I support Sarkozy

On the Burqa debate.

” I detest the covering of a woman’s face because… in a very disturbing way it associates increased piety with the disappearance of women from society” Mona Eltahawy

I couldnt agree more.

When Not To Approach Your Imam

 

A clip from the short Egyptian film Lili, actor Amr Waked plays the role of a new Imam of a masjid located in a poor district where drugs and prostitution are rife. He sets out to guide the people of the district but he first has to overcome his own weakness, his sexual desire for the beautiful Lili. With English subtitles

What Victory?

The leaders of  Hamas have come out to declare victory in Gaza against the Israelis. Can you imagine Israeli leaders telling their people they are the winners after more than one thousand of their citizens being killed and infrastructure brought to ruins? They simply will not accept it, the 2006 war with Lebanon was unpopular in Israel because of the human loss they suffered. So why do we insult the people of Gaza by telling them that they are on the winning side? We do not respect and value human life. We have allowed the clerics and politicians for many years to come on our TVs and glorify death instead of life, death equals martydom they tell us and martydom is living in eternal bliss next to the Prophet (pbuh) and the Sahaba. The more blood spilt according to them the more blessing the land of Gaza will receive from God.  Being killed by the enemy is better than dying in the hands of other Muslims, at least you get to be labelled “a martyr”. So why complain when they are being killed? If you love death then of course you will think Hamas emerged victorious.

Obama Caricatures

American Obama
His father is an African migrant who abandoned him in his childhood.
 A minority lawyer who is active in human rights within the Democratic Party
Was elected president of the United States of America!

Arab Obama
No family whatsoever, vagabond
A slave with a dark complexion and has a foreign agenda
He can’t even dream of getting an Arab citizenship

“The car ride to the White House”

Sources: Mahjoob, Addustour, www.ta3beer.blogspot.com

A Message From A Salafi

My sister is registered on a matrimonial Muslim site and received the following message from a man looking for a second wife and who has 5 children:

 salaamu alaikum ,
i am a salafi brother , 35 years old , i am living and working MashaAllah in Saudie arabie, Mekkah , i make the Hijrah 5 years ago MashaAllah , i am working like a english teacher in the day and like a sport & recreation instructor in the night .

 My Sheykhs are : Sheykh rabiee , Sheykh Abdul Muhsin , Sheykh Fawzaan , Sheykh Albaani , Sheykh Uthaimeen , Sheykh Bin Baaz and all the other Salafi Sheykhs .

 I follow the true Aqiedah and Manhaj , the Qoran and the Sunnah according to the understanding of the pious / righteous predecessors , i have a beard and wear my clothes above the ankle including the work trousers , i have been on the Salafi dawah now for 7 years MashaAllah , i am looking for a pious salafi sister who adheres to the command of Allah and His Messenger ( saw ) above all else , to be my second wife jazakalaahukhairan .

I confess in my believe that the Most Gracious Allah rose over (istiwa)the (Mighty)Throne really in a matter that suits His Majesty and i confess in my believe in Tauwhid ( Islamic Monotheism .

 May Allah forgive our sins and Bless us with Takwa and Protect us against all evil , May Allah also make it easy for all of us to do rightious deeds ,Amin.

Discrimination and Inferiority Complex in The Muslim World

Often, when we discuss issues of racism, discrimination or women’s rights we tend to make comparisons between the West and Muslim countries. The focus is mainly on the different forms of racism that exist or which society is considered to be more discriminatory. Racism is a universal problem, but what differentiates the West from the Muslim world is that it has adopted laws, policies and provisions that safeguard citizens from discrimination. The laws promote equality and diversity. Racial equality in the West is not perfect but it has progressed steadily partly due to the society and culture being one which is open to change and is able to learn from criticism. The mechanisms put in place against discrimination such as a complaint system and accountability can be exercised by everyone who is affected by it. Even somewhere like France, in which there is default racism by virtue of the fact that ethnic monitoring is not conducted, it is my contention that the failure partly exists with the ethnic minorities themselves. It is an immutable fact of power dynamics that powers will only concede to the weak when either they have a pang of conscience or alternatively they are forced to acknowledge the grievances of the weaker group. France’s minorities have not used to their advantage the democratic and legal system in order to allow for the safeguarding of their rights and to address their grievances. Considering there are 7 million ethnic minorities in France, they have failed to capitalize on their numbers in the same way minorities in the UK, US and Canada have. 

Marriage Of Convenience; Going Off To Morocco

 

The Egyptian authorities have banned a 92-year-old man from Saudi Arabia marrying a 17-year-old girl from Upper Egypt. Poverty and illiteracy is concentrated more in Upper Egypt than other parts of Egypt. What does a 92 year old have in common with a 17 year old? She will probably end up being his carer and still remain a virgin if Viagra doesn’t help him.

 The Egyptian authorities allow a maximum of 25 years of age difference between couples, but there are cases where this rule is broken if the man agrees to deposit a good amount of money in the bank for his wife (i.e. help the wife and Egyptian economy at the same time). I understand why someone wanting to escape poverty for a better life would agree to such a marriage. I also understand the mentality of this old man as he is from a culture that views women’s sole existence as being for the pleasure of men and purchasing women is not a new thing. However it annoys me when it is Westerners going off to poor countries to buy people. The type of people I am talking about are naive middle-aged white women and increasingly Black Muslim converts. How do they feel knowing that their spouse is only with them for the money or the passport they possess? Morocco is a country which best illustrates this point because its citizens frequently marry Western foreigners.

