Topic: Do U Wear a Scarf ??? Come & Read this....

[Sweetheart]

:dbs1 :a1

" This practice is unthinkable in all Western countries"?
Where in the Australian constitution does it say that it is illegal to enter the pools with clothes on? Last time I checked, Australia was still a Nation State with a Multicultural policy which means that people are free to practice their differences but under one constitution.
"Western countries where hygiene is a priority"?
The question of hygiene does not rest in the clothes worn but in the bodily secretions and if the non-Muslims would stop to notice the urine running down their genitals and thighs after every urination and other genital discharges that contaminate their underwear because they have no social rules of purification, they will soon learn the real meaning of hygiene. :l2m :ws1

Islam has strict guidelines for purification that dictate to a Muslim the order to cleanse after every passing of urine and feces; needless to mention the prerequisite of removing other genital discharges and purifying their place with running water in order to do the five prayers of the day. Not only are the types of unhygienic filth named, described and specified, not only is the method of cleansing ones body from outlined by procedure; but Islam also identifies the types and conditions of water or other substances that may be used in order of priority to fulfill the cleansing process. NOW YEE NON-MUSLIM….LETS TALK ABOUT HYGIENE AS OUTLINED IN THE BEASTLY EXISTANCE WHERE HUMAN DIGNITY COMPETES WITH THE NUDITY OF ANIMALS: THE NON-MUSLIM CULTURE. [/size]    
:bl1

 …"they are in Australia not Islam"

A clear indication that an ignorant speaks in criticism of a high sophisticated culture-Islam. Let it be known that ISLAM has never been marked or limited by land territory. ISLAM has never been a country susceptible to the colonization of intruders. ISLAM has always been a nation, a culture and a belief system occupied by far more than territorial landmarks. ISLAM OCCUPIES THE HEARTS AND MINDS OF THE BELIEVERS WHERE EVER THEY MAY BE ON EARTH.


"…What a show of contempt for our culture"

 Culture??? The Australian culture? What culture? The only significant symbols of the Australian culture are the kangaroo (True!! He doesn't wear clothes when in the water), the plastic thong, the stubbies, the meat pie and a beer gut that wouldn't stop you rolling down even the rocky mountain slopes. What culture???
:l2m


…"by pulling down our standards"?

If social standards is now measured by the area of skin and flesh one puts on show, then the social standards of the non-Muslim culture is admittedly comparable with that of animals. Still!! The standard of the non-Muslim culture finds itself lagging behind.
Plus!! wearing full bathing suits was the practice of early Australian and Western women when modesty and honor was a criterion of a respected civilization. Up until early this century swim wear was a complete garment covering all the body. It even had frills and bows and gatherings around the waist and seams of contour and buttons too. To say that wearing clothes in the water is an issue against hygiene is unfounded and very much a reflection of ignorance to even the history of the non-Islam cultures. I'm sure that many readers of a western background could chase the fact that their fore mothers at some stage used to wear such garments that fully covered their bodies in the water. Would you say that their standards where lowly???
:-O

[Sweetheart]

:sf1 :s2
Discrimination against Muslim women wearing the head scarf or hijab is not just a local Australian issue unfortunately. Its happening world wide and many would agree that this negative trend is nourished by how the media portrays Islam and women in Islam.
Read this concised report titled  "The Media and its unfavorable representation of Islam and Muslim Women" from a British media point of view published shortly in 1995. ( I have modified the original report within its context and tone).        

 (Sairra Patel analyzes the often unfavourable way Islam and Muslims are depicted in the British media.)

In June of 1995 an event seen as an international tragedy took place in that an American government building in Oklahoma City was bombed. The following day a British newspaper, Today, carried the headline "In the name of Islam", accompanied by a picture of a fireman carrying the charred remains of a dead baby. It was then very quickly established that the bombing had, in fact, been carried out by Christian militants. This incident illustrates a trend which has emerged in the media - the demonization of Islam and Muslims. In television, films, books, newspapers and magazines Islam is presented as being a backward and barbaric religion. It is seen as oppressive and unjust; and more than this it is seen as being most oppressive to women.

The T.V is the form of media reaching most people in Britain and therefore has the power to communicate with and influence its heterogeneous audience. The violent religious fanatic is the more common stereotype of Islam. Current affairs programs epitomize Muslims as savage terrorists, killing innocent people with no remorse.
The hijab is another issue of contention. But where the public believes that they are being presented with educational material about Islam from a reputable and reliable source, the fact is all they are provided with are confused opinions of individual producers and journalists - many of whom begin their research with preconceived ideas and aims.
Islam appeals to many different people from many different walks of life. Islam is able to provide satisfactory answers to every question posed by the individual, and thus provides them with total peace of mind; something which no other religion can provide.

