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This is such a sinister and frightening ruling with wide reaching consequences.

This women abides by French law, presumably her husband pays his taxes and supports her financially, so she is no burden upon the state (this is usually a pre-requisite for citizenship), she speaks French, she is not a danger to society.

Yet, because the powers that be dislike how she lives her life in private, she has been denied citizenship.

Is she not entitled to live her private life as she wishes without being penalised? Is this not a right that we all should have?

At the moment Muslims are the popular ‘whipping boy’ of society, so people are over looking the glaring invasion into civil liberties. We do so at our peril.

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I’m going to away from the internet for a few days, so I won’t be able to comment or approve comments. I’ll be back Monday, insha Allah. May Allah the Almighty protect and guide you all.

As in the inside of me.

Two little arms, two little legs, kicking and waving about.

I’m not sure what you were dancing to little one, but I think it’s the best dancing I’ve ever seen.

An extra post today! No one tagged me for this, but I saw this on Dave’s blog and thought I’d do it anyway.

As someone whose earliest memories include sitting in front of Top of the Pops and the Chart and being filled with awe and wonder (there’s a great photograph of me when I was about three, watching Barry Manilow with rapt adoration), music has always been a big part of my life. My teenage years meant that every Wednesday was NME and Melody Maker day and wages from any part time work was calculated in terms of how much music I could buy with it. My walkman was my closest friend, with John Peel a close second and I was always taping something. 7.30pm was gig o’clock and I always went to see the support band too.

On conversion, I felt that certain types of music might not be exactly liked, but I was horrified to find out the was a major opinion that music was actually haraam. They might as well have declared my own feet to be haraam.

As the years have passed, I have vacillated between listening and not listening. I know that if I listen to too much music, it distracts me spiritually. I don’t yearn to have music on all the time anymore. I prefer to listen to the occasional song that I really like and enjoy it and may Allah forgive my shortcomings.

With that in mind, here are my seven songs with You Tube Links:

David Bowie - Golden Years. Forever a hero for his role in Labyrinth, aka One of The Best Films Ever, this song is just so groovy. I hope he sings it to Iman when they’re at home.

Lee Dorsey - Everything I Do Gonna Be Funky. How can you argue with a title like that? Native Deen or someone should do a version called “Everything I do gonna be sunnah”. That would be great.

Bob Marley and the Wailers - Stiff Necked Fools. When I was ten, I dug around in my Dad’s music collection and found the Confrontation album. My ears had never heard anything like it before. This was the first album I truly loved and I still love reggae and ska to this day. With someone as iconic as Marley, it’s easy to forget just how talented they actually were. Beautiful lyrics and music. “The lips of the righteous teach many/But fools die for want of wisdom”.

Gregory Issacs - Black a Kill Black. A stunning lament from the Cool Ruler. Sadly just as relevant today as when it was written 30 years ago. The link is to an Mp3 site where you can hear the song for free, the site design is a tad herbacious though.

Queen - Lily of the Valley. Another treasure from my Dad’s record collection. Sheer Heart Attack is the first Queen album I ever heard and it’s still my favourite. A lot of nonsense is said about Queen being a singles band, but any actual Queen fan knows this isn’t true. Sadly, I only started listening to Queen in 1990 and I was soon to be heartbroken (I cried for three days straight) by Freddie’s death. Due to Freddie’s Iranian roots, Queen were one of the few Western bands permitted in Iran, until Ahmedinejad took power. As soon as I heard that, I knew no good would come from his rule. As a side note, it annoys me greatly how people rant about the state of pop culture in Muslim countries. I’d say poverty, corruption and illiteracy are far bigger problems then Nancy Ajram. Anyway, here is a beautiful song featuring one of the greatest voices in Western music, if not ever. 

Modest Mouse - Satin in Coffin. Modest Mouse are one of those bands, I’ve heard about but never heard. I heard this song in a tv advert and had to do some googling and I couldn’t believe it was them. Thundering song, with a great turn of phrase and a bassline which is half menacing/half Dolly Parton 9-5.

