Rilek1Corner

Tag: tudung

  • Osman Sulaiman: Malay Muslim Community Must Make A Stand As The Government’s Inconsistent Policies Continue to Divide

    Osman Sulaiman: Malay Muslim Community Must Make A Stand As The Government’s Inconsistent Policies Continue to Divide

    I believe the reason why some people still fear the Muslim women who wear the hijab is becoz they have little or poor knowledge on why these ladies put it on. And they most probably have not had the opportunity nor the exposure to mingle and make contact with them.

    For 50 years, our gov has all of the necessary apparatus to assuage this matter but it has not done so and has in fact shown to be unwilling to do so. It continues to do this so that it can rule by division.

    They continue to disallow any muslim child who wear the headgear from attending the mainstream school and thus segregating the mass of the population from these people and thus compounding the misconception about people who wear the hijabs.

    Many studies have shown that the younger the child is exposed to a certain environment, the better these children will be able to adapt. Unfortunately, the people that rule us think otherwise.

    How then do we integrate people of different faith together? Oddly enough, the Sikh community is given the green light to wear the turban in school if they choose to.

    Dont get me wrong. Im not advocating for the gov to ban turbans in pri and sec schools becoz the muslim girls weren’t allowed to practice their faith but rather to apply the policy consistently for the greater good of the people as a whole.

    For all of its time in power, our gov has continued with its iniquity towards certain segment of the society in particular the malays and/or muslims.

    From time to time, we will also hear the ministers on record to give their skewed perspective of the malays and muslims, creating further doubts. I wonder how our malay/muslim ministers feel serving such a government.

    I also find it hard to swallow that Singapore reproves its neighbour up north for their exclusion of talent based on race but at the same time doing exactly the opposite of what it propagates.

    Other than disallowing the muslim girls who wear the headgear in pri and sec mainstream schools, many job opportunities (particularly in the uniform groups) are also not made available to them by way of implementing discriminating policies. This act has unfortunately spilled over to the private sectors.

    Our gov is certainly not oblivious on the aspirations of the malay/muslim community to be treated justly and to remove any doubts on its loyalty towards the nation. It has come to a point where our fundamental rights are now treated as candies to be given at the pleasure of these people governing us.

    If there are social faultlines that divide us, especially on race or religion, then i believe this gov is the main contributor of such matters.

    It has been many years my community keep giving this current gov their support but have seen no change to this issue. I implore my community to rethink on their choices. The support should be given to people who believe in inclusiveness. Not the artificial ones that we are experiencing now.

    Ask yourself this pertinent question. How many more years do we want to wait? If we have never contributed anything significant to our own community, this is the best chance to do so on a huge scale.

    We cant have any success without a little sacrifice. We should not fear the unknown. No one will change our fate unless we change it ourselves.

    We need to rally our family members and friends to do what is needed. Im afraid that with the influx of new citizens, our political voices will be diminished further. It might then be too late for any regrets.

    Regards,
    Osman Sulaiman

     

    Authored by Osman Sulaiman.

  • American Hijab: Donning The Hijab As a Socio-Political Statement Rather Than A symbol of Religiosity

    American Hijab: Donning The Hijab As a Socio-Political Statement Rather Than A symbol of Religiosity

    I remember donning the hijab for the first time three years ago. I say it was the first time, but really it was one of many times that I had slipped it on, standing in front of the mirror and adjusting the folds of fabric around my face. Yet this time was different. Rather than take it off after prayer or a visit to the local masjid (mosque), I was hoping to wear it regularly.

    It was sometime in winter during my freshman year of college at Northwestern, and I had spent my first three months of college searching for my place among thousands of students. Like any freshmen, I had several identifying factors that felt true, things that I felt could not go unmentioned as I sought out the people who would become my closest friends. These included everything from my taste in books and music to my leftist political stance, but also my religion.

    As a Muslim growing up in a post 9/11 world, I was accustomed to misconceptions about my religion, my race, and my identity. I was acutely aware of the way I navigated the world as a brown body, and how experiences of hate and injustice only magnified themselves when my mother (wearing hijab) or my sister (darker with characteristic African hair) accompanied me places. My body, in spite of its brown shade, was still in the liminal world of racial ambiguity, a place where I could pass into whiteness when it seemed convenient. There were few markers of my race and my religion. In spite of this, however, I had often felt that my religion was not something to be shed or stifled and hidden for the sake of others, for the sake of their comfort. I did not shy away from my heritage, my deeply Egyptian roots, the pride I felt for Africa and Arabia and Islam. They were the places that made me a blank-American, someone different.