The term 'Islamophobia' emerges and can be used to summarize the collective feeling of rejection and alienation that is being experienced by Muslims within Britain. At the hands of the Western media British Muslims face marginalisation, having their beliefs and practices ridiculed and degraded on a regular basis.

An example of a media spin of the truth is offered when in London a peaceful march in protest took place. A small handful of youths became unruly, resulting in clashes with the police. Again the media chose to give the event a negative image, with news programs exhibiting only the minority who became violent.

Why does the media choose to misrepresent Islam and Muslims in such a manner? The answer may lies in the fact Islam challenges the order of the West. It commands an allegiance which goes beyond boundaries of wealth, nationality, sex, race or culture. It is a threat, and as such, it is treated as the enemy.

The media has a great power, and how it chooses to exercise this power directly affects people. It is a propaganda machine of the highest order. The way in which this powerful organization has mistreated and misrepresented Islam and Muslims is unjust, but furthermore dangerous. We cannot underestimate the intensity of this issue.
:be1 :rolleyes:

[Sweetheart]

Australian and British Muslims are not alone it seems…….

In Turkey, a supposedly Islamic state imposes uncalled for discrimination against practicing Muslims. The Christian science Monitor international reports In 1998 that Dundane Deger, a student at Istanbul University, tries to come to campus daily in Islamic dress. But she is refused entry at the gate of the university each time. A westernized culture is forced into Turkey and not one media outlet has regarded this as modern western colonization or an invasion of State.

 In 1998 a government decree bared university students from class for wearing Islamic dress.  Anger had also risen among students who were banned followed by supporting actions by the president of the state-run Istanbul University, not only barring female students from wearing the traditional turban, the Turkish word for head scarf, but also barring male students with beards. Beards, like the turban, are regarded as a symbolic demonstration of fundamentalism.

The definition of the word fundamental comes to question here and very much a misunderstood concept for many. Islam is based on a fundamental belief.. YES. This simply refers to the belief in Allah as being non-resembling to His creation, existing without a place and non-needing of any and that Muhamad is His messenger. The fundamental aspect lies in the fact that without this belief one is not a Muslim. This is the fundamental aspect of Islam but many would rather believe that being fundamental is being a core terrorist. One has nothing to do with the other.

[Sweetheart]

Another report published by a Canadanian convert to Islam in 1998 speaks about western discrimination against Muslims wearing hijab and their misinterpretation of its meaning.  Her paper titles " The Hijab Experience of Canadian Muslim Women" aims to inform the role of the hijab and its image in the wake of a student being denied school access because she wore the scarf.

Originally published in the March/April 1998 Islamic horizon magazine in Toronto by by Katherine Bullock: a convert (I have edited within context and tone)

The furor over the expulsion in 1995 of Quebec high school students who refused to remove their head scarves, with some people declaring the Hijab might not be considered proper “Canadian” dress, demonstrates that the West has not yet transcended the negative stereotype of the oppressed, veiled Muslim woman which has generated during the period of Western colonization of the Middle East.  Indeed Muslim women in the West are still discriminated against based upon these myths. Muslim women in Hijab are regularly told by Canadians “This is Canada. You're free here. You don't have to wear that thing on you head.”

Discrimination Against Women Who Wear Hijab
Muslim women in the West who cover suffer daily indignities from the people around them because of the way they dress.  The Western image that they are oppressed, or represent a terrorist religion makes it difficult for them to be accepted easily by the Canadian community.  Because Islam is not well understood in the West, some converts also have problems with their families, friends and colleagues about becoming Muslim and about wearing Hijab.  Other women face opposition from their own (Muslim) families as well, in their decision to cover. This is because in many Muslim countries, the West has been seen as the model to imitate in order to ‘progress,’ and they tried to shed Islam and all that was associated with it.  Hijab is wrongly associated with something ‘backward,’ ‘low-class’ people do, or as something only old women do. Many see Hijab as ugly and as reducing the chances for a young woman to get married.

Muslims who grow up in Canada often object to Hijab, taking on the Western perception of the meaning of Hijab. Several of the women (born Muslim) in this study had battled families in order to cover.
It seems that our sisters in Canada are experiencing the same set backs as are the sisters who chose to swim with their clothes on in the local pool in Sydney.

Despite all these hardships, a growing number of muslim females are adhering to the veil willingly and hold much high regard for it than what the media or the ignorant people would care to admit.


(Y) (F)

[Sweetheart]

Katherine Bullock reports on some views on the hijab  held by Muslim women..

