[BUMbaronos]

http://drabutamim.blogspot.com/2011/...o-tunisia.html

[BUMbaronos]

A Muslim women's group is expected to tell a public forum tonight that the burqa is not a requirement in Islam and it is "an affront to human dignity" for women to be forced to wear it.

This month, a Saudi Arabian student was left crying on an Auckland street when a bus driver refused to let her board because she was wearing a Muslim veil, which she refused to remove.

This brought a call from Prime Minister John Key for New Zealanders to respect the beliefs of others, and for women not to be discriminated against because they wear the burqa.

But the Sisters in Islam say Islam has no laws making wearing of the full veil compulsory.

The Malaysian-based group's acting executive director, Ratna Osman, is the main speaker at the "Muslim Women Rights is Human Rights" forum at AUT University tonight.

The group's founder, Zainah Anwar, said on its website: "I find the burqa really disturbing.

"There is enough literature to show that the face veil is not a requirement in Islam.

"In a conservative, patriarchal Muslim context, face veiling really symbolises women's invisibility and inferior status.

"That a woman should not be seen and heard, and should she venture into the public space she must be as invisible as possible, is an affront to human dignity."

Ms Anwar said the burqa also put pressure on other Muslim, as it set a standard that "a good Muslim woman is someone who is covered from head to toe".

The view was supported by the head of Islamic studies at the University of Auckland, Zain Ali.

He said the burqa was more a cultural requirement than an Islamic one.

"The Islamic requirement is for modest dressing, but what has happened in many parts of the Muslim world is that the burqa has been accepted as a norm for that modest dressing," Mr Ali said.

"But the burqa is almost dehumanising and it robs the personality and the ability of someone to express themselves."

However Malaysian businessman Zulkifli Hamzah, who is in Auckland to help set up a Muslim "Obedient Wives Club" branch, said followers of Islam understood "women and men are not equals".

"Everything has a structure and for a Muslim, the man is seen as the leader of the family or household.

"If a woman is told to wear a burqa or hijab so she does not tempt other men, then she should obey.

"The issue is not whether it is a cultural law or religious law, it is the husband's law."

The club's founders, Malaysian-based business group Global Ikhwan, support polygamy, and claim their moral attitude is in line with Islamic teachings for building strong families.

The club encourages women to submit to their husbands and meet all their sexual needs because it believes sexually fulfilled men are less likely to stray so marriages are less likely to break down.

It claims a worldwide membership of about 1000.

The Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand said it did not support the movement and that the club's views were "interpretation of Islam to the extreme".

By Lincoln Tan

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/cultures/n...739845&ref=rss

[meteeratymn]

Salam alikum and thank to bump this thread again.

First of all it seems to me completely ridiculous to say a person what to wear specially if the dress is modest and does not break morality rules.
I would like to add that it is not only right of husband but also right of woman, as we are often the ones who wants to wear niqab....
They say in France that the law is more less pro forma and they do not intend to bring it to practice by police power: it seem that it has anyway big impact on population as the common people could start to apply the law by themselves!!!????? (like the driver)

That is very dangerous!

w salam

w salam

[egershna]

Acccording to my sister in law who is in Tunisia, circumstances there are becoming chaotic as a result of competing political forces. And because the economy is suffering, prositution is growing among those women who were raised with secular values and taught to discourage Islam.

Tunisia has been plagued by decades of kufr libertinism and secular ideology. Tunisia's economy has been partially constructed on tourism which has force the people to be subservient to kufar Europeans. As part of the immoral tourism trade, prostitution and zinah trade has become customary. Both men and women engage in it. This cancerous disease in our Ummah is a result kufr ideology poisonig our societies. Tunisia has not freed itself from this yet as the secularists continue to advocate their poisonous ways, and the kufar West support them.

Hijab is not the sign of circumstances in Tunisia. Many people are sick inside and need Tauba and tarbiyah with a strong Islamic society. This cannot be accomplished with secular Western forces pushing for Tunisia to be subservient to kufr.

[meteeratymn]

Brother Usama2,
very well said and described!

w salam

[BUMbaronos]

Acccording to my sister in law who is in Tunisia, circumstances there are becoming chaotic as a result of competing political forces. And because the economy is suffering, prositution is growing among those women who were raised with secular values and taught to discourage Islam.

