on airplanes, trains, and tall buildings, there is a segment of Soodi-financed misanthropes who want to push us all the way back to the time when Muslims started borrowing these stupid garments from the Christians. If the Crusades gave silk, Damascus steel, medicine, and science to Europeans, they gave the veil, celibacy, and wholesale slaughter to Muslims. The silver lining is that we never learned to uses the Christians` complicated chastity belts. :)

Asif: Excellent Article. What I am surprised by, amongst this brouhaha, is the kind of unexpected opinions so many people are flouting. A feminist is busy defending the niqab and a practising Muslim is sharing the opinion of the majority.

The only conclusion I reach is that labels are just so ridiculous.

echoboom: those verses of hazrat e allama iqbal are beautiful and biting but this is what asad says:


sharm ik adā-e nāz hai apne hī se sahī
haiñ kitne be-ḥijāb kih yūñ haiñ ḥijāb meñ

Shame is a coquettish gesture, even if it is from oneself!
Many unveiled ones are thus veiled in this manner!

naqshbandi, a good and balanced article. Only thing I would like to point is that attire of a Nun and burqa attire of a muslim women are very different. or atleast different in the aspects that Straw and others are objecting to. I have never seen a nun covering her face(i.e. only eyes showing). Quick google image searches for words ``burqa`` and ``nun`` will show that. Secondly attire of Nun is ``mandated`` or practised by only those who are nuns( a very small %age of christian women) but pro-burqa people insist it is mandatory for all muslim women from teachers to CEOs.
Orthodox Jews are butt of many jokes and Amish people are considered backward by most westerns (and easterns also). Amish don`t immigrate to other countries and then assert their religious identity as a political statement. I am sure if they try to ride on their buggies to work in New York, people on the road will object to disturbing the traffic.

Most people can`t converse with or trust people if they can`t see their facial expressions or look in the eyes while talking. It is very much the human instinct.

db, i agree. but most people will have no problems with the hijab itself --ie. headscarf or dupatta or chador. it is the niqab/burqa which is being objected to and i think, given the culture, it is not an unfair demand--certainly in the workplace.


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most people in rural pakistan DONT wear the burqa anymore, imagine then how it looks to someone from london!

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while muslims are debating veil, hindus and sikhs are flaunting it in UK.

I think veils are great. All muslims, be it men or women should be in veils. Islam promotes equality of sexes. Just as muslim women should be concerned with not getting the muslim brothers all hot and bothered. Muslim men too should adopt some hayaa and wrap themselves from head to toe in burlap.

Naqshbandi.

May be I don`t get it and I still fail to see how a working school teacher cannot be considered ``well integrated`` into the society.

VRV:84
I hope you`ll get some flavour. This is what I could do in a rush.

The Western Man

A million times the sages & scolars tried to untangle it
But the woman-issue remained unresolved, as always
The woman herself, is really not resposible for this mess
As even the stars & the moon bear witness to her genteelness
It is the Man, who in the West, has created this confusion
He has no clue and does not truly understand a women`s psyche.


A question

Maybe someone should ask the great minds of Europe
Of whom the Indian & the Greek are so enamoured
Is this really the apex of cultural progress?
Men out of Work, women out of Love *
my note: great depression situation 1930s

The Veil


The Galaxies have taken a lot many turns
But My Lord! this world is still where it always was!
Never did I see any difference between Men & Women
He is in seclusion, & she too is in seclusion
The entire progeny of Adam is yet Veiled
It refuses to acknowledge & uncover its true Self.



Inner Sanctum

The gaudy vulgar urge for lusty exhibitionism
Puts the glint in the eye, but smudges the heart



Women`s emancipation


I am not competent to comment in this debate
though I know what is honey & what is poison
To what avail will it be? just to be ridiculed?
by modern ones;already not happy with me!
So let a woman`s keen insight unlock this secret
Men with all intellect are helpess, paralysed here
``What would a woman choose, if given a chance?
Woman`s emancipation, or a necklace of emeralds?




Guarding Women`s (rights)

A living Truth throbs im my heart
( will not be grasped by one with blood cold)
Neither it is the Veil nor it is education {new or old}
Women`s rights can guarded only by men themselves.
and the nation which has forgotten this simple little truth
Its has gone into darkness not too long after.

---

The last two maybe some other time.

Chaltahai #92 {``I think veils are great. All muslims, be it men or women should be in veils.``}

I think Muslims went overboard in bringing the concept of clothing for the natives of the sub-continent. Gone are the appealing sights of bare-breasted and mini-dhoti clad aborigines copulating under moonlit skies while posing for statues that captured for eternity the mating habits of India`s men, women, elephants, and monkeys. Damn the Islamic sense of morality.

Naqshbandi sahib:8
Ghalib is not talking to her on the street. Even the dancing-girls can have these attributes.
I wonder if you know it or not but even the busiest prostitute has a different style ( ``sharm``) when she is in the arms of the one she passionatlely loves. She has ``sharm`` here, but no shame.

What I am trying to draw your attention to is that ``sharm`` O ``haya`` has no equvalents in the English Language (culture). The closest youn can come is Bashfulness or embarrassment. Do you notice the suffixes --fulness and --ment even here? The language is completely barren
in expressing such emotions.

These are 100% Eastern values ( from Japan right upto mediterranian I think..the vandals & goths changed everything, again I think)