Muslimah Super Heroes

Words of support from a colleague:

"Many superheroes allow their capes to hang off their back, but I love how you have chosen to wrap yours around your head."

Sikh and Muslim women seek freedom to wear head coverings

Their head wear displayed a full palette of colors and patterns, and symbolized different faiths. But the two dozen Sikh and Muslim women who gathered Saturday at a Fremont community center knew their turbans and scarves had a singular effect on many others in a country where their beliefs are in the minority.

They make the women stand out as different, and to some, threatening.

"Around Sept. 11 this year, I had someone call me a terrorist," said Jasdeep Kaur, a middle-school counselor and volunteer with the Sikh Coalition in Fremont that organized Saturday's unusual joint forum with the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Santa Clara to address discrimination that women of both faiths face because of traditional religious head wear like her black dastaar turban. "We are visually standing out compared to everyone else."

More at: San Jose Mercury News

Hijab News From Denmark

Thank God my dreams did NOT include being a judge in Denmark:

Denmark's government said Wednesday it will prepare legislation that would bar judges from wearing Islamic head scarves and religious symbols in court.

While the law would also ban crucifixes, Jewish skull caps and turbans, it highlights ongoing debate over Islamic traditions in Denmark, an issue that gained world attention in 2006 when Danish caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad triggered violent protests in Muslim countries.

Although there are no known cases of a judge in Denmark wearing a traditional Muslim head scarf known as a hijab, Justice Minister Lene Espersen said the law was needed because judges "must appear neutral and impartial" in court.

The new legislation has created a rift in Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen's government. It was prompted by discussions over a set of dress code guidelines issued last year by the court administration, which noted that Danish law does not bar judges from wearing head scarves.

The guidelines went largely unnoticed until the government's ally, the nationalist Danish People's Party, decided to politicize the issue last month.

The party, known for its anti-Muslim rhetoric, created a poster showing a woman wearing an all-encompassing burqa and holding a judge's gavel. The party urged the government to introduce legislation ensuring that courts remain "neutral instances in the Danish judiciary."

Prime Minister Fogh Rasmussen's Liberal-Conservative coalition was sympathetic to the idea, but Immigration Minister Birthe Roenn Hornbech broke with the party line.

Roenn Hornbech wrote an opinion piece in a Danish newspaper saying lawmakers have no business regulating the dress of judges.

The premier criticized her Wednesday, saying her article was "unfortunate" and should have been cleared with him first.

Danish Muslim groups have been quiet on the issue, although the Muslim Council of Denmark said this month no one should be disqualified from a job "because of one's clothes, religious beliefs or political views."

The justice minister said the government bill, to be presented later this year, would be directed at judges, and would not affect prosecutors, defense lawyers or other court officials.

Source: Associated Press

One of Those Happy Hijab Moments

The other afternoon I (as usual) spent a couple of hours at Panera attempting to read ahead. Randomly some man approached me and asked if I'd do him a favor. My usual response to that question is "it depends." He explained he needed to run to his office for 15 minutes and asked if I would watch his stuff.

In a moment of niceness I agreed and asked where his belongings were. (He was standing before me empty handed. He pointed to a booth about six feet away. He walked back to it, packed up his laptop and whatever else he had and brought it all back to me placing it on the floor next to my bags.

He left and two thoughts came to mind: 1. Gosh I hope I don't get an airport type question from one of the Panera staffers. You know the "did you pack your own bags" deal? 2. This man doesn't know me, did he really pick me out of a crowd to watch his valuables for him?

About 15 minutes later, he returned from his office. When he walked over to retrieve his bag from the floor and thank me he voluntarily quipped "I trusted you because you have a sign of righteousness," waving his finger around his face to indicate my hijab was the sign.

subhan'Allah!

Rialto Muslim Woman's Headscarf Lawsuit Allowed to Move Forward

(Alhamdulillah. She's got one obstacle down and 394302 to go.)

A lawsuit accusing San Bernardino County of violating a Rialto Muslim woman's rights by forcing her to remove her headscarf was allowed to proceed by a federal judge Monday.

U.S. District Court Judge Virginia Phillips denied a motion by the county's attorneys seeking to have part of the case dismissed.