    That day in winter, as a lonely and homesick freshman, I remembered that being different was far from wanting or choosing to be different. That, in fact, I was not in control of my narrative so long as I still sought the acceptance of those who might never want to understand me. My desire to wear hijab increased in that moment. Hijab became a symbol of my rejection of white-passing (or at the very least racial ambiguity), a privilege I was distinctly aware I had, and that I knew was not afforded to many of my fellow non-white Americans.

    While hijab has historically had a reputation of being a number of things to “the West,” rebellion has rarely been one of them. Certainly among many Muslims and in many Muslim nations it is often considered a sign of piety, or at the very least culture and respect. Yet rebellion, or perhaps a better word is resistance, is one of the many reasons many Muslims wear hijab.

    In fact, in the 1970s and ’80s, after a period of secularism, many Muslim majority countries were undergoing an Islamic revival, where the society (not the political regimes) responded to its conditions by adopting religion again. It was a reversal of the Westernisation approach, undermining the belief of my grandparents’ generation that the West was strengthening Muslim nations. My mother describes choosing the hijab in college during the ’80s, a little after this revival. Her parents, the previous generation, rejected her decision; theirs was an era where few women wore hijab, where much of the traditional clothing was left behind in favor of western attire, where alcohol was widely accepted rather than forbidden.

    Many American Muslims wear hijab much like the women of the Islamic revival, as a response to the changing times and a rejection of Western influence. While it seems counter-intuitive to wear hijab in a world that increasingly has a negative perception of Muslims, particularly when the consensus among many American Muslims is that one can be religious with our without it, there is a significant presence of American Muslim women wearing the hijab as a strong sense of identity. As one of these women, I know and have insight to a representation of hijab that is rarely portrayed — a representation that I call the American hijab, the antithesis and retaliation to whiteness and the American media, and a nod of solidarity to other people of color.

    In this sense, hijab, rather than strictly being a religious decision, is also a sociopolitical choice and representation. In spite of, or rather in response to, the negative portrayal of Muslims by those (Muslims and non-Muslims) who seek to define our narrative as one of barbaric killing and atrocity, women choose hijab — a piece of cloth that declares their identity as Muslims while simultaneously expressing their individual identity as smart, driven, successful, and independent. A simple yet powerful message. A way in which Muslim women can reclaim their narrative.

    In choosing to wear the hijab, American Muslim women reconstruct the narrative of Islam in America. More importantly, they define American Islam and celebrate its rich cultural treasures: Islamic songs by Cat Stevens after his conversion, legendary icons like Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali and Kareem Abdul Jabbar, a deep sense of community that transcends immigrant heritage to become a new national heritage of its own, a style of hijab and clothing developed to bring together Islamic tradition from across the globe.

    This American Islam has blossomed in many forms: the Mipsters (Muslim hipsters), Muppies (Muslim Urban Professionals), IMAN (Inner-city Muslim Action Network), and many more coalitions of young Muslim Americans who bring together their cross-cultural heritage — their America and their Islam — and share it with the world on a daily basis, through creative productions, concerts, health clinics and activist movements. While each coalition and organization has its own goals, they share a young, vibrant population of men and women alike with a common religious ideology, but also a sociopolitical identity.

    In the same vein, American Muslim women have created communities for hijabi fashion. With blogs, magazines, a strong social media presence, conferences, and more, these women are the epitome of the American hijab as an intricate sociopolitical identity. Instagram is littered with photos of stylish, smart women redefining the traditional garment, following the lead of women like international popstar Yuna. In their defiance of social convention, American Muslim women wearing hijab have paved the way for others and developed a sense of social consciousness and social justice among themselves.

    While this story of resistance may seem new, it is not unique to Muslim women. It is a story that rings true for many individuals of color, whether it manifests itself as choosing to don an afro or to participate in the traditions of our non-American ancestors. It is the story of rejecting social pressure, of rejecting the influence of western media and the western world, and of choosing to openly and clearly declare our difference in a society that readily rejects us as part of its narrative.

    The choice is embracing that difference and declaring it before anyone else can. This often means representing entire worlds, but it also means liberation from the pressures that society imposes with respect to beauty, identity, race, and culture. At the end of the day when I have fears about continuing to represent my faith without trepidation, I remember that I wear my hijab for the empowerment it grants me in declaring where I stand in a world that — more often than not — is in opposition to all that I am.

