Muslim Women

Postiwyd gan dirty o Caerdydd - Cyhoeddwyd ar 23/02/2009 am 15:23
5 sylwadau » - Tagiwyd fel Diwylliant, Pobl

We stand as one, a mass of black bodies.

We wear the hijab, the niqab, a sign of respect to cover our heads when we go to mosque. We congregate outside mosques, we wear our hijabs everywhere.

In between the swirling mass of men in freshly pressed tunics and loose fitting trousers and children in their own dress, we are people underneath our mound of blackness.

A dark door, exotic, yet we are demonised as aliens in our media. Our media? We were born here, just like you.

We call Britain home, we are accustomed to the culture here, for we have lived here all our lives. A crisis of conscience; the British government's War On Terror is a thinly veiled euphemism for a 'war on Islam'.

Where do we stand, with our country or with the religion? We are women, we are people. It's hard to see when we're dressed like this, but we have feelings, hopes and dreams of our own.

The more liberal of us don't wear the headscarf, we are working people. The outsider's view of the Muslim woman being restricted in the home is a cultural phenomenoa, something seen only on television.

Everything is televised now, but if is everything is televised, why aren't we given our own platform to speak? The only progressive Muslims' show I have had the pleasure of seeing is Shar'iah Television, and even only then it was shown solely at midnight for one week.

My grandmother has worn her hijab every day since the 1950s, and I can understand why people are dismissive of her. The Cold War demonised Russians, but now wearing a headscarf we are being demonised as Muslims.

It is a choice, many women choose not to wear it. Many view it as freedom to wear the scarf, whereas others see it as a sign of repression.

The Muslim Council Of Britain is just that, a council. It does not accurately represent our views. If we were to have a real Muslim Council Of Britain we would have people from all walks of life. We would have muslim women, we would have gay men, we would have Muslims that don't believe in Allah.

Growing up I wish that things were more progressive in Muslim culture. I wish for a mosque where I could bring my Jewish friend, my Christian grandmother and my Buddhist buddy. A place that was for God, but a place that embraced the culture of Islam and acknowleged the place as a community place, not just solely for Muslims.

I wish I could say, "Hey, come up and listen to a sermon, we'll have a cigarette afterwards, everyone's welcome". When they say "Islam means peace" it means "We won't say anything" and when you question them, they tell you to shut up.

I have a confession to make: I don't believe in God. I'm a secular Muslim, I view it as my ethnicity and background, but not my religion. I'm a cultural muslim, my group alleigance as opposed to my belief in God.

I don't believe in Allah, but being Muslim is still woven into me, I took the opportunity to fuse it with my beliefs now. This one time a woman came into my mosque. She had a broken arm, a broken heart, tears streaming down her face and she wore a miniskirt.

We all rushed to hug her, and after that the first thing we did was cover her legs and offer her a cup of tea.

That's the Islam I know, I don't really know the extremism part.

5 Comments – Postiwch sylw

Richard Keane

Rhoddwyd sylw 33 mis yn ôl - 14th August 2010 - 00:37am

"Where do we stand, with our country or with the religion?"

This is a surprising comment seeing as you describe your politics as: "libertarian socialism". - Radical Wales Contributors

As a communist myself I know perfectly well that it is my class I stand with and not 'my' country, not least because I don't own any property or land. Countries don't belong to anyone as far as I understand. I openly declare the country I was born in belongs as much to someone living in any other country as it does to me. Now, this isn't just theory, rhetoric or me being pedantic. It is a crucial ideological question. What flows from this understanding is that anything and everything should belong to everyone and not one nationalist class over another. And when I say everyone, I obviously mean our class, the working-class. Therefore if we are revolutionaries and struggle for revolution in Wales, everything that is in it and can be achieved belongs to the international proletariat and not just the working-class of Wales.

Your repeated use of "we" is also troubling. I can only assume you mean all Muslims, or you wish to temporarily represent all Muslims? Perhaps more wishing to than you actually can do in reality. It's quite contradictory as you clearly highlight some differences between Muslims showing they are not one homogeneous group of people. That is why I call it a wish. Your comments come across more like a sermon, preaching perhaps to convert a mass of Muslims to a general liberalism. Not only will your wish not come to fruition but there is a danger this kind of writing is or becomes a mediation for any concrete practical action.