The Hijab Is A Commandment From God
When asked to explain why they covered, the women interviewed said they believed that in the Quran God commanded women to cover hair, and that Prophetic statements backed that up. For them, Hijab symbolizes, not oppression or terrorism, as it does in mainstream Western discourse, but “purity,” “modesty,” a “woman's Islamic identity,” and “obedience, or submission to God and a testament that you're Muslim.” Halima, a convert to Islam, adds that Hijab symbolizes “the woman's power to take back her own dignity and her own sexuality.”

Even Many Non-Muslim Men Seem To Respect Hijab
These women see Hijab as a benefit to society, as a protection for themselves and as a source of inner peace.  Several women, especially converts who started covering in their twenties, felt men, even non-Muslim men, approached them more respectfully, did not try to flirt with them or make “leering” comments, and treated them as ‘persons’ not ‘sex-objects.’

Hijab Gives Women Self-Esteem
An aspect of Hijab that came through strongly in the interviews was how wearing Hijab gives these women sources of inner strength and a high level of confidence and self-esteem. For example, men and women learn from an early age that women (all of them) are beautiful, and this is the reason they cover. That message is good for women's self-esteem, as well as for the way men think about women.  The message compares favorably to that of the West where we see anorexia and bulimia on the increase as young women attempt to reach an unattainable ideal of female beauty.

Hijab Gives Women Inner Peace
Many women stressed how comfortable they felt wearing Hijab, how it made them feel good about themselves, and brought them a feeling of inner “peace”. Ellen, a convert to Islam, stresses that in Hijab she feels “like I am doing something to please God, you know....it makes you feel good about yourself. You feel different in a good way, because you're not exposing yourself and you know, you're not exposed to many things like you would be if you're not covering.”

Hijab Is A Respectable Thing
Muslim women want non-Muslims to know that Hijab is a respectable thing, not degrading or “oppressive.”  Sera was clear in her views. She said, “I would like them to respect our choice and not exclude women who wear Hijab from certain things [like] in Quebec [..where the girl was expelled from school for it..] I mean this is truly oppression, they say the woman is oppressed because she's wearing the Hijab, but the true oppression is preventing somebody from going to school because they have a scarf on their head, the larger issue is we'd like everybody to know about Islam so more people would accept it.

[Sweetheart]

:bg :apl1 :rdg1 Well it seems that some media and western males have already realized the beauty of the veil apparent in the first article of this thread posted by SUNSHINE …."The elegance of the Modern Woman" published in the Toronto Star this year. It says in the reflection of a non-Muslim male onlooker comparing the contrasting images of veiled and non veiled women[/size]… he writes:

. We observed the two Muslim women as they were engaged in close conversation over coffee.  Their graceful features complimented their dark headscarves and warm eyes. Their natural gestures were flirty without even trying - revealing natural beauty. And their clothes, while conservative, brought forth the hidden potential of something wonderful and truly feminine. [/size]

The sexual displays in our culture are so mainstream and competitive that modesty is seen as regressive. Yet, long term, when a man looks past the tight pants and heels, he will ultimately detect not confidence, but a certain unattractive desperation.

Modest women don't have that desperation - they don't compete in the arena of vanity. They have themselves….

:usmile1 :apl1 :rdg1

At the end of the day one things is for sure, nothing will change the high regard that Muslim women hold to the hijab and they will not compromise wearing it for a dip in a pool or any other petty day to day event. The hijab is regarded not as a head piece but as a crown on the heads of the modest and honorable women who wish to be judged as an equal among her male counterparts and not as a sex symbol. The West and any other ignorant person internal or external to Islam will have to accommodate to that principle and adjust by seeking the true message symbolized by the hijab----RESPECT AND DIGNITY.

:hmp1 (*) ;-)

[Sami Yusuf Islam]

may Allah bless you sister Sweetheart.....

you are really such a   :bsf4:bsf4:bsf4 ............. Sweetheart !!!

what a name !!!:apl1 :apl1 :apl1

[Proud Muslima]

LOL....Oh My dear SUNSHINE , look at your name brother :bwf1

you are really really such a :bsf4 :bwf1 :bsf4 .......SUNSHINE


What a beautiful name !! :apl1 :lvlv1 :apl1 :lvlv1

[Sweetheart]

:hs lol Proud Muslima sis

How are you?? Long time no speak.  

Seems we have a new Admin in the forum......:-O  i should be careful who i mess with from now on.... First it was SUNSHINE :lbw1  now its DOUBLE TROUBLE........:eg1

Please....... one Pharoah at a time :eg1 lool:lvlv1

[Sweetheart]

SUNSHINE !!!!!!!!!!!! How did you ever think of such a powerfull yet tender name?? Hmmmmm:usmile1 :ww1 (Y)