Hejab

elham · Joined: 07 Feb 2006 Posts: 1

hello every body.<BR>One thing that i m considering is hejab . When i see other muslims around the world and my self as a ismaili some times i happen to ask myself why our wemon do not have hejab . just when i am reading quran and read some verses about this matter i get confused .Can u help?

kmaherali · Joined: 27 Mar 2003 Posts: 20950

There has been discussion on this issue in this forum at:

Inspiration --> Hijab - A Poem

You may want to go there. You will find allusions to the Imams' messages on this subject.

farida · Joined: 02 May 2003 Posts: 40

Ya Ali Madad

Sometime in the 1950's, Mowlana Sultan Mohammed Shah made a farman that the women should dress in western style clothing. i do not have this farman to hand but it was after this that my mother, with other Ismaili ladies, started wearing short dresses. Before this time they used to wear long dresses with a shall or saris in East Africa.

you may try asking an elderly relation in your family for more information about the above but something for you to think about:

At the end of the day we are Shia ismailis with Hazar Imam to guide us; not sunni Muslims.

farida

razinizar · Joined: 24 May 2005 Posts: 119

star_munir · Joined: 21 Apr 2003 Posts: 1670

I think culture is important but not like obligatory principle...example if you live in India and like Italian food then God will not punish you which you eat Italian food instead of Indian though you are Indian...same is with dresses I think..Its up to your chocie your own will, which dress in which you find your self more comfirtable..hijab is also a part of culture of Afgahnistan and some countries though it is not allowed in our religion,
wine and bear is also part of western culture though it is forbidden in our religion so I dont think its essentail to dress as per culture...It may be good but not necessary the choice is yours..
you should feel yourself lucky that Ismailis dont need to wear veil...There is no need of physical hijab..the veil of shyness is in heart of true believer..

VTECMAN786 · Joined: 19 Feb 2006 Posts: 4

logical · Joined: 02 May 2003 Posts: 111

Tuesday, October 17, 2006
EDITORIAL: Muslims must weigh the veil carefully

The British press has quoted Phil Woolas, the Race and Faith minister, as demanding that Aishah Azmi, a Muslim Teaching Assistant, be fired for refusing to remove her veil at work and �in the presence of fellow men workers�.

This remark is bound to pour more oil on the fire of the debate over the rights of Muslim women to wear face-veils in Britain. The opposition Conservatives have also joined the Labour minister, with one of the party�s top officials accusing Muslim leaders of encouraging a �voluntary apartheid� that could help spawn �home-grown terrorism�.

Most Muslim organisations in the UK are outraged........

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\10\17\story_17-10-2006_pg3_1

logical · Joined: 02 May 2003 Posts: 111

The Times October 27, 2006

Storm after cleric calls unveiled women 'meat'

AUSTRALIA�S most senior Muslim cleric was fighting to keep his position yesterday after likening women who did not wear veils to uncovered meat that attracted predators.

Pls click on link to amuse.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/TGD/tgdBreakingNewsDisplay/0,,3,00.html#3

Jawad · Joined: 04 Nov 2006 Posts: 5

razinizar makes sense however i dont agree with "jesa des, wesa bhes" or "When in Rome" theory... cos it would mean that Islam is not a revolutionary religion but is bound by the man made customs.

Ms Elham... ask your ownself whether you will feel more secure, respected while covering your body properly or not?

I would like to ask everyone a Question.How often do we hear someone saying that look at her dressing today...she is looking soooo 'xyz' in that outfit.

The More the one will expose itself the more the opposite gender is gonna be attracted. Can anyone deny the fact?
God is not Eastern nor Western... And He Himself states "....And say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty; that they should not display their beauty and adornments except what (must ordinarily) appear thereof; that they should draw their veils over their bosoms and not display their beauty except to their husbands, their fathers...(a list of exceptions)"[Chapter 24, verses 30-31]

Admin · Joined: 06 Jan 2003 Posts: 6063

Mon grand-p�re a �t� le premier � inciter les femmes � quitter le voile. Le Coran �tablit une nette diff�rence entre les femmes-esclaves - celles qui n'existent que dans le regard des hommes, par leurs parures - et les femmes libres. Les femmes doivent �tre libres, de nos jours, responsables de leur conduite. Il n'est pas question de se cacher, pas plus que de se parer http://www.ismaili.net/intervue/i671015.html Interview Jeune Afrique 15 Oct. 1967

My grandfather was the first to encourage women to get rid of the veil....

Jawad · Joined: 04 Nov 2006 Posts: 5

Allah says: 'O Prophet! Tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to draw their cloaks (veils) over their bodies (when outdoors). That is most convenient that they should be known and not molested.' (Quran 33:59).