    I remind myself of the power and privilege of having the choice to decide whether I am explicitly seen or unseen for my difference, and for the ability to pass. While hijab is important to me as both a religious and sociopolitical statement, it is not my skin. At the end of the day, it is a piece of fabric that can be shed. Yet it is my way of acknowledging the unique responsibility and burden that people of color share with respect to teaching others about their identities. To my brothers and sisters of color out there: solidarity

    The story first appeared on xoJane.com

    Source: http://time.com

  • Forced Into Hijab (Part II)

    Forced Into Hijab (Part II)

    1) Modesty mustn’t simply be defined in terms of what you’re wearing, but more importantly, how you behave

    I don’t know, I don’t think modesty should be as simple as a piece of clothing. I’ve seen women who are truly modest, and they don’t require a Hijab to be so. At the same time, I’ve seen women who dress modestly lead a decadent life. That’s why I think modesty needs to be more than how you dress. It is an entire behaviour. And no amount of clothing could alter that.

    2) Religious decisions should never be forced upon anyone

    I always believe that spirituality is a very personal thing. It is something between you and god, and you and god alone. No one should ever, ever come into the picture to influence any of your spiritual and/or religious decisions. I always don’t understand why people see the need to police or ‘save’ other people. Impositions of your own religious beliefs are not only unnecessary, they distance someone else from the religion altogether because it is very off-putting to have someone tell you how to behave. It is also another problem entirely when people tell me to wear the Hijab because they don’t want to be dragged into hell by my sins (i.e my reluctance to wear the Hijab). If anything, what I learnt from my JC experience was that people are able to appreciate the religion even more when they learn it on their own accord. My JC friends are so happy to wear the Hijab because it was never forced upon them.

    3) The creation of a dichotomous identity

    The person I see wearing the Hijab and my true self – the one who is not defined according to her physical form cannot co-exist. I actually do feel a sense of dissonance and conflict when I have to repress myself in order to maintain the good image of the Hijab. I’ll be honest; by nature I’m quite a free-spirited person who is both sarcastic and enjoys dry humor. I particularly like to make jokes (and crude ones at that) which make many people feel uncomfortable because it’s very unbecoming for a tudung girl to be like that. Due to that I hide my true self and appear to be this seemingly modest person in front of others. And  it worked – people describe me as someone they deem ‘gentle’, ‘quiet’ and ‘shy‘. I can’t decide which is worse – being hypocritical by my wearing of the Hijab or simply to act as I like with no regard for it.

    4) People define you in terms of your tudung

    People being people, they judge you according to your appearance. When it comes to seeing a tudung girl, naturally, people will see a tudung girl first, and, say, a funny girl second. I do this too, because we always think that people who put on the tudung do so because they are motivated by goodness. As you can already tell, this idea doesn’t apply to me at all. Also I honestly feel sad when someone defines me according to my tudung; because I see myself as someone more than that, and I want to be acknowledged for being witty and funny and other things in which I pride myself for. Furthermore, people see you as ‘the other’ when you wear the tudung. They don’t ever see you or treat you as a regular person in society but as ‘the other’ or ‘the tudung girl’. Personally, I too, wish to be noticed (by the object of my affections) as someone who has a unique personality, but that unfortunately never happens because of how I look.

    5) People police your behaviour and they see the need to ‘protect you’

    This is an entirely problematic way of thinking which has existed since probably the dawn of time. This is linked to how someone has told me that they don’t want to be dragged into hell by my sins. I recall an incident in school whereby someone told me that my hair was showing and he made a deal out of it. He even jokingly asked – ‘You’re not wearing the inner part of the tudung right?‘ When you think about it rationally, how silly that must sound, because after all, it was simply two strands of hair. The world doesn’t stop when my hair shows, and neither will a hole appear before me and swallow me alive when my hair shows. It was then that I asked him why he felt it was such a problem to the point of accusing me of not wearing the inner tudung. He told me that he thought it would be a sin on his part to not tell me, which fairly reminded me of the kind of things other people tell me when they need to justify their policing of my behaviour or other religious decisions. Personally, I don’t believe that Islam, being the fair and merciful religion it is, would hold you accountable for the sins and the mistakes of others in which you do not consciously partake in. I believe that only the individual and the individual himself should be accountable for such, and not only that, it is an insult to the tudung-wearer to always be reminded that her body is a constant object of sin.

