There are a number of things to note here. One is the title says a lot. An Arab woman author who is pleased to be able not to wear the jilbab and contrasts it favourably with Saudi Arabia on that score. It's a shame you don't get to see the picture of her that the ST printed with the article; it's quite clear that she wears 'ordinary' clothes [At the end of the article she says: "I love fashion and wearing designer clothes — a very short skirt, maybe, or a strapless bustier or décoletté cocktail dress — and I don’t feel disrespectful in any way to my religion. I want it to stay that way.". Here's how she looks so you get t least some idea.
I'm a little suspicious of the people hosting this version of the article since it is "A conservative news forum" -so I do express both my concern at what their agenda is for including it and that the link is not to imply I share the views of 'FreeRepublic'. I suspect that my take on life is far more lefty than they would find comfortable. But hey, the Times make you subscribe to see their articles, so any port in a storm.
One detail I picked up about this case which I have not been able to find an online link to is that her case has been supported and funded by Hizb-ut-Tahrir. And if you don't know the significance of that name let me say 'Hamza Yusuf deportation' and that when they were thought to be active on the campus here at Bradford University, we had the Special Branch in.
Now why would they be interested? Well the obcious thing is to make a point and strike a blow for Islam as they see it. But there may be a further agenda here which is to do with creating a pressure for other women to conform. It is already known that conservative Muslims tend to dominate Islamic public discourse because their implicit claims to be better Muslims tends to cow dissenters [who see themselves as somehow inferior in their practice] and even scare some into outward conformity with norms far more conservative than their actual views and to stifle dissent itself. Similar dynamics can be seen in other faith communities and political communities, btw.
This concern appears in the article: " by backing Shabina’s desire to cover up completely pressure would be put on her peers to do so too". Just so.
The other interesting thing though is the pastoral which seems not to be picked up. " Shabina, who was orphaned earlier this year following the death of her mother" and it seems that at this point she began to weat the Jilbab, and one wonders whether there is a dimension to this that is about mourning, respect for her mother, looking to find an anchor by clinging harder to her faith ... which if so I feel then she may be being exploited by HuT at a vulnerable time.
It's also interesting to scroll down to see the comments on this article.
2 comments:
The truth is that like in france and other countries, people soon won't be able to wear anything that refers to their religion.
E.g. a catholic(or any other religion) most probably in the future won't be able to wear a cross.
sad but true
Well, I can understand why you would feel like that, anonymous commenter, I think your anxiety is misplaced. The FRench situation is difficult, though I wouldn't be surprised if they have to backtrack somewhat in the face of the human rights legislation granting freedom to exercise religion. Which is why I don't think we will be in the situation you fear. My kids can't wear a cross in school but that's because it represents a health and safety hazard -they may not, either, wear ear-rings or rings. Sikhs may wear their 'k's if they are suitably covered up so as not to constitute a safety hazard.
The European human rights legislation is a good thing for relisgious freedom. It's even helped to open up institutions to the need to take seriously the faith of their workers and customers. The University of Bradford is changing from being deeply secular as an institution to being as religion friendly as it can be without actually adopting any particular faith. This has made for unprecedented opportunities. Me: I'm not anxious about this. If anything the difficulty of this jilbab story is that it shows how people might be tempted to go too far and try to ask for things that really are not essential [I note that Shabina has little sympathy from the majority of her Muslim community].
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