"AND"

Allah says: `It is not for a believer, man or woman, when Allah and His messenger have decreed a matter that they should have an option in their decision. And whoever disobeys Allah and His Messenger, has indeed strayed in a plain error.' (Quran 33:36).

zubair_mahamood · Joined: 14 Jan 2006 Posts: 238

Ya Ali Madad,

Jawad · Joined: 04 Nov 2006 Posts: 5

Dear Bro Zubair Thanx For Your Contribution,

zubair_mahamood · Joined: 14 Jan 2006 Posts: 238

star_munir · Joined: 21 Apr 2003 Posts: 1670

End the veil system: Pratibha

Special Correspondent

JAIPUR:

Rajasthan Governor and UPA Presidential candidate Pratibha Patil on Sunday left historians and Muslim social activists astounded by her remarks that the purdah (veil) system was introduced in India to protect women from Mughal aggressors.

Addressing a function marking the 467th birth anniversary of Maharana Pratap at the Nagar Parishad Auditorium in Udaipur, Ms. Patil said though Indian culture always respected women, the veil system began during the Mughal rule to "save women from Mughal invaders."

Ms. Patil said: "Today we are citizens of free India. There is need to put a stop to such practices. That alone will ensure real respect for women. When women are progressing in every field, it is our duty to discontinue such practices."

Historians said the veil system was prevalent much before the Mughal invasion. "There is evidence of construction of separate `zanana' chambers for women in the Chittaurgarh fort in the 11th century," said Varsha Joshi of the Institute of Rajasthan Studies.

Dr. Joshi said women were not allowed to take part in the coronation ceremonies of Rajput rulers, and they were mostly confined to home. "To argue that purdah started because of Mughals amounts to taking a very narrow view of history."

State president of Jamat-e-Islami Hind Mohammed Salim said the opinion that women adopted the veil because of the fear of Mughal rulers reflected the distorted view of history taken by the Sangh Parivar. "It is unfortunate that Ms. Patil found the communal forces' views convincing enough to incorporate them in her address."

"Factually incorrect"

The State secretary of the All-India Milli Council, Abdul Qayoom Akhtar, said Ms. Patil's remarks were "factually incorrect and historically untenable."

"We have been listening to such comments in the false propaganda of Sangh Parivar earlier. It is surprising that Ms. Patil has chosen to agree with the Sangh's line of thinking," he said.

However, Congress spokesperson Param Navdeep, contacted by The Hindu, defended Ms. Patil's remarks, saying they should be seen in the light of the life and times of the erstwhile Mewar ruler. "There should be no controversy about it. It is an established fact that women were the target of aggression during the Mughal rule," she said.

star_munir · Joined: 21 Apr 2003 Posts: 1670

Imam Sultan Mohamed Shah in book India in Transition wrote:

�Suttee, infant marriage, the compulsion of permanent widowhood and the enervating restrictions of Purdah are so many hateful caricatures of the teachings of the Prophet and of the earliest and purest of the sacred writings of Hinduism, namely respect and honour for women by protecting the persons of the bearers of the race from risks of violence. These and other social evils have handicapped India that it is impossible to conceive if her taking a proper place in the midst of free nations until the broad principle of equality between the sexes has been generally accepted by her people.�

On Occasion of Delhi Durbar He said, �There is no authority either in the Quran or from the history of Islam for the observance of kind of Purdah as it exist among muslims today. It condemns half the population to slavery or to retirement from an active and gainful life.�

Mawlana Hazir Imam said in one of His interviews that, � My Grandfather made it quite clear to the Ismaili community that women were not to wear the veil and they no longer do.� (Sunday Times Weekly Review December 12, 1965)

In Memoirs of Aga Khan Imam Sultan Mohamed Shah said, �I have always sought to encourage the emancipation and education of women. In my grandfather's and my father's time the Ismailis were far ahead of any other Muslim sect in the matter of the abolition of the strict veil, even in extremely conservative countries. I have absolutely abolished it; nowadays you will never find an Ismaili woman wearing the veil.�

As per Farman not any Imam or Prophet has said to wear burkha.

Here some references of Imam�s saying not to wear veil or burkha.

Farman in Jangbar 5-7-1899 (KIM Part 1)
Farman in Jangbar 20-8-1899 (KIM Part 1)
Farman in Jangbar 17-8-1905 (KIM Part 1)
Farman in Jangbar 29-8-1905 (KIM Part 1)
Farman in Karachi 30 April 1920 (KIM Part 2)
A Speech in All India Mohmmaden Educational Conference (Noorum Mubin)

Pir Shams in Ginan Eji duniya preet keejiye says that

Eji Purkh nari aik chey aney jhajhwa chey ghat halo chalo sarvey aik chey soho dharam ni vaat.

That means that men and women are one [equal status] although they are made differently [or have different looks] but the way to follow the religion is same for both.

Aisha binte Talha was very beautiful and she was grand daughter of Abu Baker Sidiq the first muslim caliph. She never used to wear a veil or burkha. When her husband argued why she not wore hijab she replied beauty is the blessing of Allah and how can she thank Allah by hiding blessing of Allah in veil. I am thankful to God for making me beautiful physically so why should I hide this from others?

star_munir · Joined: 21 Apr 2003 Posts: 1670

As per latest news the top militant in Lal Masjid Pakistan tried to run away wearing "hijab" but was caught.
So the person who was preaching to do terrorism in name of religion, brainwashing others to do jihad and sacrifice your life to get place in heaven he himself tried to wore hijab to run away along with his wife.......
So this can be point that it may be one of the reason that why fundamentalist and extremist favours veil as theives, terrorist etc can hide themselves in veil when they feel need.

kmaherali · Joined: 27 Mar 2003 Posts: 20950

Intolerance unleashed
Quebec women's group off base with call to ban religious attire

Calgary Herald

Sunday, September 30, 2007

Suggestions by the Quebec Council on the Status of Women that hijabs, yarmulkas and other visible religious symbols be banned in the public sector are offensive, racist and run counter to the tenets of religious freedom Canadians cherish, and which the Charter of Rights supports.