    6) Paranoia, awareness of social judgment, and objectification of the self

    A few months ago, I decided to do a project on the Hijab, where I challenged myself not to wear the Hijab to see how I would react, since I’ve always wanted to take it off anyway. I always thought it would be easy to take it off, being someone who’s always been reluctant to wear it. It was however, startling to see that it was extremely hard to do. When I didn’t have my tudung on I started feeling paranoid. I remembered taking it off in the toilet and having this intense urge to put it back on the moment I got out of the toilet. I feared someone would see me, someone would come to me and ask me why I am not wearing the tudung, and would then frown upon me. I also felt insecure showing a small part of my neck, and my hair, although the rest of my body was covered. I was experiencing a combination of confusion, insecurity and dissonance within myself. I thought I would feel liberated if I didn’t wear it but what ensued instead was only paranoia. It was amusing to see that when I wore the Hijab, my personality was at odds with my Hijab identity but when I took it off, my Hijab identity in turn was at odds with my personality. That was also when I discovered the idea of a dichotomous identity within myself, which could in no way, merge or be one with the other. Also, that whole experience taught me that objectification must be so prevalent in society when you out of all people, objectify yourself. I’ve always thought I was insecure of my features because I hid my hair, but after years of being conditioned to wear the Hijab, the reverse happened. I was now insecure of my features because I was used to hiding it. It doesn’t do anything for your self-esteem and doesn’t promote a healthy body image at all.

    7) Having to compensate

    I don’t think wearing the Hijab necessarily equates to a modest way of living. Initially, one of the reasons why the Hijab was so ideal was because it was supposed to shift the emphasis away from how you looked so you could focus on other more important things, like faith, the religion, and ultimately, God. However, if you look at the way things are presently, the Hijab no longer functions that way. It was also supposed to steer the emphasis away from materialism and consumerism, which, as we now know, is simply an ideal. The Hijab market is definitely on the rise now, as we see fashion shows dedicated to not only Hijab and clothing for veiled women but also fashion shows for theTelekung, which is a prayer gown. It is ridiculous to think that a modest piece of fabric that was once supposed to allow women to lead a modest lifestyle now becomes an industry in which people profit from. Furthermore, sometimes, as women wearing the Hijab, we feel the need to compensate, or to make up for what we lack through various means. I’m not saying this is true for everyone but at the very least it is true for myself. I find myself having to dress up more because I want to present myself better because I wear the tudung. Although I know it defeats the purpose of the tudung, I can’t help but to do what I do – because honestly, who doesn’t want others to see the best version of themselves? Dressing up is not about impressing other people but more about making yourself feel better. And this whole process of having to compensate – because I wear the tudung, does take its toll on me. I constantly think that if I don’t wear the tudung, I wouldn’t have to go through so much trouble — because with the tudung, you constantly have to be creative in the way you put your clothes together and you have to work around many things. After you get used to it, it is not much of a hassle, but it definitely isn’t the best way to live, and it definitely isn’t the best attitude to have when you wear the Hijab.

    8) No good intentions

    I find myself to be, quite frankly, a rather horrible person and because of that, I don’t think I deserve to or am ready to wear something like the Hijab which is a symbol of goodness in society’s eyes. Also, a person such as myself should not be wearing the tudung simply because I don’t believe in it and don’t have any strong convictions to wear it. Furthermore, I don’t think the Hijab or any other religious practice should be done when you’re not sincere about it. Although I wear the tudung everyday, every time I start putting it on the only thing I can think about is how much I dislike wearing it and how I wish I don’t have to. Because of this, my wearing of the tudung is no longer a kind of service to God but is reduced to a pointless ritual which benefits neither myself nor my relationship to God. It is also not of any justice to god, and it defeats the purpose entirely. At this point someone will ask “Why don’t you take it off then“, to which my answer would be – ‘I just can’t‘, as I’ve explained earlier on.

    9) Endless questioning

    Whether you wear the Tudung or not, as a Muslim woman, you will constantly be subjected to questions your entire life.

    What initially drove me to write about this was because of my deep yearning to have my hair seen, after watching the television yesterday and observing the way this lady’s haircut perfectly framed and somehow enhanced her face. It was the kind of yearning that made me feel pathetic, knowing that having your hair shown is such a natural thing in which many people take for granted. I always wondered what life would be like if my hair could be seen. I always envisioned it to be a much better life, because it seems like I will be free from the many responsibilities, expectations, judgments, hypocrisy and confusion which I have now.

    I would like to renounce it, if I could, but that is definitely not within my power.

    I would like to say that these experiences are not just my own, but that I am very certain that many of us who have tried wearing the Hijab, or any Muslim woman for that matter, has felt similar sentiments.

    To be honest, I am uncertain of where my life will head after I’m done publishing this and if small changes will slowly happen in my life, but I have this sinking feeling that nothing will change – I will forever don the Hijab because I don’t know how to live my life otherwise.

     

    Source: http://beyondhijabsg.wordpress.com

  • Qatari Basketballers Forfeit Match After Being Denied For Wearing Hijab

    Qatari Basketballers Forfeit Match After Being Denied For Wearing Hijab

    qatari basketball hijab

    INCHEON, South Korea (AP) — Qatari basketballers forfeited a women’s match against Mongolia on Wednesday and are considering withdrawing from the Asian Games competition after being refused permission to wear a hijab.