"There's clearly enough here to satisfy the requirements for the claimant," Phillips said in a brief hearing at the Riverside court.

Full Story: Press Enterprise

Random Fabulous Moment of the Week

Monday afternoon I'm studying at my favorite place (Panera Bread) and the man in the booth next to me, leans over and says:

"Excuse me, I just want to say you're really brave for wearing a head scarf."

I'm not sure I would classify myself as brave and of all places San Francisco is a relatively easy city to wear a hijab in. That doesn't however change the niceness of the comment.

Alhamdulillah for open minded people.

Love, Marriage and Islam . . .

. . . from the perspective of an American Muslim muhajiba:

Born in Kenya of Indian heritage, I came to the United States at age 6, settling with my family in upstate New York. Growing up Muslim in suburban America, I missed out on the typical “Dawson’s Creek” method of courtship: the flirting, the fighting, the making up and making out.
. . .
So my friends and I had high expectations when it came to marriage, which was supposed to quickly follow graduation from college. That’s when our parents, many of whom had entered into arranged marriages, told us it was time to find the one man we would be waking up with for the rest of our lives, God willing. They just didn’t tell us how.
. . .
Yet now, at 29, despite all of my “meetings,” I remain unmarried. And in the last five years I’ve exhausted the patience of my matchmaking aunties and friends who have offered up their husbands’ childhood playmates.

I began to panic when I realized people were no longer even asking me how my husband hunt was going. I was too old to be hanging out at the mosque weekend school, where scarf-wearing teenage girls in tight jeans check out the boys from a distance (while pretending not to look). Yet I was not at the point where I’d consider importing a spouse from the subcontinent.

Full story: Close Enough to Touch Was Too Far Apart

Hijab

"To those who say the term 'hijab' is not explicitly mentioned in the Qur'an and thus it cannot be fard, ask them: what then about the fact that the words 'Asr,' 'Maghrib' and 'Ishaa' are not explicitly mentioned in the Qur'an?"

Paraphrasing from Ustadh Suhaib Webb's lecture at MCA (07/30/2007)

Hijab Drama

Muslim juror ‘listened to iPod under hijab’

The Muslim woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is accused of concealing the device beneath her headscarf so that she could listen to music during the testimony of a man who bludgeoned his disabled wife to
death.

Read on at Times Online

There are sooo many issues with this situation. Assuming this is an accurate report, my top two:

1. As folks who depend on democratic tools like a jury, can we please start showing it the respect it deserves.
2. Wow. This has the potential to make wearing hijab an obnoxious burden on female jurors!

To Veil or Not?

A Saudi friend of mine once said that “the only thing more cliché than talking about the veil is apologizing for talking about the veil.” She’s right; the subject’s boring, long-exhausted. Yet, for Muslim women, it’s one subject that won’t go away. Here’s an insider tip for my male Muslim friends, even the so-called progressive ones who say they don’t care whether women veil or not: the difference between you and me is that you’ve never had to make this decision. And as much as we love you — plural — for claiming that you don’t care what conclusion we come to, the fact is you will never have to be in this position. And that, right there, makes your experience of Islam different from ours.

Read on at: Hijab Man

Local Hijab "Victory"

SAN FRANCISCO - A Muslim teenager who was ordered by a school monitor to take off a headscarf she wore for religious reasons returned to classes after school officials apologized to the family.

Issra Omer, 13, told her parents she was too embarrassed to show up for summer school classes at Seaside High School on Wednesday, the day after a monitor demanded she remove her hijab, the Muslim scarf covering the head and neck, to conform to the district's no-hat policy. Issra, whose family is originally from Sudan, explained that her scarf is worn for religious reasons, but the school employee still yelled at her, said her father, Yousif Omer. The teenager, who will be starting 9th grade in the fall, felt humiliated by being singled out in front of her peers, and started crying, he said. The school's principal, Syd Renwick, explained the employee didn't intend any harm.

Read on at: The Californian

Iraqi Refugees Turn to the Sex Trade in Syria

MARABA, Syria — Back home in Iraq, Umm Hiba’s daughter was a devout schoolgirl, modest in her dress and serious about her studies. Hiba, who is now 16, wore the hijab, or Islamic head scarf, and rose early each day to say the dawn prayer before classes.