The council wants teachers, doctors and other public-sector workers to be prohibited from wearing anything more overt than necklaces with crosses or Stars of David.

This is the road France travelled a year ago, and it is one down which Canada should not follow.

The hijab is a head scarf and a symbol of religious devotion. It does not obscure the wearer's face. And Jewish men who wear yarmulkas as they go about their daily business, do so because keeping their heads covered represents their constant devotion to God.

Just as it is the right of Sikh men to wear turbans -- a right which has been championed all the way up through the ranks of the RCMP -- so too it is the right of Muslims and Jews to wear garments that represent their respective faiths.

It is ironic that a group professing to be dedicated to equality for women wants to stomp on the equality of Muslim women and take away their choice to wear religious attire.

The council claims it is pushing for equality and tolerance in insisting that Muslim women doff their hijabs and niqabs, but all it is really doing is disrespecting their freedom to choose.

The council focused especially on female teachers sending negative messages of submission to secular students by wearing niqabs -- veils -- in class.

They insist these teachers are poor role models.

On the contrary, what better way for students in a multicultural country such as Canada to learn respect for other cultures as well as for freedom of religion, than to be exposed to such concepts on an informal basis every day in the classroom?

A teacher who has no qualms about demonstrating the convictions she holds regarding the values of her faith is an excellent role model in a society where too often the only values accorded respect are those an individual makes up on the spot because they feel good at the moment.

This by no means implies that dress trumps everything all the time or that anyone claiming a certain type of apparel represents his or her religious beliefs must always prevail.

A woman showing up in the corporate suite of offices dressed in shorts, T-shirt and flip-flops will rightly be told in no uncertain terms that her clothing is inappropriate for the business world.

Private industry has every right to set out dress codes for employees, and business owners, for example, who feel that someone whose face is veiled is not the best person to deal with customers in a particular type of retail environment, needs to have the leeway to make decisions on who will get the job.

That is a completely different situation from the sort of state-sanctioned blanket ban on attire that the Quebec group is advocating.

It is patronizing and demeaning for the council to decide on behalf of Muslim women what is oppressive and what is not. Muslim women are perfectly capable of speaking for themselves, thank you.

� The Calgary Herald 2007

yaamf77 · Joined: 04 Oct 2007 Posts: 33

[quote="star_munir"]Imam Sultan Mohamed Shah in book India in

Farman in Jangbar 5-7-1899 (KIM Part 1)
Farman in Jangbar 20-8-1899 (KIM Part 1)
Farman in Jangbar 17-8-1905 (KIM Part 1)
Farman in Jangbar 29-8-1905 (KIM Part 1)
Farman in Karachi 30 April 1920 (KIM Part 2)
?[/quot]
There are clear faramins of Imam Sultan Muhammad shah about burqa/parda etc.
if any ismaili want to read the faramins on this topic i have in pdf format and will pleased to forward you.
yaamf_77@hotmail.com

DELETED · Guest

DELETED

yaamf77 · Joined: 04 Oct 2007 Posts: 33

[quote="yaamf77"]

kmaherali · Joined: 27 Mar 2003 Posts: 20950

Law would force Muslim voters to show their faces

Mike De Souza
CanWest News Service

Saturday, October 27, 2007

Canadians would be allowed to hide their face before voting in a federal election for health reasons, but not because of their religion, under new legislation introduced Friday by the minority Conservative government.

If adopted, the legislation would force a woman wearing a veil because of her religion to show her face before voting, but it would exclude a person wearing bandages to cover facial wounds from an injury or surgery, said Transport, Infrastructure and Communities Minister Lawrence Cannon.

He argued that the legislation was a necessary response to fix a loophole in the Canada Elections Act which caused controversy during federal byelections last month in Quebec.

"We've seen cases where people have not identified themselves, and willingly tried to deviate from electoral integrity," said Cannon, who is Prime Minister Stephen Harper's political lieutenant in Quebec. "I've been told, for instance, in one poll in St-Hyacinthe (east of Montreal), some people came in there with masks on, they came in with veils, other people came in with other ridiculous attire."

Although Cannon said the exception for medical problems distinguished the government proposal from a private member's bill introduced earlier in the week by the Bloc Quebecois, the sovereigntist party accused the Conservatives of tabling their own legislation to score political points.

But Bloc deputy House leader Monique Guay said her party would likely co-operate with the Conservatives to resolve the issue as soon as possible, since a general election could happen at any time if the minority government was defeated on a confidence issue in the Commons.