Comradely,

Richard Keane

dirty

Rhoddwyd sylw 33 mis yn ôl - 14th August 2010 - 15:24pm

With my perspective I was writing from I was talking from a general non-religious secular viewpoint of Muslims. For example, within Islam there is this idea 'Ummah'; meaning a general brother and sisterhood internationall of Muslims which is why many Muslims use the term 'we'; they are addressing the Ummah, the international united Muslims across the earth under this sign which the Prophet Muhammad said was crucial for Islam. The Ummah is like a human body; when one part hurts, it hurts the whole of the body.

It was a retrospective personal piece, as you can clearly see from the language which I have used. If you do not like this work, may I suggest you just read the things I post on Radical Wales. Many people view Islam as a secular background of which they come from, for example, the recent literature and music movement of Taqwacore. I used the term 'our country etc' as a way of expressing my disdain of the harsh treatment of British-born Muslims (alongside people of other BME) despite the fact that this is the place where they were born, where they pay taxes, yet the government brings in things like the Anti Terrorism Act which unfairly discrminates against people of BME via the use of racial profiling.

I apologise if you don't like my personal writing as is evident by the tags of 'people' and 'culture' as opposed to 'news' or 'current issues' of which I usually write. I respect your views on land, communism capialism and land borders, and I would expect the same respect of you even though I felt that you were dictating and patronising me, although I thank you for taking the time to comment.

Yours,
Yasmin Begum

769

Rhoddwyd sylw 33 mis yn ôl - 16th August 2010 - 16:49pm

go on Yasmin ! - great article, and even better response !

Richard Keane

Rhoddwyd sylw 33 mis yn ôl - 17th August 2010 - 01:47am

Hi Yasmin,

I suspected you might take my political criticism personally and very nearly included an explicit comment about this, making it clear it was in no way a personal attack, or a literary one. One which I am certainly not in a particularly strong position to make. When it comes to writing styles, form etc I'm not really bothered to be honest. Content, accuracy, honesty etc seem to me to be far more important.

It is exactly because I do respect you and what you have written (but not necessarily all of the content) that I replied to you, read your piece several times, and wanted to clarify some political points, learn, debate with you etc.

I'm trying to get my head around Ummah. It sounds like a collective spirit, something metaphysical? And unfortunately deeply mystical. It is not a human body of course, only the actual real bodies are bodies and only they hurt. A similar saying is that of the workers' movement : An injury to one is an injury to all. However this unlike Ummah, if I understand correctly has a material and class basis.

"I wish for a mosque where I could bring my Jewish friend, my Christian grandmother and my Buddhist buddy" - Can you not do this?

I've been to several different places of worship (including a mosque I think?) with people of different faiths. Although I do tend to agree with the French anarchist Ravachol on the question of the Church.

I completely agree, the actions of the government and the state have been despicable, both of which have a long history of barbarous crimes and injustices and which are too many to list. However, the Anti Terrorism Act is not 'just' an attack on Muslims. Although Muslims may bear the immediate brunt due to a particularly reactionary or right wing government, far right police officers, fascists etc. It is an attack on the whole of the working-class.
We have seen it used on protests, demonstrations, communists, socialists, anarchists, 'stop and search'. The last time I was in London I was stopped by the police and lightly interrogated not meaning to exaggerate but that's really the only way I can describe it. And I was not on a demonstration, protest, strike etc. It is clearly a political act and not simply a racist one. To take an example if the BNP were banned (and some do call for the banning of the BNP) how long before the state bans Anarchist organisations, or use the same actions against the wider workers' movement, the working-class?
(slightly off-topic)

You don't have to apologise for your writing, I'm glad you respect my views but I'd rather you argue against, comment or debate them. Perhaps this isn't the place for that. I'm disappointed in my own writing that I came across in the manner that you described.

Richard