U2 - Angel of Harlem. Lots of people’s memes have featured Coldplay, a band so terrible I’d have to swear in Scottish slang to emphasise the depth of my disgust. For me, my Apple Corp running dogs of choice are U2. This is not my favourite U2 song by a long way (that’s probably The Fly), but for some reason, it’s been in my head lately, so here it is.

For various reasons (not bad ones), there’s been little new content on here. This is probably going continue for a little while longer. I’ll try to do a post a week, probably on a Sunday, insha Allah.

I missed the last episode of Women In Black! The tv didn’t record the right episode and the BBC iPlayer site didn’t have it either. If any one knows of any other way I could see it, I would be most grateful.

What do Trotsky and Muslimahs in hijab have in common? They both get airbrushed from history. Thanks Obama. I’d like to think that no British politician (outside of the BNP) would stoop so low.

More sort of Obama talk, what is this term ‘Post-Racial’? Did I miss something? I know there are people those who think that unless you dance around in Klan gear, then you’re not a racist, but most of us beg to differ. Racism is still alive and well. We aren’t post anything.

Talking of anti-Muslim prejudice, have you noticed that when people are being bigoted about other groups, they always claim to have “…” friends, except when Muslims are concerned? We must be too awful to even pretend to be friends with. So from now on, when faced with such views, I will ask “Do you actually know any Muslims?”, “Have you ever been to a Muslim country?” and if the answer is no, then I will ask them stop showing their ignorance.

Finally, and I’m going to put this in bold: Feminism is not a trump card. What is feminist does not overrule all other ideologies, beliefs and concerns. So while you may gauge the importance or worth of something by it’s compatibility with ‘your’ concept of feminism, other people have different guidelines. Constantly trying to project ‘your’ concept of feminism or of women’s rights, onto people who do not share that concept, is not liberating, it’s insulting.

This week the programme is set in the U.K

Regular viewers and/or readers of these reviews may have noticed that this programme is a tad fond of sweeping generalisations.

The first words spoken by Armani Zain are:

“Tonight I’m exploring a world right on my doorstep, Asian Muslim women”. (Note by Asian she means Pakistani/Indian/Bangladeshi)

Holy marginalisation Batman! While many U.K muslims are ethnically Asian, there are also large Somali, Arab, Bosnian, Turkish and of course, convert communities, amongst many others. But we’re not going to get to hear about them tonight. We are not going to get to see them either. What follows is Asians only.

Zain informs us that Asian and Arab Muslims don’t really mix and have little in common. Which again is a overgeneralisation. Firstly the Asian community is not homogenous and has many divides. Secondly as people begin to prioritise their Islamic identity, Muslims are now more likely to meet and socialise along the lines of beliefs or adherence’s within Islam.

Fashion is again a key focus of the programme. A fashion shoot at Asian Magazine is shown, followed by a guide to the Shalwar Khalmeez.

Next, three Asian muslimahs show how Primark clothes can be worn Islamically. It was interesting that they felt the hijab added to their style and was something they were proud to wear, as they saw it as showing a Muslim identity.

Speed dating for Pakistani Muslims is the next stop, which brings up the topic of marriage. An alcohol free diner is shown as another venue where male and female Muslims can meet without attracting attention. I think Zain misses the point here. Something that can difficult for Muslims in a alcohol sodden country, is to find a halal place to socialise and it’s likely that the diner is viewed more as a meeting place for friends, then a place to meet the opposite sex.

In the diner, Zain interviews Kia Abdullah, a British Bangladeshi writer, who’s debut novel attracted attention for it’s gritty subject matter and sex scenes. Talk of ‘breaking taboos’ and ‘pushing boundaries’ abounds. I wonder, why is it that everyone else gets to have firm beliefs and ideas, but for Muslim women these beliefs mean they are caged creatures that have to fight for their freedom?