"We won't play petty politics with this," she said after question period. "What we want is for everybody to be treated equally and for everybody to vote with their face revealed. We know that in Quebec, this was done in (provincial elections), the law was modified, and if there are other modifications that would be good for the voters, than we will do those (also)."

If adopted, the legislation could be enforced by having Elections Canada staff take voters aside into separate rooms to show their faces before voting, but Cannon said it would be up to the chief electoral officer to decide how to apply the new rules.

The Liberals and the New Democrats suggested that the Bloc and the Tories were blowing the issue out of proportion.

"What I don't like about this whole project is the idea that we take a bunch of women wearing veils and we make a whole big deal about this," said Michael Ignatieff, deputy Liberal leader. "They're citizens, they have to vote, they should identify themselves and then we work out how to do it.''

� The Calgary Herald 2007

Firukurji · Joined: 08 Oct 2006 Posts: 24

My understanding of the issue is based on some books that I have read.

Muhammad's house was also the community's mosque: the center of religious and social life in the Ummah. People were constantly coming in and out of this compound at all hours of the day. When delegations from other tribes come to speak with Muhammad, they would set up their tents for days at a time inside the open courtyard, just a few feet away from the apartments in which Muhammad's wives slept. And new emigrants who arrived in Yatrib would often stay within the mosque's walls until they could find suitable homes.

Following verses give special directives to the wives of Muhammad though some commentators believe that all women should imitate their example.

"Wives of the Prophet, you are not like other women. So, if you fear God, do not be too complaisant in your speech, lest the lecherous-hearted should lust after you. Talk with such people in plain and simple words. Abide still in your homes and do not display your finery as women used to do in the days of ignorance. Attend to your prayers, give alms and obey God and His Messenger. O woman of this house, the Almighty wants to cleanse you from the filth [these hypocrites want to besmear you with] and to fully purify you. Communicate what is taught to you of the verses of God and the wisdom revealed by Him [to your visitors]. The Almighty is very discerning and all-knowing. Quran 33:32-33"

According to other studies, nowhere in the whole of the Quran is the term hijab applied to any woman other than the wives of Muhammad. Muslim women probably began wearing the veil as a way to emulate the Prophet's wives, who were revered as `the Mothers of the Ummah,` but the veil was neither compulsory nor, for that matter, widely adopted until generations after Muhammad's death.

kmaherali · Joined: 27 Mar 2003 Posts: 20950

Soccer player's hijab sparks ejection
Referee sends Calgary teen off the field

Sean Myers
Calgary Herald

Monday, November 26, 2007

The family of a 14-year-old girl is demanding an apology from a referee who refused to allow her to play indoor soccer while wearing a religious headscarf.

But the head of referee development for Alberta's governing soccer body says wearing hijabs can pose a threat to player safety.

Safaa Menhem arrived late in the first half of her game with the Chinook Phantom under-16 girls team at the Calgary Soccer Centre on Saturday. After her first shift in the game, the referee told the coach she couldn't play if she wore her hijab.

The Calgary girl said Sunday she couldn't understand why she was not allowed to play.

"I was very embarrassed," she said. "I felt very hurt. I was confused because I've been playing for five seasons and nothing like this has ever happened."

At halftime, the rest of the team -- with the support of parents in the stands -- threatened to forfeit the game in protest, but Safaa urged them to continue playing.

"She walked off the field with her head down in tears thinking she'd done something wrong, which she hadn't," said her eldest brother, Hekmet Menhem, 27, who may face disciplinary action for confronting the referee on the field.

"The look I saw on her face when she came off killed me. That's when I snapped."

Assistant coach Andre Giesbers was behind the bench while the head coach was out of town taking in the Grey Cup.

He said Safaa has played five games this season without incident.

"The ref said it was for safety reasons," said Giesbers. "He told me we could get a letter from Calgary Minor Soccer allowing her to play. So I asked him to let her finish the game and we would get the letter for next week's game, but he wasn't flexible. He said, 'I made the call.'

"She's been playing since the beginning of the year without any problems. We need to get this fixed so she plays next week with her headscarf on."

In February, a girls soccer team made up of Grade 6 students from Nepean, Ont., forfeited a tournament in Laval, Que., when one of the players was ordered by a referee to remove her hijab. Four other teams from Ottawa also forfeited their games in protest.

The referee's decision was upheld by the Quebec soccer federation.

Two years ago, a Calgary Sikh teenager was ejected from a tournament in Langley, B.C., for refusing to take off his patka, a type of headscarf that sits on top of the head.

In that case, the B.C. Soccer Association ruled that the referee was in error and that players are free to wear religious headgear such as turbans.

Gary Roy, the referee development officer with the Alberta Soccer Association, said he supports the decision the Calgary referee made on Saturday.

"This is definitely not about religion, far from it. It's about safety," said Roy. "And it's not a discretionary call. Referees are specifically trained in what is permitted and what is not permitted."

Roy noted that the Canadian Soccer Association upheld the Quebec decision and the international governing body, FIFA, has ruled that no headgear is permitted to be worn during games.

"The reason is, that if a player is wearing a hijab that is tied under the chin and someone decides to grab her by her hijab while she's running down the field, it could result in a serious injury," said Roy. "We've also forbidden sweatbands."

