swimming muslim women

I was reminded of this by a recent blogger’s post

Interesting Guardian article on the rise of swimwear for muslim women

I have been wearing a head scarf for a few years now, but have always dressed modestly, and have not gone swimming in mixed company in many many years. While I was in the middle east this did not bother me, my favourite sport is swimming, but they catered for everyone there, swimming pools had women only times, and we even had a women’s only beach. It was not until I came to the UK that I began to miss this sport, as I have yet to come across a ‘real’ women’s only swimming session. They do exist, but often with male lifegaurds and windows overlooking the pool. So I was pleased to discover a range of modest swimwear, originally marketted in Turkey, they look nice enough, but seem rather cumbersome, Hasema has a nice range :

I never tried them, but then I came across an australian company which manufactures sportswear for the muslim woman (as they say): Ahiida swimwear. Their suits seemed trendier and looked like they provided ease of movement, however their suits cost 175 australian dollars (about 60 pounds, 70 JDs), and they are not available in the UK 😦 and I would need to try them on first. Their products are also made from low water absorbent fast drying material, so they wont stick to your body… an issue many muslim women would be concerned about.

if anyone reading this knows of a UK retailer PLEASE give me a heads up 🙂

Victims of circumstance…

To surrender ourselves to circumstance may be liberating in that we lose the responsibility that comes with leading our lives, but with come some very serious side effects, namely a lack of self-motivation which entails major losses for the quality of our lives. We become bitter and envious when those we percieve to be less talented or less intelligent ourselves achieve more than us, and we lose control of our lives.

‘Do as little as you can get away with’ is some people;s philosophy, and then they put someone esle down for going the extra mile. To put down is easy, but to withstand that put down is not, so the laziness and bitterness has a tendency to propogate through people. Negativity breeds like a weed, and often requires a herculean effort to overcome it.

How often has societies expectations or presumptions steered us away from a certain path? How often have we undershot our goals so as it to keep within the community standards of achievement? We all know of the american class ‘nerd’ shunned by his peers, or the Arab ‘bookworm’ considered uncool? How about those who step out of the box to go the extra mile? Those who achieve that which we never tried to achieve, dont we find scenarios to detract from that person’s achievement, like we imagine they are well connected, had extra help with studies, was blessed with a foreign passport or fell upon a pot of gold?

I know, achievement is a mixture of opportunity, intellect, skill and sheer luck, but genius as they say is only 1% inspiration the rest is all blood and sweat. So whether this inspiration is in the form of intellect, skill or chance, to turn that into a success is mainly up to you, and we should not let anyone detract from that.

For internationals in Palestine—Respect

Palestinians roam the world with Palestine in their heart, they speak of her to all whom will listen, and try to do what is within their power to help the people there. This is understandable, she is their home, their roots and their essence, for them to sacrifice of themselves is to be expected. It is when non-Palestinians, and especially non-Arabs scarifice of themselves for her that I feel the need to salute them.

The friends of palestine society at my university would not have existed without the dedication of Malaysians, Englishmen, Welshmen, Pakistani and Lebanese nationals. Their enthusiasm for the events that were organised was as humbling as it was touching, but it did not stop there.

It the tiny town where I lived in England, I met no less than two women who have travelled to Palestine to help the people. They work with the IWPS (International Women’s Palestine Solidarity) group, and they take part in olive picking, prevention of house demolitions, demonstrations, attempting to aid people through checkpoints. Their presence is important, they may not be able to prevent the house demolitions, but they can delay it, maybe even give the family a chance to collect some belongings. In olive picking their presence deters the settlers from opening fire at the Palestinians, and can also result in the israeli army protecting the pickers from the settlers. Yes, they are not likely to be targetted to kill, but their visit is never a safe one, just think of Rachel Corrie who was run over by a bulldozer or Tom Hurndall who was shot by a sniper while saving small children in Gaza. They risk alot, and their bravery is given as much credit as I think it should… but still we must ask why?

Why risk your life for a country that is not yours, for a people different to you? Why leave the comfort of your home, for the bullet ridden, water starved homes of a foreign land? Why swap the easy journeys, and polite company for checkpoints and humiliation?

Whatever it is, it is amazing, amazing that there exist in our cynical, capitalist, selfish world, those who care for others, and practice ‘do unto others as you would done unto you’.

Respect

what i didnt get for xmas

ok, so I dont celebrate xmas, i didnt get a finished thesis for eid either 😦

the arab humiliation

ok, this article does appear on another blog, but I found it so ‘on the spot’ that I wish to reproduce it here.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1981010,00.html \These Shameful Events have humliated the arab world

Saddam’s trial and mob execution reeked of western double standards. Yet Iraq’s neighbouring states failed to speak out

Ghada Karmi
Tuesday January 2, 2007
The Guardian

The spectacle of Saddam Hussein’s execution, shown in pornographic detail to the whole world, was deeply shocking to those of us who respect propriety and human dignity. The vengeful Shia mob that was allowed to taunt the man’s last moments, and the vicious executioners who released the trapdoor while he was saying his prayers, turned this scene of so-called Iraqi justice into a public lynching. One does not have to be any kind of Saddam sympathiser to be horrified that he should have been executed – and, so obscenely, on the dawn of Islam’s holy feast of Eid al-Adha, which flagrantly defies religious practice and was an affront to the Islamic world.