Tunisia has been plagued by decades of kufr libertinism and secular ideology. Tunisia's economy has been partially constructed on tourism which has force the people to be subservient to kufar Europeans. As part of the immoral tourism trade, prostitution and zinah trade has become customary. Both men and women engage in it. This cancerous disease in our Ummah is a result kufr ideology poisonig our societies. Tunisia has not freed itself from this yet as the secularists continue to advocate their poisonous ways, and the kufar West support them.

Hijab is not the sign of circumstances in Tunisia. Many people are sick inside and need Tauba and tarbiyah with a strong Islamic society. This cannot be accomplished with secular Western forces pushing for Tunisia to be subservient to kufr.

I guess that we can only make dua' for Tunisia and our Tunisian sisters who are forced to take off their hijab. May Allah guide the secularists or erase them.

[meteeratymn]

I guess that we can only make dua' for Tunisia and our Tunisian sisters who are forced to take off their hijab. May Allah guide the secularists or erase them.

yes, we make dua for them - sisters and brothers - every day,
inshaallah

w salam

[BUMbaronos]

yes, we make dua for them - sisters and brothers - every day,
inshaallah

w salam

[BUMbaronos]

THE BENEFITS OF HIJAB (COVERING) FOR WOMEN
. For Muslim women, COVERING THE HEAD IS NOT THE SIGN OF DEGRADATION or oppression. It is a commandment from Allah, who is not male or female, and thus, would not discriminate against women, a segment of His creation.

. Rather, HEAD-COVERING IS A SIGN OF PURITY AND DIGNITY. It highlights the Muslim woman as a pure, chaste woman and sets her apart from the immoral behavior associated with women who dress immodestly.

. The HIJAB IS A SORT OF "SCREEN" BETWEEN THE CHASTE MUSLIM WOMAN AND THE EVIL THAT EXISTS IN THE WORLD. When a woman wears a hijab she is less likely to be harassed by men with lusty motives; SHE IS LESS LIKELY TO BE EXPLOITED FOR HER BEAUTY AND FEMINITY.

. The Hijab allows a woman to move about outside the confines of her home WITH HER ATTENTION ON THE TASKS SHE HAS SET OUT TO DO. The Muslim woman does not try to impress anyone but Allah when outside of her home. She is not concerned if men find her attractive, or if people are impressed because she has the latest fashions, or the newest hairstyle. She leaves her home as a SELF-CONFIDENT PART OF HUMAN RACE, not as a fashion-plate seeking stares and adoration in order to gain self-esteem.

. The hijab cuts down on competition among women. How many people in the West sacrifice financial savings and health in order to have plastic surgery - in a desperate attempt to meet up to an unrealistic standard of beauty. IN ISLAM, WOMEN ARE APPRECIATED FOR THEIR KNOWLEDGE, PIETY AND CONTRIBUTION TO SOCIETY. When women wear hijab one finds that the most beautiful women are not necessarily the most popular. Rather, a woman is assessed for her mind, and not just superficial physical traits.

[BUMbaronos]

Welcome to France, Land of Liberty: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ti18I...layer_embedded

[BUMbaronos]

How I came to Love the Veil: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...102001259.html

[BUMbaronos]

Salaam Aleikem!

After I converted to Islam, I was unsure about wearing the hijab for a long time. I kept making excuses for myself..."I'll be discriminated against at work", "I don't know enough about Islam yet to answer the questions that will surely come to me if I wear it", etc. But the more time dragged on and the more I saw other Muslimas wearing hijab, the more I felt increasingly
guilty and wanted to do something about it. I recalled a saying among my college sorority sisters (in my days before Islam): "Excuses are the Leaning Posts for Fools!"

After September 11, I decided it was time to STOP these excuses. I couldn't keep putting off until tomorrow what I should do today, because you never know if there will BE a tomorrow. So I started wearing it.

At first, I got some pretty strange looks and questions. In time I learned how to answer them back. "Does your husband make you wear that?" ("Do you see him here with me, with a gun to my head right now?") "What is that for?" ("It's my protection. You can't keep people from looking at you in a way you don't want them to, but you can give them NOTHING to look AT.")
Soon the inquiries gave way to rudeness: "You better take that damn towel off your head; we don't need no RAGHEADS in this school!" (This comment came as a shock to me from a student at the high school where I teach...the kid was subsequently suspended and the incident goes on his permanent record.)

But finally, acceptance overcame. Now it's a part of me. One of my students said he couldn't even remember me without it, and it was just part of who I was now. That's right...it's a part of who I am. On the few occasions I have had since then where I DID take it off, for whatever reason, I felt almost naked without it. Ashamed. Guilty. I don't like feeling that way, and I will avoid it at all costs.