"This is the concern of the officials," he added.

When asked why the rule wasn't enforced consistently in all the games Safaa has played, Roy said it's a problem of policing.

"We have 3,000 referees in the province. We have a lack of manpower to police this," said Roy. "We can only deal with it when issues like this come up."

Daryl Leinweber, executive director of the Calgary Minor Soccer Association, said he needed to review the match sheets from the game before making a comment, but added the association's focus is to be "inclusive not exclusive."

Ontario and B.C. both allow religious headgear to be worn.

Coaches and parents on the Calgary team say they support Safaa in wearing her hijab.

It was due to Safaa's insistence that the team continued playing without her Saturday.

"We were really proud of her for that," said soccer parent Heather McLeod. "That took a lot of courage."

Teammate Tallon Smith, 14, left the field with her friend and has written a letter addressed to soccer officials titled "The Biggest Disappointment."

"I was surprised, I've heard of this happening in other places, but I never expected it to happen to our team," said Tallon.

"They're taking the fun away from the sport."

smyers@theherald.canwest.com

� The Calgary Herald 2007

kmaherali · Joined: 27 Mar 2003 Posts: 20950

Hijab safety issues should be based on fact, not fear

Calgary Herald

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Every sport carries an element of risk, but the chances of a hijab causing injury during a soccer match is so slim, the odds of it ever happening would render it a fluke accident by any standard. There's never been a single injury caused from wearing the religious headscarf that anyone can document, least of all local soccer authorities.

Yet, the Alberta Soccer Association stands by the referee who ejected a 14-year-old Calgary girl from her game Sunday, after she refused to take off her hijab.

In defence of the referee, he acted on his interpretation of a vague rule established by the International Football Association Board.

Without naming the hijab, the rule says players "must not use equipment or wear anything that is dangerous to himself or another player."

The hijab falling into that category is open to interpretation, and has been the subject of not only controversy across the country, but inconsistency.

The soccer associations of Ontario and British Columbia allow players to wear religious headgear, but Quebec's doesn't.

Let's not forget these are girls who are playing for the fun of the game.

Do they really need to be subjected to inflexible rules with the same degree of rigidity as found at the highest level of competition?

Safety standards need to be determined by facts, not fear of a hypothetical chance of injury. The risk is so slim, some experts believe it falls into the category of fantasy. "I don't know what sort of imagination you have to have to see this as a safety risk," says former soccer coach Maureen Simmonds, the director of McGill University's school of physical and occupational therapy.

If safety is the issue, then the soccer association could recognize sports hijabs and set out how they may be modified to address concerns. Intentionally or not, the soccer association's action sends a message that marginalizes girls who wear religious headscarves.

Yet, if Muslim women's participation in Canadian society is going to be increased, society must allow Muslim girls to wear their hijabs so that they may feel comfortable in public.

The tragedy is the soccer association has made tremendous gains in making soccer a more inclusive sport, adopting a strict policy to remove immediately any referee who shows prejudice or violates religious codes of ethics.

Those gains risk being erased unless the association acts quickly to remove the ambiguity around the hijab and find away to allow for its modification.

� The Calgary Herald 2007

****
Trying to be Canadian -- and thwarted

Zijad Delic
For The Calgary Herald

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Here we go again with the hijab and soccer, but this time in Calgary. After all the unnecessary furor over hijabs and sports in Quebec, I thought this could happen only in Quebec -- and never in Alberta, where the contributions of Muslims to Calgary and the province in general have been well recognized.

I was wrong! I thought the referee and the province's minister of recreation would surely know better than to take Albertans down the media circus path, as happened recently in Quebec. Unfortunately, that is not the case.

The referee and minister of recreation agree the hijab worn by Calgary soccer player Safaa Menhem is a dangerous piece of clothing and she needs to be protected from her hijab. It is a safety issue, they say. So now, referees are competing to save the lives of Muslim girls. What kind of absurd game are these people in authority playing? It certainly bears little resemblance to the wholesomeness of amateur sport.

This is just one more unnecessary controversy into which Canadians are drawn almost daily, one which diverts our local and national attention away from more important issues that really matter to all. What about homicides, drugs, child poverty and family violence in Calgary? These reality issues should be enough to keep politicians' hands full. But, of course, they are everyday issues in Calgary, while non-typical sports field attire is an attention-getting novelty. So now the bandwagon cry is hijab! That's the new reality.

For years, and even more so recently, Muslims in general and Muslim women in particular have been criticized for not participating more fully in the diverse activities offered by Canadian society. In the past, there were perhaps some grounds for criticism, but things are very different now.

Whether they wear the hijab or not, Muslim girls and women are participating in every aspect of Canadian cultural and community life, including the playing of various team sports. In fact, their religion encourages them to do so, as long as basic modesty and ethical principles are respected.

When Muslim women or girls want to participate, however, they still run into those who try to discourage them from activities in which they clearly excel. The naysayers try to support a variety of excuses why Muslim women should not be full participants in athletics and sports. One of their deterrents is the hijab, the traditional head scarf.