Next interviewee is The Sun’s (right wing newspaper not fit for lining a cat litter tray) tv columnist, Anila Baig. Anila was employed by The Sun in a blaze of publicity as their hijab-wearing Muslim columnist. She had not previously worn the hijab in her professional career and about a year later, she took it off. Some accused her of using the hijab as a gimmick. When Zain asks her why she stopped wearing it, Anila stated that she felt there were more important things she could be doing and goes on to state that more Muslims in the U.K wear the hijab, then in Pakistan. Then follows a discussion of weather hijab wearing is imitating Arab culture, with Anila stating that Pakistanis view Arabs as being closer to the faith due to the lack of language barrier, a concept Zain is uncomfortable with, viewing this a prejudice.

However, while being an Arab doesn’t make you a better Muslim, the fluency in Arabic (by which I mean Fus Ha), certainly is very beneficial for a Muslim and is a strong requirement for Islamic scholarship and therefore it’s important not to confuse the two.

Back to fashion, after visiting an Asian fashion emporium, Zain attends an abaya-themed fashion show.

Following this, Zain interviews two British Asian Muslims who wear abaya to ask why they wear a dress that is viewed as traditionally Arab. They explain that they view the abaya as more modest and showing an Islamic identity, whereas by wearing a Shalwar Khalmeez, they are stating that they are Pakistani first.

They seem quite content with their choice, but Zain follows this with a woe laden piece to camera positing that being a British Muslim, means being torn in three directions, being British, being Muslim and Pakistani culture.

Personally, I find the only direction I’m torn in is between the pie shop and the chippy, but I’m obviously not a ‘real’ British Muslim, so what would I know?

Now it’s dress-up time and this week, Zain dons a Shalwar Khalmeez to attend an exclusive gathering of Pakistani Women. This takes place at the home of  Dr Maleeha Lodhi, the High Commissioner of Pakistan in the UK. After a quick tour of Dr Lodhi’s wardrobe, Zain asks what she thinks about the wearing of the hijab as a political statement, to which Dr Lodhi replies that the wearing of hijab is a personal choice and that an emphasised religious identity, is not something that automatically leads to extremism. 

At the gathering there is much talk of fashion. One woman states that she finds niqabi wearers ’scary’ and that “these women shouldn’t be allowed to decide the Islamic platform for  everyone else.” I find that statement outrageous and even more so, that it is left unchallenged. I guess some prejudices are more acceptable then others.

I thought it was time for an update and to make a few things really, really clear. 

This week’s episode is in Cairo. Presenter Armani Zain is quick to paint it as a party town from her experiences there as a student.

Armani gives a good insight into dress in Cairo, explaining that while wearing the hijab is becoming increasingly common, many women do not wear the hijab. Those that do wear it, often experiment with many different styles and colours, so there aren’t that many ‘women in black’.

Further on the hijab tip, we meet a female factory owner who makes hijabs. She happily explains that as a Muslim women she feels her religion doesn’t just permit her work, it helps her to work and make her own money, by viewing it as a form of worship.

Zain mentions that the veil has become popular in Egypt, not just as a religious act, but as a political statement against the avowedly secular government (Hmm). Egypt’s increasing religiosity is again mentioned in regards to it’s film industry. Egypt’s film were once as raunchy as their western counterparts, but Zain laments that increased censorship has made them ‘bland’. Any viewers vaguely paying attention at this point may have noticed a not very well hidden agenda begin to emerge. More about this later.

Zain says that she herself would have liked to have become an actress, but that her culture and family would not allow. She speaks to two different women outside of a cinema. The first states that there should be more hijab wearing women in Egyptian films, as many Egyptian women wear the hijab. The other women disagrees, stating she doesn’t like the hijab and most people who wear it are forced to do so by male relatives. This is a rarely expressed view, narrates Zain.

Now for the issue of plastic surgery, with the frankly ludicrous claim that up to 20% of Cairenes have had some form of cosmetic surgery. Not even any U.S city, would such a figure be accurate. The plastic surgeon interviewed is female. She makes the rather dubious statement that cosmetic surgery is a gift from God and to not use this gift would be sinful.