I am grateful for my hijab, grateful for the protection it gives me, for the sense of belonging I feel when I wear it and pass by another Muslima, a perfect stranger, and smile, saying "Salaam aleikem, oktee".

I am grateful to my mother-in-law and sister-in-law, who sent me beautiful hijabs from Saudi Arabia for me to wear, since they are harder to find in the United States. And I am happy and secure in my decision to wear this, despite all the prejudice and fear in my country right now. Al humdulillah!

Massalama,
Sister Elizabeth Alsayed

http://www.muhajabah.com/my_hijab_story/elizabeth.php

[meteeratymn]

salam alikum,

how strange when politicians do this : I have seen similar made by Gaddafi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_s2pKcLcuI


Hopefully will never happen again

w salam

[fenter1]

Asalamwailkum,
I'm curious. Do these women who consider themselves muslims and think the veil 'dehumanises' them. Do they veil themselves when they pray namaz/salat?

To be honest, i'm not even curious, i'm just upset that muslim women face such prejudice and when the local news reporters asks the HEAD of 'islamic studies' at a university they get a disgusting answer like that. The reporters did the right thing, as non muslims, they wanted the islamic academic answer, so they went to what they thought was the right place.

[BUMbaronos]

Asalamwailkum,
I'm curious. Do these women who consider themselves muslims and think the veil 'dehumanises' them. Do they veil themselves when they pray namaz/salat?

To be honest, i'm not even curious, i'm just upset that muslim women face such prejudice and when the local news reporters asks the HEAD of 'islamic studies' at a university they get a disgusting answer like that. The reporters did the right thing, as non muslims, they wanted the islamic academic answer, so they went to what they thought was the right place.

As I said before, we need to fight the enemy within.

[BUMbaronos]

Torture, Tyrants and Tunisia
POSTED by YVONNE on JAN 9, 2007 • (1 COMMENT)
Long before I became a Muslim, the North African country of Tunisia used to evoke two images in my mind … a sunny holiday destination for drunken chavs* and a temporary home base for Palestinian leader-in-exile, Yassir Arafat.

I don’t suppose you could imagine two more different images than soccer-mad, binge-drinking Westerners and the revolutionary PLO chief who turned the Palestinian keffiyah into a worldwide symbol of heroic resistance.

The reason why I remember the Palestinian issue quite so vividly is because the country’s capital Tunis was bombed by the Israel Air Force killing more than 70 people in April, 1986. It was a sledgehammer-nut act of pure revenge from the Israeli Government after three of their Mossad agents had been executed by PLO fighters.

Two Arabs and an Englishman had boarded a yacht in the touristy Cypriot port of Larnaca, and carried out the execution in cold blood. The Englishman, Ian Davison, came from my birthplace Tyneside and his part in the gunning down of the three spies caused quite a stir back home, as you might imagine.

I flew out to Cyprus to interview Davison in prison, it was a scoop which earned me an industry award but more importantly, it was one of those defining moments: a-road-to-Damascus-vision, which led to me gaining a true insight into the injustices against the Palestinians.

Now the reason images of drunken holidaymakers comes to mind follows an incident in which the husband of a friend of mine disgraced himself by getting horribly drunk on his first night at a Tunisian resort. He fell into the company of some local Arabs who managed to persuade the inebriated idiot to buy a camel for the bargain price of $500 dollars.

Threatened with having to spend his entire vacation selling camel rides on the beach, by his furious wife, he managed to persuade the locals to buy back the camel for a mere $200 dollars … the depreciation value of camels taken into account.

Of course, it appears, the present government in Tunisia would rather play host to a bunch of drunken fools and kiddy fiddlers from the West these days. Obviously the memory of the murderous Israeli blitz 30 years ago has completely faded now that the government has found a cash cow in the wallets and purses of soused westerners and European paedophiles who see the North African country as their playground. (German paedophiles in particular).

If you need proof of the fickle nature of the Tunisian president let me remind you that last year Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali suffered a huge dose of political amnesia when he invited the war criminal Ariel Sharon to visit his country. Has the man no shame? Apparently not.

Just like the previous Tunisian tyrant, he would rather kiss the rump of Zionists while getting on his knees to Western leaders than stand tall infront of his own people.

In fact thanks to the brutal rule of Ben Ali, I now think of something else whenever the name of Tunisia is mentioned. I think of torture, detention without trial, political and religious persecution.