We first blame Muslim women for not participating in society and then, when they start, we stand in their way; we make them feel bad about themselves and their religion. What an appalling and discouraging double standard! How can people with a little authority make such drastic decisions without taking the trouble to understand why a piece of apparel such as the hijab is so important? Once again, the Muslim community is dismissed by those who know or care far too little about "these people" and their religion.

The hijab -- a modest and elegant piece of fabric that numerous Muslim women and girls don by choice in public -- cannot harm anyone. It never happened. But the recent uninformed ruling of Mr. Referee at a soccer game where Safaa's team was playing deeply harmed the feelings of many, especially those of Safaa herself, a skilled athlete who just wants to play soccer like the rest of her teammates.

Instead of choosing the Canadian way -- through informed, enlightened and pragmatic good sense -- to settle the question of whether it is proper to allow athletes to wear sports-appropriate hijabs, the referee who ousted Safaa put another barrier in the way of young Muslim women in their quest to develop a healthy sense of integrated self-identity, both Canadian and Islamic.

Canada's soccer authorities need to demonstrate that they are genuinely attuned to the realities of Canadian multicultural life. Ours is a pluralistic society that demands we ensure safe and healthy spaces for all our citizens, so that no one is prevented by something as innocuous as a hijab, yarmulke, turban or any recognized religious attire, from participating freely, fully, skillfully and enjoyably in the life of this dynamic country.

We owe this opportunity to our young people; after all, they are our future and deserve to be treated with dignity and respect, not humiliated for their belief system.

Establishing consistent rules of the game is one thing, but arbitrarily and unnecessarily wounding players' feelings is quite another. Sadly, it is a case where a decision made in haste and ignorance, with only personal preference as a guideline, resulted in a detrimental effect on the self-esteem of those directly affected and in a loss of credibility among Canadians for those whom we trusted to oversee fair play.

Safaa and many other young Muslim girls hope that this and any future decisions on the hijab in sports will not be left up to just anybody. Most "anybodies" do not understand the traditions and sensitivities they are dealing with. Until then, Safaa -- with her hijab proudly in place -- will keep practising with her soccer team in hopes that, sooner rather than later, this unnecessary mess will be solved for good.

Players in many sports wear headbands and/or sweatbands and the like and are not being thrown out of competition over a mere piece of cloth. But in this country, where all are equal -- but for a few, some are more equal than others -- the hijab seems to be a bit different question!

An Angus Reid Forum poll (not scientific, but revealing nevertheless: results of the poll retrieved from http://rm.angusreidforum.com) gives an overview of the true Canadian-ness of the hijab issue. When asked, "Do you think wearing a hijab on a school soccer team should be forbidden or allowed?" 28 per cent said "forbidden" and 72 per cent "allowed" a hijab on the field.

This is what Canada is all about! Long live Canada!

Imam Dr. Zijad Delic is the national executive director of the Canadian Islamic Congress

� The Calgary Herald 2007

kmaherali · Joined: 27 Mar 2003 Posts: 20950

Hijab dilemma sidestepped
Hijab dilemma sidestepped

Jamie Komarnicki
Calgary Herald

Sunday, December 02, 2007

When Safaa Menhem stepped out of the locker room with her soccer teammates before Saturday's game, her hijab was wrapped snugly around her head and draped around her neck.

Minutes later, when Safaa played her first shift on the soccer pitch since she was ejected from a game last week, the religious head scarf was fastened at the back of her head.

The transformation from hijab to bandana took advantage of a loophole in the laws of the game that allowed the 14-year-old Muslim girl to help her Chinook Phantom under-16 girls team to a 4-1 victory at the Calgary Soccer Centre on Saturday.

"I was happy I was able to play," said Safaa, grinning broadly as she came off the pitch arm-in-arm with beaming teammates.

Last week, a referee told her that for her own safety and that of other players, Safaa couldn't play while wearing a hijab.

The move kicked off a flurry of controversy as soccer officials scrambled to come up with a definitive position on the issue.

And on Friday, the Alberta Soccer Association advised its referees not to let players wear a hijab during a game while its board members work on a clear ruling.

In the meantime, Safaa feared she was banned from playing her favourite sport as long as she wore the hijab, a head scarf worn by Muslim women, in keeping with a Qur'anic directive.

But by tying the head scarf so it fastened at the back of her head rather than draping around the front of her neck, the girl was able to satisfy the safety component of the rules, said Gary Roy, the former referee development officer who helped come up with the "Band-Aid" solution for Saturday's game.

"We were trying to come up with a solution to help her conform to the safety issue," said Roy.

"It respects the Alberta Soccer Association ruling and at the same time gets the girl on the field to play," he said.

Safaa didn't know she was allowed to play until the last minute, she said.

Cheers erupted from the bleachers where her parents, six siblings and a number of friends sat watching as Safaa stepped onto the field shortly into the first half of the game.

The young girl grew up watching older siblings' soccer practices and games, said her brother, Hekmet Menhem. It gave birth to her own passion for the game.

"It means the world to her," Menhem said. "In our house, our mom is always yelling at us when we kick the ball around and break things," he joked.