What was the executioners’ hurry? Why was Saddam condemned for one of his lesser crimes, ignoring the far larger ones for which many of his victims had sought retribution? In their unseemly haste to kill him, the judges ended up looking mean-minded, bloodthirsty and vengeful, while Saddam retained a dignity to the end that drew the reluctant admiration of many of his enemies.It was always clear that Saddam’s fate was sealed from the moment US forces “got ‘im”, in Paul Bremer’s tasteless phrase. He was to be used as a trophy of a mindless and catastrophic war, to redeem America’s dented image. But it was also essential to stop him revealing secrets about the west’s past enthusiasm in supporting and arming his regime. Hence he was tried on the relatively minor charge of killing 148 people in the village of Dujail, after a plot to assassinate him. Far better to put him away safely for that rather than risk his exposing western hypocrisy, treachery and double-dealing.

For the Arab world, this has been a shameful, humiliating event that underlines its total surrender to western diktat. The execution was carried out under the auspices of a foreign occupying power, and with a clear western message: we give ourselves the right to invade a sovereign Arab state and remove its leader because he offends us; we think you Arabs are incapable of sorting out your own affairs in accordance with our interests, so we will do it for you.

Saddam was held in US custody right up to the end and only handed over to the Iraqis for the distasteful deed, his body whisked away immediately afterwards by a US helicopter for a hasty burial. Yet this was billed as an independent decision of a “sovereign state”, as if any such thing were possible under occupation. The fact that this was the act of an Iraqi government dominated by Saddam’s Shia enemies made the final outcome a foregone conclusion. Yet the Arab states stood by, swallowing their humiliation in silence and letting US/Iraqi “justice” take its course, hoping no one would notice how some of them had supported Saddam’s war on Iran in the 80s, fought to a large extent on their behalf.

But the west should also be ashamed of what was a clear miscarriage of justice, carried out in the face of its strident demands of the Arabs for democracy and the rule of law. The trial judgment was not finished when sentence was pronounced. Saddam’s defence lawyers were given less than two weeks to file their appeals against a 300-page court decision. Important evidence was not disclosed to them during the trial, and Saddam was prevented from questioning witnesses testifying against him. Several of his lawyers were threatened or actually assassinated, and the trial was subjected to continuous political interference.

Any pretence that this was an exercise of due process is farcical. Of course Saddam himself was a brutal tyrant, but the kangaroo court that tried him lacked any serious legal credibility. Yet no western leader (or Arab one for that matter) was prepared to say so, or exert any pressure to have the defendant tried by an international court. Whatever else Saddam was, he was the constitutionally recognised Iraqi president. Yet he was left to the mercies of a campaign of revenge masquerading as legal process.

Britain, which does not support the death penalty, did not strive hard to prevent it. No western leader has been treated in this way, and Arabs should ask themselves why this exception was made. Was it because there is one rule for them, and another for western “civilised” people?

For everyone concerned, this was a lost opportunity: for the Arabs, to have protested against this western humiliation and regained some dignity; for the Islamic world, to speak out against a sacrilegious act; and for Britain and America, to have made up, however belatedly, for their arrogance and aggression against an Arab nation that had never harmed them. Most of all, it was a chance for the “new” Iraq to have shown that it would not conform to the western stereotype that led to the country being invaded in the first place – of an unruly, despotic people who thrive on bloodshed and revenge.

· Ghada Karmi is a research fellow at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter

G.Karmi@exeter.ac.uk

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we are being played, and only God knows which games are being played by whom. Does sectarian hatred and suspicion, exhibited by more people every day serve the western or persian agenda? Are suspicions of iran founded or are they part of the western game? does the threats to invade iran by USA serve american agenda or is it a ploy to distract us from the fact that iran-usa are playing for the same team? Does Ahmedijjan’s condemnation of Israel, and his verbal + pledged support for Palestine indicate that arab hatred of iran is us being brainwashed by america? or is it again a ploy to win arabs over and have them (us) welcome an iranian invasion?

the bottom line is, we have gone from the lions of the desert to desert rats. This is not something that has been done to us as much as it is something we have done to ourselves.

Is it the end? I say no, all humans have a point where they having nothing left but their pride, and that is when they rise up from the ashes of their ruined lives to glory. Arabs are no exception, in fact we are one of the proudest, most dignified people of the world.

hmm, pride in my blood line, is this another ploy to detract from strengthening the muslim ummah? lol, again no, becoming an arab is easy according to some fields of thought, learn arabic, convert to Islam, and identify yourself as an arab. Thus arab nationalism is complementary to the strength of an islamic ummah.