Recently I joined a group of brothers and sisters at a rally outside the Tunisian Embassy in London, there were similar demonstrations held at Tunisian embassy buildings around the world.

It now seems Ben Ali is ripping the hijab off the heads of our sisters and abusing the most basic human rights and so we were protesting in defence of our Tunisian sisters … and Islam.

I know Jacques Chirac did the same in France, but France is a secular country in the West, not an Arab Muslims country in North Africa.

Curtains began twitching on the third floor as the protest outside the Tunisian Embassy in London grew to a few score. I was told someone was filming the protestors and, if any were recognised, their families would be visited back home.

This sort of intimidation is disgusting. One minute Ben Ali is trying to be more West than Westerners by talking of civilisation, modernism and human rights but all the time he is quietly sanctioning the brutalisation of our hijab-wearing sisters, practising brothers and campaigners for justice.

One courageous sister told me how she fled Tunisia a few years ago fearing for her life, and she recalled how she arrived in Britain with her hijab in her pocket.

Well it is high time Ben Ali and his revolting crew of craven ministers and hyprocrites are exposed and so I hope this column is copied and published elsewhere.

It is important that Westerners learn about the cruelty and brutality of this leader. Perhaps they will think twice about heading out to the North African country to holiday now that they know not far from the postcard images there is real misery and torture.

The Holy Quran has been banned and desecrated in the cages and dungeons where prisoners of conscience are beaten if they dare to pray outside of allotted times.

Of course those pathetic, cringing, lick-spittling toadies who support this despicable Tunisian government will try and tell me about the president’s approval rating of 95pc. No one seriously believes that statistic … not even Ben Ali.

The man is as popular as a packet of pork scratchings at a Muslim wedding.

If he really thought he had 95pc of Tunisians supporting him he wouldn’t need to rule with a rod of iron and surround himself with huge security and thugs for bodyguards.

Like every dictator, his time will come and the sooner the better.

If he seriously wants the support of his people, their respect and a long term future as leader then he has to seriously change his style of government.

The first thing he can do is empty the prisons of political prisoners which accounts for around 30,000 of the 10 million population and start working alongside his political opponents, instead of trying to silence them.

As a priority I would also call on him to apologise to all of my Tunisian sisters and return their veils so they can wear them once again without fear in schools, universities, offices and factories.

I find it difficult to believe this man could hate the hijab so much that he even ripped it off the heads of pregnant women. I was astounded to learn that no one wearing a hijab is allowed into a maternity ward or hospital.

His deliberate plotting against Islam will come back to haunt him either through revolution on the streets of Tunisia or in the Hereafter. Personally speaking, I prefer revolution – bring it on!

Albert Einstein once said: “Never do anything against conscience even if the state demands it.” Well he was born in Germany and not brought up in Tunisia.

However, I do salute the heroic resistance of the Tunisian brothers and sisters who are risking their very lives to protect Islam in defiance of the State.

Just as Ben Ali will receive his just desserts in the next life they shall also receive their reward, insh’Allah. Someone should tell the Tunisian tyrant that eternity is one hell of a lot longer than three score years and ten.

* To learn more about the struggle please read: Tunisia: Injured Islam by Sheikh Mohamed Al Hadi Al Zamzami

http://yvonneridley.org/2007/torture...ts-and-tunisia

[meteeratymn]

salam alikum,

thanks for posting this - how true article! - I had horrible feeling of freeze when reading..
Did not know that Tunis was bombarder in 1986!! so many things westerners dont know! they did not have idea what was going on in Tunisia, my friend was wondering when I said that muslims were oppressed and religion was banned in Tunisia - western people thought that there was islamic government!!!! the same with Egypt..

w salam

[BUMbaronos]

salam alikum,

thanks for posting this - how true article! - I had horrible feeling of freeze when reading..
Did not know that Tunis was bombarder in 1986!! so many things westerners dont know! they did not have idea what was going on in Tunisia, my friend was wondering when I said that muslims were oppressed and religion was banned in Tunisia - western people thought that there was islamic government!!!! the same with Egypt..

w salam

Yes. The atrocities that so-called Muslims have visited on fellow Muslims deserves a thread by itself.

[OWV9LSxH]

Can you help me on this thread?:

http://sunniforum.com/forum/showthre...-Yvonne-Ridley

[BUMbaronos]

Can you help me on this thread?:

http://sunniforum.com/forum/showthre...-Yvonne-Ridley

You can get it cash on delivery from flipkart.com