But that was before militias began threatening their Baghdad neighborhood and Umm Hiba and her daughter fled to Syria last spring. There were no jobs, and Umm Hiba’s elderly father developed complications related to his diabetes.

Desperate, Umm Hiba followed the advice of an Iraqi acquaintance and took her daughter to work at a nightclub along a highway known for prostitution. “We Iraqis used to be a proud people,” she said over the frantic blare of the club’s speakers. She pointed out her daughter, dancing among about two dozen other girls on the stage, wearing a pink silk dress with spaghetti straps, her frail shoulders bathed in colored light.

As Umm Hiba watched, a middle-aged man climbed onto the platform and began to dance jerkily, arms flailing, among the girls.

“During the war we lost everything,” she said. “We even lost our honor.” She insisted on being identified by only part of her name — Umm Hiba means mother of Hiba.

Read on at: NY Times

Diamonds and Pearls

"If memory serves me correctly, I was wearing a little white tank top and a short black skirt. I had been raised Orthodox Muslim, so I had never before worn such revealing clothing while in my father's presence. When we finally arrived, the chauffeur escorted my younger sister, Laila, and me up to my father's suite.

As usual, he was hiding behind the door waiting to scare us. We exchanged many hugs and kisses as we could possibly give in one day. My father took a good look at us. Then he sat me down on his lap and said something that I will never forget.

He looked me straight in the eyes and said, 'Hana, everything that Allah made valuable in the world is covered and hard to get to. Where do you find diamonds? Deep down in the ground covered and protected. Where do you find pearls? Deep down at the bottom of the ocean covered up and protected in a beautiful shell. Where do you find gold? Way down in the mine, covered over with layers and layers of rock. You've got to work hard to get to them.'

He looked at me with serious eyes. 'Your body is sacred. You're far more precious than diamonds and pearls, and you should be covered too.'"

Source: "More Than A Hero:
Muhammad Ali's Life Lessons Through His Daughter's Eyes."

Wearing Hijab on Nov. 13 Honors Slain Afghan Mother

CA: WEARING HIJAB ON NOV. 13 HONORS SLAIN AFGHAN MOTHER
Sue Hutchison, Mercury News, 11/6/06
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/columnists/15940994.htm

Melanie Gadener was at home in Fremont three weeks ago when she began receiving calls about the killing of Alia Ansari, the 38-year-old mother of six who was shot in the head as she walked with her little girl through a quiet Fremont neighborhood to pick up her children at Glenmoor Elementary School.

Very quickly, Gadener was struck with the same suspicion as many others in town. They wondered if Ansari was killed simply because of the way she was dressed, in a loose scarf that some Muslim women wear to cover their heads out of modesty.

"I was shocked and saddened, but I was not surprised," Gadener told me when we met recently. "There is growing racism in Fremont, and a lot of this has come out since 9/11." Whether or not Ansari's head scarf had anything to do with why she was killed, it's significant that so many people have no trouble believing it was the reason.

Support for Afghans

Gadener has been especially sensitive to these tensions since she set up the Foundation for Self-Reliance, a non-profit organization that develops programs to promote economic independence in the Afghan community. Over the past three years, she has had a crash course in Muslim beliefs and traditions.

"I've learned not to be afraid to ask questions and be honest about my own ignorance," Gadener said. "We've got to bring the conversation to the table."

In that spirit, she had an idea about how to memorialize Alia Ansari. What if women of all religions pledged to wear a Muslim head covering, a hijab, for one day? It would not only show support for the Ansari family, but it also would be an intriguing social experiment. How might people treat you differently if, for one day, the only thing different about you was what you were wearing on your head?

Nov. 13 was the date chosen for "Wear a Hijab Day," and the plan has taken on a life of its own. Gadener has been deluged with messages of support from all over the world. Soon it became clear that men wanted to participate as well, so the event's title was changed to ``Wear a Hijab or Turban Day."

Sikhs included, too

Reshma Yunus, who is active in the Muslim community and the founder of Semah, a domestic violence-prevention organization based in Newark, said she suggested adding turbans to the event because many Sikh men also have been victims of the backlash since Sept. 11, even though they are not Muslim . . .