More statistics with the statement that most married Egyptian women have had FGM. Zain does point out that there have been fatwas and campaigns against this practice.

Next, we saw Zain watching Heba Kotb’s show, in which the sexologist dispenses Islamically orientated advice in a frank manner. Zain is displeased when Kotb advises against masturbation, describing this as “reactionary”, not mentioning that masturbation is indeed considered to be widely disliked under Islamic rulings (opinions vary considering the circumstances).

Meeting with Kotb however, Zain describes her as the first person to realise that there are references sexual etiquette in the Qur’an and Sunnah. This isn’t actually true, at all. Zain  asks if Kotb feels such blunt discussion of  sexual matters in compatible with Islam? Kotb explains that to be sexually considerate is in the Qur’an and Sunnah that she hopes to strengthen marriages through her advice.

Next Cairo’s party scene complete with alcohol is shown as the norm for many Egyptian women and Khaleji’s who want to ‘let their hair down’. This is not Islamic behaviour and while I know there are women who are Muslim that do this, a lot of us don’t and would consider it sinful and resent the idea that we’re all longing to ‘party western style’.

As seems to be obligatory for this series, there is some hair removal. A minor fuss occurs as the woman are unhappy to show their faces due to Zain showing her legs on film. Zain seems genuinely astounded that the women would react like this, stating that it’s an example of the tightrope Muslim women walk. Again I have problems with this idea that Muslim women are perpetually conflicted souls, especially in this programme which has just interviewed three women who feel completely at ease with their lives and their religion.

An Egyptian wedding is shown, which while typical, is actually about as Islamic as a pork chop (alcohol, belly dancing, lavish expenditure ).

We are told that Egyptian women are not as free as their western counterparts (remember that hidden agenda I mentioned before) and that this desire for freedom coupled with a rise in religious observance not only creates hypocrisy but a future clash of ideals.

Yes, clash, that quintessential verb that must be used whenever Islam and Muslims are discussed in a modern context.

Let’s look at things from a different perspective. People have been being Muslim for quite some time now, over 1400 years. They have neither faded into obsolescence, nor remained frozen in time. Empires have risen and fallen, wars have been fought, natural disasters endured and Muslims have remained.

As for Egypt, why is assumed that the modernity they seek is the right to ape western social habits? What was glossed over by the programme and it’s relentless focus on the upper class, is that a lot of Egyptians live in poverty. Illiteracy is high, poor housing widespread and the government manages to be both corrupt and draconian. Rising food prices have even lead to national strikes.

By repeating the lie that “They just hate/envy our freedom”, this programme isn’t unveiling anything. Instead it is just reinforcing familiar prejudices. 

I’ve just watched the latest episode of Women In Black.

It was set in Dubai. Subhana Allah it was dreadful. Lots of shopping, lots and lots and lots of it.

Any spirituality? Insight has to how being interested in fashion fits into your religious life?
No. There were shots of the outsides of mosques but nothing more then that. They might as well have just been pretty buildings.

Which is odd when you consider that if I had a pound for everytime she said “Muslim women”, I would be able to do quite a bit of shopping myself.

Of all the various women she interviewed she didn’t ask a single question related to Islam. Sure the wearing of the abaya and shayla were touched upon, but that is just seen a ‘culture thing’. Besides we were shown lots of sparkly abayas and how to attract attention while wearing them. As that is such a noble quality in Islam. Likewise dating via bluetooth and Brazilian waxes (we are told again that body hair removal is an obsession for Muslim women).

In my last review I mentioned that a lot of Arab culture was on show. This episode, we find out that Arab culture is bad and Arab traditions too. They hold you back and stop you being liberated and making lots of money like Western people. As those are the ideals we should be following and all of the Middle East should be like Dubai. In fact the presenter states that “Dubai might come as a shock if you’ve come from the drabber parts of the Middle East”.

After viewing endless upper class excess during the programme, drab doesn’t seem too bad to me. I’d rather go to the Ummayyd Mosque then any shopping mall. To me that’s what being a Muslim women is about. Alhamdulilah, I can enjoy the halal things in life but I know that is not the purpose of my existence, worshipping Allah the Almighty is, and that really is a Muslim thing.

