Ready to Go

Salam

Bismillah

So I haven't been here in forever, please forgive me.

Today I want to talk about leaving.

I am soooooo ready to leave this country. I seriously just want to pack a bag and go somewhere else.

There is a mythical place in my head where wearing 'abaya isn't unusual, being Muslim isn't anathema and being born in America isn't a stigma.

demagogue

\ DEM-uh-gog \ , noun;

1.

A leader who obtains power by means of impassioned

appeals to the emotions and prejudices of the

populace.

I see my home country being over run by demagogues. I see it creeping slowly into my family. I see the distrustful looks that my aunts and uncles and cousins give me.

I find comfort in the women around me who know what it feels like, and I thank Allah for them because they keep me sane. I'm not sure if they really know just how much.

I am saddened by the thought that the people who accept me and make me feel at home are usually not my family members. That my family members who have known me since birth have suddenly found inside me their enemy.

I am ready to go.

And yet I realize that no matter where I go, I will always be different. In my hometown I will always be Muslim, always be that covered woman. If I go somewhere else I will always be that convert, always be that American woman.

I realize that no matter what, I will always face some prejudice in this life.

i AM different, alhamdulillah

i AM muslim, alhamdulillah

i AM white, alhamdulillah

i AM covered, alhamdulillah

i AM american, alhamdulillah

These are things I cannot change, things I will not change inshaAllah.

Even if I get a new home and new citizenship, I will always be "that American sister." And maybe that's okay.

And so I put it in Allah subhana wa ta'ala's hands. He is the Most Generous, He is the Most Merciful, He is the Best of Providers.

I ask Allah to help us all with our issues of disenfranchisement. To make us content with the provision he has given us and to help us find peace in this life and the next, ameeeeeen.

wa alhamdulillah 3la kul 7al

Las Tapadas Limenas

Salam!

Bismillah

I saw an article about tapadas limenas and I was so excited! Tapadas Limenas (there should be a tilde over the n but I don't know how to do that on my keyboard) literally translates to "Covered Women from Lima." Lima is in Peru :-)

Photo Credit

Look, one eye! They follow the sunnah!

So these ladies in Peru covered everything but one eye using a shawl. Why did they do this? For freedom and protection :-D

From the article:

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=117479#axzz0vZsmfpuZ

The attire [of clothing] “was clearly intended to serve as a cover, to protect women’s virtue and ward off temptation,” explained Alicia del Aguila, a sociologist who has studied and written about the subject.

Over time, the bourgeoisie and the middle class appropriated the saya and the manto, which became a way for women to hide from unwanted male attention, cover their faces and also conceal their social rank and skin color.

The modest clothes provided “more freedom to those who wore them than ordinary women,” argued del Aguila.

Such an approach is a far cry from the controversy stirred by the veil throughout Europe, where it is seen as a sign of the perceived Muslim oppression of women.

The lower house of Parliament in France, where rundown city suburbs are home to Europe’s biggest Muslim minority, has voted overwhelming to ban full Islamic veils in public spaces, and similar laws are pending in Belgium, Spain and some Italian municipalities.

But in Lima, the tapada loosened the stranglehold on women, giving women a level of greater freedom while protecting their honor.

...

There is no place on Earth were women have more freedom than in Lima,” Franco-Peruvian socialist and feminist Flora Tristan said in 1837 as she enthused about the women who, while covered, were free to stroll in the streets, at amphitheaters and even in Congress.

Contact

Salam!

If you have issues and you want someone to hear you:

Contact. Your. Representatives.