    Confusion over the implementation of recently relaxed guidelines outlined by the sport’s international governing body, aimed at making the game more inclusive, could be the cause of the problem in Incheon.

    “The Qatari players … refused to take off the hijab,” Asian Games Organizing Committee spokeswoman Anna Jihyun You told The Associated Press. Ten minutes after the scheduled start, “At 4:25 p.m. local time, the match was declared forfeited and awarded to Mongolia.”

    The Qatari contingent was surprised by the decision, with its chef-de-mission Khalil al-Jabir saying the team “was not likely to play” basketball in these Asian Games if the players are not allowed to wear the hijab.

    “We were expecting our players to play with the hijab, that’s why we came here,” he said. “Nobody told us that it will not be allowed and we are still waiting for clarifications.”

    Qatar is scheduled to play Nepal on Thursday, leaving little time for a compromise unless FIBA, basketball’s international governing body, intervenes.

    You said match officials working Wednesday’s game did not receive any instructions from FIBA to allow head coverings, and were only following the rules which restrict the use of headgear, hair accessories, and jewelry. Such restrictions were initially designed for the safety of players, but have recently been challenged on cultural and religious grounds.

    “The organizing committee is not involved in the rules, and the match officials did not have any directions from world body FIBA regarding the same,” You said.

    The rules of each sport at the Asian Games are governed by their respective international federations, and many allow head coverings for certain athletes during competition, including badminton, shooting, track and field and football.

    A Qatar sports official and activist, identified by the Asian Games News Service as Ahlam Salem M. Al-Mana, said the decision to forfeit Wednesday’s game should serve as a message to the game’s world governing body.

    “We have to take this stand,” she was quoted as saying by the AGNS. “Let the international association accept us. We are here to push the international association that all Muslim teams are ready to compete in any competition. We knew about the hijab ban, but we have to be here.

    “We have to show everyone that we are ready to play, but the international association is not ready. Because the rules of the international association, they cannot participate. In football, handball, and martial arts competitions, women can wear hijab but not in basketball.”

    Regulations about head coverings in basketball came into focus this year when two male Sikh players from India were told to remove their turbans during the Asia Cup in July in China.

    Earlier this month, FIBA said it was launching a two-year trial phase allowing some players to wear head coverings.

    However, the Mies, Switzerland-based organization issued a clarifying statement saying: “Please note the Central Board decision allows exceptions to be applied only at the national level and the Asian Games is an international event.”

    To get an exemption for domestic tournaments, national federations must petition FIBA to allow players to play with their heads covered, plus submit follow-up reports twice a year.

    FIBA’s governing body will evaluate the rule again next year, and determine whether to allow head covers at some level of international competition from next summer.

    A full review in 2016 will decide if it will become a permanent rule change after the 2016 Olympics.

  • Turkey Lifts Ban on Hijab at High Schools

    Turkey Lifts Ban on Hijab at High Schools

    President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who co-founded the ruling Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP), has long been accused by opponents of eroding the secular values of the modern Turkish state.

    Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc, a close Erdogan ally, said that an amendment was made to the dress code regulations for female students to say they will not be forced to keep their heads uncovered.

    “I know that some female students were longing for (this amendment) to high school regulations,” Arinc told reporters after the cabinet meeting late on Monday.

    Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu welcomed the amendment as an effort for “democratization.”

    “This should not only be seen as the lifting of the ban on the wearing of headscarf,” Davutoglu told the private NTV television Monday.

    “There has been an effort for freedoms and democratization in every sphere.”

    Kamuran Karaca, head of the Egitim-Sen education union, said that the measures would provoke a “trauma” in Turkey.

    “Turkish society is heading back to the Middle Ages through the exploitation of religion,” he said.

    Last year, Turkey lifted a long-standing ban on women wearing the headscarf in state institutions as part of a package of reforms to bolster freedoms and democracy — which drew the ire of secularists who denounced the move as an attempt to Islamize the staunchly secular country.

    Women can already wear the Islamic headscarf — known as the hejab — in universities. The wives of most AKP ministers wear the hijab, as does Erdogan’s wife Emine.

    The founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, based the post-Ottoman republic on a strict separation between religion and state.

    Critics accuse Erdogan, who last month moved to the post of president after over a decade as prime minister, of seeking to undermine Ataturk’s legacy, charges he denies.

    Source: http://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2014/09/139845/turkey-lifts-ban-on-headscarves-at-high-schools/