Wearing her No. 6 jersey, Safaa played several shifts Saturday, tugging self-consciously at the headgear she admitted felt loose and distracting.

The family will craft more secure bandanas for her to wear in the future, said Menhem.

Bandanas are generally not allowed on the field, unless deemed medically necessary by each individual referee, or, in this case, for religious reasons, said Roy.

The referee has the final say on issues of non-compulsory equipment, he said, a point the provincial soccer body acknowledged.

"The referee has the last say, so obviously we're not going to challenge that," said the soccer association's executive director Ron Axelson, who wasn't at Saturday's game.

"We're still going to proceed and make a ruling, hopefully on a long-term basis, so we don't have to go through this again."

Officials welcome clarity on the issue, especially in light of Calgary's burgeoning cultural landscape, said Roy.

"We've had our conflict, now it's resolution time," he said.

jkomarnicki@theherald.canwest.com

kmaherali · Joined: 27 Mar 2003 Posts: 20950

Teen dead after alleged attack by father
Last Updated: Tuesday, December 11, 2007 | 9:58 AM ET
CBC News

Peel Regional Police on Tuesday released the name of a 16-year-old Mississauga teen who died after allegedly being attacked by her father.

Aqsa Parvez was found in her Longhorn Trail home on Monday morning without any vital signs.

Paramedics revived her and took her to Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children, where she died late Monday night.

Police said they received a call from a man who said he'd just killed his daughter.

The victim's father, Muhammad Parvez, 57, was arrested at the scene. He will appear in court on Tuesday and face murder charges.

Aqsa Parvez's friends told CBC News that the teen had been having arguments with her father because he allegedly wanted her to wear a traditional hijab.

"She kinda wanted to go a different way from the way her family wanted her to go," said one friend.

They also said that she wanted to escape the family conflict by running away.

On the family's quiet street, neighbours were dismayed, calling the events "a tragedy."

One neighbour said she was "praying for the family."

At the teen's school, Applewood Heights Secondary School, grief counsellors have been called in and tributes are being arranged.

"Aqsa was well-known at the school," said Sylvia Link, communications manager for the Peel District School Board.

"She had a wide circle of friends and � those closest to her really are [the] most affected. But anyone at the school, you know our school is like a family, you know anyone at the school is really going to be shocked and saddened by this tragic news."

Waqas Parvez, the victim's 26-year-old brother, has also been arrested and charged with obstructing police.

kmaherali · Joined: 27 Mar 2003 Posts: 20950

It's no sin to shun the hijab
Tarek Fatah
Founder of the Muslim Canadian Congress
December 17, 2007
Globe and Mail

In Khaled Hosseini's novel about life in Afghanistan, A Thousand
Splendid Suns, the character Nana, a poor unwed mother, tells her
five-year-old daughter, Mariam: "Learn this now and learn it well, my
daughter: Like a compass needle that points north, a man's accusing
finger always finds a woman. Always."

In 25 words, the author sums up the way too many men govern the lives of women in the world of Islam. Like the daughter, Mariam, millions of
Muslim girls are told very early in life by their mothers that their
place in society is one of submission; submission, not to God, but to
Man.

One such girl was 16-year-old Aqsa Parvez, or Axa as she spelled her
name. Axa sought to defy the medieval misogyny that novelist Hosseini
alludes to in his bestseller. She paid the ultimate price for her love
of life: death.

Axa's body had not yet received a decent burial when the mandarins of
Canada's mosque establishment appeared before the media on Thursday.

They had come to do damage control, to ensure the publicity surrounding
the young girl's death, allegedly at the cruel hands of her own father,
did not trigger a negative image about them and their sermons. However,
in their clumsy attempt, they managed to do exactly what they had come
to avert. They talked about the price a Muslim must be prepared to "pay"
if she strays away from their prescribed path of Islam. Imam Alaa
El-Sayyed of Mississauga's Islamic Society of North America mosque told
the press conference: "We cannot let culture supersede religion. If we
stay away from the teachings of Islam, we will pay for it."

We don't know how many times this warning was given to the late Axa
Parvez before she had to pay for her transgressions. If these cold
steely words were not enough, Imam El-Sayyed went a step further and
talked about the higher status of women who cover their heads. "Women
who wear hijabs occupy higher positions in Islam, according to religious
teachings," he said. Axa, he would say, had a lower place in Islam
because she had refused to wear the hijab.

Axa's death hangs like a pall of gloom over the Muslim communities of
Canada. One of our daughters has been killed but the religious leaders
of the community seem more interested in damage control to their
reputations than the enormity of the crime. Axa Parvez is now being
portrayed as somehow having invited her fate. While repeatedly denying
that Islamic teachings or tradition had any role to play in the murder,
the imams at the press conference betrayed their true feelings when
grilled by reporters. Imam Iqbal Nadvi of Oakville's Al-Falah Islamic
Centre mosque said that "parents fail and bring shame upon themselves if
a child chooses to abandon holy writings and not wear the hijab. It is
their duty to convince their kids that this is part of their culture."

One would have hoped Islamic leaders would urge parents to spare the rod and treat their daughters with compassion and love. One would have hoped that these imams would finally admit that the Koran does not mandate the wearing of the hijab, so parents need not force it on their daughters.

