Hubby always gets the best tips. So in another e-mail forwarded to me by him, there was a little article from the Arab News about how the vice cops in Saudi “saved” a woman from a guy who was blackmailing her by threatening to lie about an “illicit affair”. While it’s nice to nab a blackmailer, the article didn’t quite sit right with me. Why was this particular case so noteworthy? Surely, the blackmailer in question isn’t the only one running around in the KSA and I imagine there must be more than a few blackmail victims, male and female in Saudi. The article almost seemed like a promo for the vice police, the same vice police who wouldn’t let female students leave a burning building because they weren’t properly covered. It’s kinda like a covert apology for them: “See, what would those damsels in distress do without the vice cops? They would taken advantage of by those bad men. So the vice police are actually good for women!” Right. The Mutaween couldn’t ask for better press.
Archive for June, 2008
New Comment Policy
Lately, I’ve been getting really stupid comments from butt munches who don’t even have the guts to post under a pseudonym, let alone, their real name. So from now on, no more anonymous comments on this blog. If you want to post in the future, please have an Open ID or a blogger ID. Sorry for the inconvenience. BTW, this is only effective for this blog, not Muslimnista.
sexuality and women’s honor
I finally wrote a new post for Muslimnista on a NY Times article that discusses how some European Muslim women are opting to have their hymen surgically restored before marriage and how virginity is still important in terms of marriage prospects . Sorry I abandoned the blog for so long. I never realized how hard it is to run two blogs! So please visit the blog by going to the link in this post and if you have any comments please post them there and not here. I’m really trying to get Muslimnista back up and running.
Saudi woman is divorcing husband after he saw her face.
My husband sent me an article about a Saudi woman who is divorcing her husband after 30 years of marriage because he saw her face.
A 50-year-old Saudi woman asked for divorce after her husband lifted her face veil while she was sleeping, local press reported.
For 30 years, the wife said she never showed her face to her husband in conformity with the tradition of her native village near the south western Saudi city of Khamis Mushayt.
“After all these years, he tries to commit such a big mistake,” the wife told Saudi newspaper Al-Riyadh, after she left the house in total disbelief.
She said the husband apologized and promised never to do it again.
Another woman in the article didn’t show her face to her husband or children. I didn’t even know that there were women who did this. The niqabis I have encountered usually reveal their faces around their husbands and other women. I’m not quite sure what to say. I’m not going to give my knee jerk reaction to the article. I’m trying to remain a cultural relativist about this. I mean the practice doesn’t actually harm the woman, she wants her face to remain covered and who am I to find this practice wrong? I could say that this practice could be a way of controlling women’s sexuality but people say that about hijab as well. So I’m torn. I have to be honest and say that I find this repulsive in a way, especially when children can’t see their mother’s face. At the same time, I felt that the article focused mostly on what the husbands “lost”. There was more of a focus on men not being able to see their wives faces than on the autonomy of women to choose to cover their faces. There wasn’t any discussion about how beneficial this was to women and very little discussion on why they chose to do it besides “tradition”. While I was glad that the article pointed out that this practice isn’t obligatory among Muslim women I didn’t like the way it was done: “The practice of always remaining veiled, even in front of your husband, is not an Islamic practice but a very old tradition practiced by a minority of people in Gulf countries.” All veiling, including hijab, predates Islam. All veiling is an “old tradition”. This is not to negate what the Qur’an says about veiling. However, if we’re honest, the Qur’an is reinforcing a tradition that already existed in the Middle East for centuries. Why is this historical bit mentioned in this article? Is it because this practice denies husbands the opportunity to see their wives? Maybe I’m over analyzing but I did find it curious.
Inspiration
Alexis Crosby’s story is inspiration. She’s awesome. She comes from Glenville, an impoverished area of Cleveland. She’s graduating with both a diploma from Glenville High and an associate’s degree from Cuyahoga Community College. On top of that, she’ll be attending my alma mater and enter the Engineering school. Lord knows the engineering school needs more women and African Americans. Do the dang thing Alexis!
One of Glenville High School’s academic stars graduates today.
Honor student Alexis Crosby, who’s No. 1 in her class, will join 190 classmates as they receive diplomas at the ceremony at the Allen Theater.
What makes the 17-year-old resident of Cleveland’s Glenville neighborhood special is she pulled off an educational feat: Less than three weeks ago, she received an associate’s degree from Cuyahoga Community College. She simultaneously attended Glenville and Tri-C.
“She’s a wonderful role model,” said Jerry Sue Thornton, president of Cuyahoga Community College. “People talk about role models being in various arts and sports, but she’s a real role model for young people in terms of what academic and community service can yield for them.”
Open Thread: Graduation Pics, Obama, and links!
Salaam! I’ve been a bit busy as of late so I haven’t had a lot of time to post this week. Insha’Allah, I’ll have a new post up this weekend. Until then I wanted to share the link to some of my graduation pictures. You already see one. The link to the rest is at the end of the post.
On to Obama. I’m happy that the nod is pretty much official now. Honestly, I never thought I would see a black person be the nominee of any major party in my lifetime. I was watching BBC News last night, and a commentator, a professor at American University, pointed out how 45 years ago, Obama wouldn’t have been to even vote for himself in some states. It kinda hit me then. Like “Damn! A Black person has a serious chance at the White House.” Of course, we still have quite a ways to go when it comes to race in the States but last night definitely shows how far we have come. I spoke to my mother last night and asked her about the speech and she said a bit skeptically “We’ll see what he does.” I wonder how many people share her sentiment. I think it’s a healthy attitude to have. I still would like Obama to have a more moderate position on Palestine and I definitely hope that Obama proves to be much more liberal in supporting domestic social program than Bush could ever dream. So I’m happy but still waiting.
I’m not quite sure what to make of Hillary’s speech. I don’t think she’s going to contest the delegate count (I hope). Maybe she’s eying the VP spot but I really don’t see the Obama camp wanting her for VP after all the “hardball” (as one commentator put it) her campaign played with Obama’s. I guess we’ll see what she’s up to in the weeks ahead.
Lastly, links:
I Colonize via Racialicious: Definitely expressed my view on gentrification. I live in a neighborhood on the East side of Cleveland that is rapidly gentrifying so the article hit close to home.
Young American Muslims Pioneer a New Dating Game via CS Monitor: Marriage among American Muslims seems to be a hot topic for the media lately. I’m not quite sure why. Honestly, courtship among 2nd and 3rd generation Muslims reflects the type of courtship that use to occur in Western societies around the 18th and 19th centuries. Maybe that’s why? I’m thinking about writing a critique about this. We’ll see.
Tiger Woods once again decides to not take a stand via AlterNet: *sigh* I don’t expect athletes to be activists but I do expect them to have some guts and to take a stand on some issues. I suppose Tiger is but one of many black athletes, including Michael Jordan, who decide that endorsements and money are more important than standing for justice. Anyone remember when Jordan didn’t say a word when it was discovered that his famous shoes that sell for around $150 a pair were being made in sweatshops by workers making around $2.00 a day? Tiger’s new deal with Chevron reminds me of that. Oh wait, Tiger also has an endorsement deal with Nike. Go figure.
So at this point, I open the thread to the reader. Post your thoughts links on any of the topics above or whatever else you like.
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