If you live in the US: http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml

• Contact for the President, VP, House, Senate, State Officials
• You can even TWEET your representatives now

If you live in Canada: http://webinfo.parl.gc.ca/MembersOfParliament/MainMPsCompleteList.aspx?TimePeriod=Current&Language=E

• includes phone, fax, e-mail, office address

If you live in UK: http://www.parliament.uk/

• scroll down and you can enter your postal code to find your local MP
• will usually give you an office address, maybe a phone number or e-mail address

If you live in the European Union: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/members/public/geoSearch.do;jsessionid=061E6CBA8B57665E972117F236828A0F.node1?language=EN

• Click on your country, choose a region (in some cases) and pick a representative to contact
• usually includes address, phone, fax, and e-mail

If you live in South Africa: http://www.parliament.gov.za/live/content.php?Category_ID=97

• gives e-mail for many, but not all representatives

If you live in Australia: I couldn't get any of the government websites to work yet but inshaAllah, I will figure it out

If you live in New Zealand: http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/MPP/MPs/MPs/

If you live in Switzerland: http://www.parlament.ch/e/organe-mitglieder/nationalrat/mitglieder-kanton/Pages/default.aspx

• This is a list by canton
• Find yours, click, and then search for your representative and click again :-)

If you live in the Republic of Ireland: http://www.oireachtas.ie/parliament/tdssenators/senators/ and http://www.oireachtas.ie/viewdoc.asp?DocID=12684&&CatID=138

• e-mails for senators are on the first link
• e-mails for TD's are on the second link

If you know of any other websites that have contact information for representatives please feel free to leave them in the comments (especially if they are written in another language). I only speak English fluently, so those were the ones that I could find.

Thanks!!!

Niqab Ban: A Rant

Salam sisters,

I think that this is my first rant. It may not make sense and I may take it down later, but I need to get some of these feelings out.

I apologize ahead of time if I hurt anyones feelings. If I do so please let me know because that is not my intention.

Rated PG-13 for liberal use of the word "crap" lol

START RANT:

I am starting to get really PO'd with all of this niqab banning crap. If you want to cite security reasons, okay whatever, but in France security isn't their issue. (And for the record, I firmly believe that the "security" issues are ultimately red herrings thrown out there to divert the population away from the actual issues at hand: the stripping of a population of their rights due to their religion.) The issue in France is that niqab just isn't "secular enough" for the right wing good ol' boys. So their response? Take away people's rights to make little men in suits feel better about their "secularity."

Why would you want a woman walking around who reminds you of the fact that God and doing good things for people along with yourself isn't a priority in your life, right? We wouldn't want you to feel guilty or uncomfortable with your life choices...

And seriously they are going to fine a dude thousands of euro for "forcing" a woman to wear niqab. #1) how often does that really happen in France??? #2) How are you going to enforce that??? "oh your wife wears niqab so you obviously must force her. Here is your fine and one year jail time." Ridiculous.

Who is going to patrol the French Alps to make sure that every teenager in a ski mask is fined and ever father who puts a ski mask on his child goes to prison for a year with a heavy fine?

Who is going to patrol the countryside churches to arrest that bride in her veil and her father who lovingly covered her face with it before she walked down the isle?

Who is going to fine the doctors in their hygienic masks or the send the hospital administration to jail for requiring its use?

Who is going to fine the fumigators and painters for covering their faces?

If Joe Schmo can wear his lovely swastika on his sweater sleeve because it makes him feel powerful then I should darn well be able to cover my face for the Creator of the Worlds!!!!!!

All of this crap is directly related to the minaret banning crap. What is your reason for banning minarets??? Is that security too? Or secularity? Or just plain Islamophobia???????

And REALLY does Quebec have to do EVERYTHING that France does? I'm frankly appalled that this xenophobic crap has spilled over onto the same continent that I live on. I makes me physically ill.

On top of that they are denying people the right of public healthcare. They are denying CITIZENS the right of healthcare on the basis of RELIGION and freedom of EXPRESSION!!! And no one realizes how dangerous this is for human rights everywhere? Are we the only ones who seeeeeeee this madness?

I'm just really pissed and I have no idea what to do to fix the situation. Who do I write to? Who do I call? What do I need to say? Where do I need to say it? HOW do I help make this madness STOP?

And my favorite quote by Benjamin Franklin:

"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."