Fragmented Ummah, Bombing Syria & My Hijab

I have been disappointed, saddened and even distraught recently, at how some brothers and sisters of our Ummah are behaving towards each other, in light of the current change in climate, towards regular practicing Muslims in the UK.

I've noticed a marked change towards myself as a Muslim and accounts from others are similar. More general pushing, shoving when I am out - even with my baby girl, more tugs at my hijab as I walk by - then when I turn around you can't tell who pulled at it, more tuts, huffs, "f***in foreigners", more silence when I walk into a room, more barbed and overtly hostile questions and more suspicion shown when I answer. I can cope with all this....what I can't deal with is when other Muslims, for whatever reason, I don't know, decide to call po on regular brothers and sisters who maybe aren't as *moderate* as themselves.

But I guess when you sell out your own, you are alleviating your fears of people pointing the finger at you. When you cause some innocent brother or sister to have their life turned upside down and humiliated, you are racking up enough reps with the authorities in the UK, to be able to be considered a 'Good Muslim'....it actually makes me feel desperately sad and a little bit nauseous.

Being pious and trying to follow strictly your religion, doesn't mean you have terrorist tendencies. wanting to see a legitimate Islamic State emerge, doesn't mean you are a terrorist. Agreeing with the concept of Jihad, doesn't mean you want to jump on a plane and cause it to crash or strap a bomb to your chest and murder anyone who doesn't agree with you.

So the Western media are producing headlines (1in5) that are producing more Islamaphobia and Muslims are allowing themselves to be fragmented. When more devastating incidents happen on UK soil because we bombed Syria and inflamed the situation, we'll all no doubt cry many more tears albeit for quite different reasons.

The major powers caused this mess and are intent on making even more decisions that will make it worse.

I don't know what the answer is for peace. I am 22 and was born in England UK and am Anglo-Saxon ethnically, so I have only a cursory knowledge of the complex political issues that have influenced the East/West. What I do know though is, what I feel like in my country, when I am attacked for my faith, when I see my brothers and sisters in Islam dying in their thousands all over the world with no little outrage or assistance on their behalf. When I see western powers stay quiet concerning some brutal regimes while castigating others and when those same powers make mutually beneficial deals with some despots while taking down others in the interests of international peace.

It makes me rage, it makes me want to move, to live somewhere else where, as a woman, I am free to dress how I like, instead of being vilified for how I dress. In a Muslim-majority country, I will be given the freedom to dress how I like.

Oh the irony.

Militant Muslimah

I have had an on/off relationship with my niqab (nose/mouth covering).

Ever since I became a Muslim, I have always worn hijab (head-scarf) and ababya (long black dress) while out and about. While I was preparing to get married, I found out that my future husband preferred his wife to wear niqab, which I was happy to do.

Since I got divorced, I removed my niqab.

The thing I noticed is that when I took my niqab off, I haven't had any harassment from abusive people when I am out in public like I had when I wore it. You might think I would be happy about this, but I am really vexed and determined actually, as I know other women are going through awful cowardly abuse for being Muslim when they are out in public. Mostly from chav men, sometimes women,

So I decided to start wearing my niqab again and I would urge other sisters who want to wear it, to do so as well. Why should any of us have to be made to feel uncomfortable for being Muslim in the UK in these days!? It's outrageous and as Muslim women and sisters, we need to fight against it. These are some of the incidents I personally know of that have happened to women.

spitting
touching private areas as they pass
pulling hard on hijab to try and remove it
pushing over
abusive comments "paki whore"
"filthy Muslim bitch"
"ISIS whore"
"traitor"
"f*****g terrorist"

• Every girl needs to be trained in basic physical self-defense.
• Every girl needs to carry a small spray can of anti-vandal paint. Apparently it stains the skin so badly for a few days so, sprayed on the face of the abuser it will leave a bad mark
• Every girl needs to report every incident to the police. I know it's bare long and they don't always do anything but it will help with the stats at the end of the years and flag these incidences as an issue in society.

I tell you this now though, the next man who spit on my clothing, InshaAllah will wish he had not. I have had enough of ignoring it.

Sex: Part 1 - Balance of Power

"For Muslims, it seems that men can be promiscuous before marriage, it's frowned upon but kind of quietly accepted and women absolutely cannot indulge their sex drive or they are looked upon as filthy and damaged goods. Ergo men have more sexual power than women"

Someone at work spat this at me recently and I didn't attempt to counter it as the person wasn't interested in a debate.

I see it like this...an Islamic frame of reference is that sex before marriage is not permitted. On the whole, single women in Islam are protected more from this 'sin' than men, as they are accompanied at most, if not all, times - where as men are not as protected. Men are largely left unprotected and with generally more visual prompts and more opportunity, they can decide to have sex outside Islamic boundaries more easily than women and often with little or no consequences. Therefore men are more vulnerable than women are in this area. Women would have to circumvent fathers, brothers, uncles and sisters too.

Therefore I would say, in answer to the original statement, men generally have less power than women as women have more assistance to remain chaste from family and community.

If you view sex outside of marriage as a normal and part of your freedom in life, then you would view the ability to indulge in sexual activity whenever you liked, as being a powerful choice to make. If, however, you view promiscuity as harmful and morally wrong, then it's easy to feel for a Muslim man's position as being more vulnerable and less powerful than your own as a woman. I certainly feel this way and don't see there being in any way an imbalance in power in favour of the man. It is very hard on a man to walk through a whole entire day looking at his shoes, especially in the west.

Having said that, in some ways, men have less pressure on them during their arranged marriage as hardly any female I know stipulates to a potential husband that they want a virgin man and in any case, a deceptive man could simply bluff his way forward and not pull out of any further meetings. Where as, if a man stipulates that he is looking to marry a virgin, there is physical evidence on her part to make her fear being asked this question, if she had ever crossed this line in Islam. I often wonder what his reaction would be if she replied that she was not a virgin and it was not down to her choice that this was the case. How could he make such a stipulation then walk away after such an answer. If he stays she will know his true thoughts, if he leaves, he will feel like a tool knowing that this probably crushed her.

Maybe not making any stipulation from either side would be better.

I know it's testosterone but, I do wonder why men are more physically powerful than women in general, why Allah swt designed it that way? Physical protection of women and family? That's why it's such a bad thing when women come across physically abusive men. Something that should be so safe and intoxicating for a woman, becomes a thing of fear or mistrust.

I wonder if women had the penis and men the vagina, things might be different?