Instead, journalists heard a cold-hearted diatribe that bordered on
blaming Axa Parvez for her death. Imam Iqbal Nadvi told the press
conference, "This girl, she refused to stay at home. There were feelings
that she is going in the wrong direction ... going with some other boy
or some other thing."

The imams were not alone. Some young Muslim men on the Internet social site, Facebook, referred to the dead girl as a "slut," while others
e-mailed me suggesting she was pushing drugs; one panicked caller asked
me, "Mr. Fatah, is it true the girl was pregnant when she died?" I was
left speechless at the callous attitude of so many people.

There is something seriously dysfunctional in how the traditional Muslim
leadership has reacted to the murder of Axa. Instead of outrage at the
accused murderer, the attention was focused on the "image of the Muslim
community."

We cannot get back Axa Parvez, but we can show her some respect and make public our disgust at men who slander her behind her back. Imams owe it to their congregations to tell them the hijab does not elevate Muslim
girls to some superior level in the eyes of God. They need to assure
young Muslim women who choose not to wear the head cover that they are not committing a sin.

Tarek Fatah is author of Chasing a Mirage: The Tragic Illusion of an
Islamic State, to be published in March.

kmaherali · Joined: 27 Mar 2003 Posts: 20950

Hijabs approved in soccer decision
Muslim teen's fight sparks changes

Jamie Komarnicki
Calgary Herald; with files from CanWest News Service

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Weeks after a Calgary Muslim girl was told she couldn't play soccer while wearing a hijab, a new provincial ruling allows players to wear the religious headgear on the field.

The decision clears up a storm of controversy kicked off after 14-year-old Safaa Menhem was pulled from a game with her Chinook Phantom under-16 girls team at the Calgary Soccer Centre because a referee said her hijab was unsafe.

Soccer officials said the decision was based on safety, though Muslim groups expressed concerns about discrimination.

The hijab is a religious head scarf worn by some Muslim women in keeping with a Qur'anic directive that they dress modestly.

The Alberta Soccer Association banned hijabs while it came up with a clear decision.

"The goal here was to make it as common sense as possible, but at the same time, continuing to take the safety factor into consideration," said Ron Axelson, the association's executive director.

Players can wear a sports-friendly hijab approved by the game's referee, according to the ruling released Tuesday.

Sports hijabs are generally fastened with something such as Velcro, which easily comes loose when tugged.

The association will also come up with guidelines on what type of regular hijabs can be worn, likely by next month said Axelson.

Though reluctant to champion the right to wear her hijab, Safaa said she's proud she stuck with her decision.

"It felt good," Safaa said.

"I know that I'm doing something so that no one else is going to have to go through all this," said Safaa.

The incident shook up the team and they're glad to get back to focusing on the sport, said her team's assistant coach Andre Giesbers.

"I'm sorry it's taken so long for it to get done, but at least it's in black and white," said Giesbers, who applauded the ruling.

"I think everybody had to kind of step back and review what decisions were made and how to fix it."

The decision was also welcomed by a Muslim female soccer team in Edmonton.

"I was pretty confident they would change their minds and make the right decision," said Nahhid Alami, coach of the Al-Ikhwat team.

The team was sidelined earlier this month after the temporary ban, as 13 of the 18 women on the team, aged 16 to 25, wear hijab.

Alberta joins British Columbia and Ontario in allowing female soccer players to wear hijab while playing. The head scarf is banned in Quebec.

Two years ago, a Calgary Sikh teenager was ejected from a tournament in Langley, B.C., for refusing to take off his patka, a type of head scarf that sits on top of the head. In that case, the B.C. Soccer Association ruled the referee was in error and players are free to wear religious headgear such as turbans. Judo Canada also has rules banning hijabs.

jkomarnicki@theherald.canwest.com

� The Calgary Herald 2007

kmaherali · Joined: 27 Mar 2003 Posts: 20950

New move to lift Turkey scarf ban

The governing party in Turkey and a key opposition party have agreed to work together to lift a ban on the Islamic headscarf in universities.
The Islamist-rooted ruling AK Party and the nationalist MHP said it was an issue of human rights and freedoms.

Together the two parties have enough votes in parliament to overturn the constitutional ban on headscarves.

Headscarves were banned in schools and universities in 1980 after a coup by the pro-secular armed forces.

The Turkish army sees itself as the guardian of the secular tradition laid out by Kemal Ataturk, who created the modern Turkish state - secular, but Muslim majority - out of the ruins of the Ottoman empire after World War I.

It regards the public wearing of headscarves as a political statement aimed at undermining secular principles.

'Rights and freedoms'

However, opinion polls suggest there is strong public support for lifting the ban.

And some women refuse to go to university because of it.

"The issue of the headscarf was evaluated in terms of rights and freedoms," the two parties said in a statement.

A power struggle last year between secular forces and the governing AK Party ended with the AKP being comprehensively re-elected in July.

It is not yet clear how the secular elite - army generals, judges and university officials - will react to the government's latest move.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/7207109.stm

Published: 2008/01/24 15:58:33 GMT

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