Living Under The Islamists

An article by the Egyptian writer Tarek Heggy.

The Drama of  The “Islamists”

 I have often tried to imagine a scenario in which what I call the ‘Islamists’ will have achieved all their objectives. The scenario assumes that Osama bin Laden or someone like him get their way and proceed to impose their vision of what the Muslim world should be on the rest of us. The principal features of this vision can be summed up in the following:

But whether the first scenario prevails or the second, the big question remains the same: why the suffering, the spilt blood, the violence and destruction, the pain, anxiety and misery? I laugh bitterly to myself as I answer the question: for the sake of power! The only difference between the two scenarios I mention and other possible scenarios is who holds power. In the two scenarios, power will lie with the ‘Islamists’. In a scenario where things remain as they are, the answer is obvious. But there is another scenario which assumes that Muslim societies will opt for development, progress and democracy, in which case power will lie with the people who will exercise it through their duly elected representatives. Unfortunately, this last scenario is not receiving serious consideration in political circles.

The departure of the West, particularly the United States, from Muslim lands.

The removal of the kings and presidents now in power for being what bin Laden and his ilk see as agents of the Great Satan, a.k.a. the United States.

The takeover of power by Osama bin Laden or someone like him, the reinstatement of the Caliphate, the annulment of organic law and the adoption of Islamic Shari’a.

I close my eyes and try to visualize where this would lead. Such a scenario can only unfold in one of two possible ways.

“My dear Black African Woman…. Leezza”

That is a reference to Condoleezza Rice by the comedian, pro-black dictator Colonel Qadafi. Qadhafi’s warm words for Rice is intended in my opinion to have  a dig and gloat at Arab leaders for being “ordered” around by a black woman. He is able to say what the average man on the streets of the Middle East feels. With English subtitles

Yemen, Sexual Harassment & Women

 

I want to use this blog to write about issues that matter to me, my first subject is about sexual harassment. I lived in Sanaa, the capital city of Yemen for seven years as a teenager and then moved to the UK. As a woman it is difficult to escape from sexual harassment, men masturbating in narrow alleyways, rubbing themselves against women in markets and crowded buses, shopkeepers asking you to come to the back of the shop was all too common an experience. I can’t count the amount of times I saw men attempt to expose their private parts to me. I have had men whisper to me “beautiful”, do you want cock”. When I talk to female friends and relatives who lived in Yemen about this issue they all have a story to tell. The incident two years ago where mobs of men went on a sexual assault frenzy in Cairo sparked a debate as to the causes of harassment. The high unemployment among the youth who spend most of their time in cafes watching raunchy music videos, diffculty in getting married were some of the reasons given . This might apply to Egypt but not Yemen and Saudi Arabia.

The problem in Yemen and Saudi in my opinion stems from the sexual objectification of women and a culture that views them as inferior, not only are they physically weaker but intellectually and morally inferior. A woman’s function and existence is one of sexual pleasure for men. This is the reason why a woman always needs a guardian in their eyes, if left alone she would fall into sexual sin and be a public fitna. It is not uncommon in Yemen to see a mother walking behind her 13 year old son who is her guardian. A woman is an incomplete human (muwadin nakhis) who is defined and judged in light of her sexuality, she should not appear on TV because of her feminine shape, she should not speak in public because her voice is awra (shameful) etc.

The strict segregation is part of the cause as well, it creates lack of interaction and familiarity between the sexes. I consider it unhealthy that relatives for example cannot mingle with each other, instead females retreat hastily in another room if a man is approaching without even a greeting. Curtains are used to separate the sexes when talking to each other, those situations sexualise a perfectly normal environment. Any interaction between the sexes is deemed to be sexual. Rather than letting sexuality develop naturally, men are raised to see women as sexual objects and have unhealthy views towards sex. In one of the arab cafes in my city there is a homosexual guy from the Gulf who dresses as a woman but everyone knows he is a man. This guy receives so much attention from some arab men who ask for his phone number or to take him out. He explained that as a transvestite other men consider him to be loose and willing to offer them quick sex, being a man was not important to them as long as they are able to get sex. It is no surprise that a majority of men in arab gay chatrooms are from Saudi.

The excessive covering of women with a niqab and hand gloves adds to the sexualisation of women, the columnist Yasmin Brown wrote “these coverings are physical manifestations of the pernicious idea of women as carriers of Original Sin, whose faces or hair turn Muslim men into predators. In truth, half-naked women and veiled women are both solely defined by sexuality. One group proffers it, the other withholds it. A young girl in a boob tube and a young girl in a hijab are both symbols of unhealthy sexual objectification“. I dont believe that the niqab or hijab alone sexualise women but it does have a negative effect in a culture where women are considered to be inferior in every sense of the word. It is this attitude towards women that has caused the death of 15 girls in Mecca when religious police stopped them leaving a burning school because they were not properly dressed.

I have written about this topic because I hear many muslims in the West going on and on about women in the West being portrayed as sexual objects and try to paint a rosy picutre of muslim countries. Some converts and second/third generation muslims in the West try to imitate and import Saudi culture and lifestyle through fatawa without understanding the damaging potential consequences of their behavior. It’s important that we strike a middle and balanced ground in order to have a healthy society and when pursuing virtue not achieve the opposite.