I wrote a big long review of this and Worpress ate it. This has never happened to me before and frankly, it’s just not cool. I’m already having to write this in IE as for some reason WP isn’t working properly in Firefox.

Here is a summary of my previous review.

The programmes starts by saying that Muslim women now comprise 10% of the world’s population. Yet they are seen by many as “Shapeless blobs in black”. Anyway this programmes aims to challenge that view by going, where else but, underneath the veil. Who would have guessed that under veil exploration would become more popular then undersea exploration, but with added exoticism.

Arab and Muslim are not interchangeable. Consult any dictionary for proof. Yet throughout this programme the terms are mixed and matched with little apparent thought to actual definition of either.

When the presenter (an Arab Yemeni raised in the UK) changes from jeans and a t-shirt into a black abaya and shayla half way through her flight to Yemen, she describes it as something many Muslim women do. Maybe so, yet many more have the same concept of modest clothing whether they are in Anchorage or Ankhara.

So the programme continues with showing how Yemeni women live, with a strong emphasis on how they shop and party. The male female segregation is presented as an Islamic act, despite that behaviours surrounding this segregation are often far from Islamic in intention and practice.

Irritation of a milder form, when the presenter describes sugaring as a must for Muslim women, although it is actually a practice of Arab (and Desi) women, regardless of religion.

If this programme marketed itself as an insight into the lives of Arab women, I would have no complaint. However, it is specifically presented as an ‘under the veil’ (groan) look at Muslim women, yet sadly Islam barely makes a cameo appearance. This is typified by a lingering shot of a niqabi woman drinking a glass of juice, which clearly shows her face. Such a shot is extremely intrusive and disrespectful of that women’s beliefs and boundaries. If a programme cannot respect these boundaries, how can it describe not only the beliefs that create them, but the people who hold those beliefs?

Just like many women, Muslim women like to look good, they like to have fun with their friends, they have hobbies and just like every woman, Muslim women are more then their pastimes. Is that so hard to understand?

I’m having WordPress Issues so this post is seriously lacking in links. My apologies.

Firstly, some wonderful news.

Sami Al Hajj has been freed after six years in Guantanamo Bay. No charges were ever brought against him.

Hijab flutter and link to Sunni Sisters, where you can see him greet his son who he hasn’t seen since he was 4 months old. May Allah Subhana Wa T’Ala reward them for their sabr and insha Allah bring and end to the ordeal of all those who have been unjustly incarcerated.

Red Ken lost. The new Mayor of London is not only a Tory *clutches soldily working class necklace (pearls are too sloaney)*, but one with a history of Islamophobic comments. My sympathies for the Muslims of London and for Londoners generally. Yusuf Smith has written further on this. (Click Indigo Jo on my Blogroll.

On to more trivial matters now.

My team has been relegated. They are now at their lowest position ever. I am gutted like a fish about it, which is ironic as they have been as much use as a wig on fish all season, hence their demise.

It goes to show that I haven’t been blogging enough recently, as WordPress have monkeyed around with the buttons and now I don’t know which button to press to add links. Not impressed.

I’ve just finished reading ‘Scattered Pictures’ by Imam Zaid Shakir. It’s an excellent read and probably the next best thing to attending a lecture by the man himself. I am about to finally, finally read Martin Ling’s biography of the Prophet (peance and blessings be upon him). I started reading it before but then moving e.t.c got in the way.

To use an Iman Zaid quote, I’m realising that I need to “put more weight on the bar” and try and put more effort into my ibadat. It’s funny how you can always find time for that which doesn’t benefit you.

Does anyone have tips on improving your practice? Insha Allah, it would be nice if we could share them.

Talking of things which benefit, I’m going to mop the kitchen floor now.

NB
That’s football team btw for those not interested in the beautiful game. Those including Mr Outlines who did not know what relgation meant, or quite why I was looking so sad about it. I have a lot to teach him.