LivingHalal » Women

Hijab not a threat to Quebec values?

livinghalal — Tue, 20 May 2008 05:10:20 +0000

The hijab not a threat to western values? One wonders about the policies of Turkey and France.

MONTREAL – The Muslim head scarf is no real threat to Quebec values and most women in the province wear it by choice, not out of coercion. That’s what a commission on the integration of immigrants concluded after a year of study costing $5 million.

In the final draft of their report – which was submitted to the provincial government Monday and is expected to be made public at a news conference Thursday – scholars Gerard Bouchard and Charles Taylor say Quebec society will have a lot to lose if it restricts the wearing of the Muslim head scarf strictly to the home and outdoors.

Saying the province’s 130,000 Muslims, especially Arab Muslim immigrants, are “along with blacks, the group that is the most touched by different forms of discrimination” in Quebec, Bouchard and Taylor plead for an end to bickering over the hijab.

“Let’s finish with the head scarf, which has caused so much distress in the last few years,” the commission’s chairmen say in their report, parts of which The Montreal Gazette obtained last week.

“In light of a great number of unequivocal testimonies, we can take it for granted – believe us – that the young girls or women who wear it give it various meanings and are motivated in contrasting ways, some of which, it’s true, don’t jibe with the dominant values of our society.”

In a footnote, the professors explain some of those different meanings: “Sometimes it signifies submission and oppression, pure and simple, sometimes prudishness, respectability and modesty, and sometimes a way of affirming one’s identity or autonomy or even feminism.”

“But by trying to combat these situations, isn’t there a risk that we’ll harm other citizens who made a perfectly clear choice? How is it possible to disentangle the two? And in the end, what happens to the freedom of each and every one to display her deeply held convictions, as long as they don’t impinge on the rights of others and don’t lead to anybody being put out?”

Devout Muslim women – a small minority of Quebec Muslims overall – suffer intimidation and discrimination in the Quebec job market for wearing the hijab “because employers fear getting demands for accommodations,” the commissioners say, recounting testimony from several Muslims in public hearings last fall.

They cite the case of a young hijab-wearing woman studying to be a pharmacist who “saw her job applications rejected by 50 pharmacies before she was finally able to land a job with an Arab pharmacist.”

The commissioners also write that the hijab is a lightning rod for a wide range of opponents in Quebec, all of whom see it in a negative light.

“Diverse voices are raised to denounce the Muslim head scarf: those of radical feminism, those of republican egalitarianism and – we heard various ways of it being expressed – also those of intolerance.”

That condemnation shouldn’t happen, they say.

“The freedom to manifest one’s religion or one’s conviction is recognized by all the great international legal conventions and by the Quebec charter (of human rights and freedoms),” they say in a footnote.

In another footnote, Bouchard and Taylor talk of some Quebecers’ “often irrational” opposition to the hijab, which they see as a denial of a woman’s femininity, a symbol of her submission to men and to God, or simply a restrictive piece of clothing that would be better left in a drawer.

They quote from a brief submitted to them in November by a woman during their 17-city tour of the province: “In 2007, in Quebec, when a Muslim women wears the veil, I tremble,” the woman wrote.

The hijab should be greeted in day-to-day life as a possibility to connect with someone with a different way of life, according to Bouchard and Taylor.

They also say it’s wrong to think that all veiled Muslim women are somehow under a man’s thumb.

“There’s a strong feminist current among Muslim women. It follows an original path and is a model that differs from Quebec feminism. It goes along with the wearing of the head scarf.”

Lest anyone think the veil is a sign of Muslim extremism – even a subtle form of terrorism – the commissioners try to set the record straight.

“A word on fundamentalism and the threat of terrorism,” they write. “There is, indeed, among Muslims in Montreal, a small minority of rigorists who are solidly rejected by their religious brethren. It’s true that in this type of milieu the germs of terrorism can appear. The threat is therefore not non-existent. What is the right attitude to take?

“Our position is this: Let’s let the police do what they can to disrupt the terrorist threat wherever it is – and it does exist. For the rest, as citizens, we have the duty to treat people equitably and without reproach.”

jheinrich@thegazette.canwest.com

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=594561b1-7d0f-4172-a7a2-6e6d49cbcb3b

For Sisters: Working From Home

livinghalal — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 19:14:00 +0000

HireMyMom is a site created by non-Muslims. So if you believe that there is a need for moms to stay at home, read on.

Assalaamu alaikum bro…

I know YOU aren’t a mom, but you know lots of families with stay-at-home moms. If you can just pass this information along, maybe it will help somebody. I got a part time work-from-home job as a healthcare recruiter (hiring nurses) from a job listing on this website: http://www.hiremymom.com/

HireMyMom is just a job board for moms who want to work from home, and all the jobs are posted by businesses who want to hire somebody to work from home. So it’s like Monster.com but much more specific.

Instead of posting their jobs online for everyone to see, HireMyMom emails them to you directly once you pay to subscribe. You pay them a fee because they screen out all the scam jobs and fake business schemes etc., so you can find a real job working from home. I’ve seen ads for lawyers, web designers, journalists, and all sorts of stuff.

It’s $29.95 for 3 months or $99 a year.

I hate to sound like a commercial. I promise I’m not on their advertising board. I just thought it was a good opportunity for legitimate work for women.

Jazak Allah khair!

Sister A.

Disclosure: After receiving the above note from our reader Sister A, LivingHalal has signed up for the affiliate program of HireMyMom, so if you click that link and sign up, you are ALSO helping us with some sales commission, may Allah reward you.

If you like the service of HireMyMom, you can sign up for affilate program or pass on this link http://www.1automationwiz.com/app/?Clk=2245778

Jazakum Allahu khaira

Practical Advice for Sisters

livinghalal — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 08:19:00 +0000

Dear Sister,

Assalam alaikum

Looking for some practical tips to make your life easier?

Join in on the call!

You are invited to the LivingHalal teleconference series!

The first topic in this series is about practicing Islam in public for
sisters living in America. The purpose of this call is to simplify
common dilemmas faced by sisters living in the West.

Call in Sunday, January 27th, 2008
at 3 PM (EST/New York time) 12 Noon (PST/Los Angeles time)
Phone Number: 712-432-3900
Conference Access Code: (email livinghalal at gmail to get the access code)

Our guest speaker will be sister Umm Abdurrahman, who will be covering
topics such as:

-Figuring out how to pray outside of home.
-Hijab-related issues, ranging from dealing with people who stare to
finding hijabi clothes.
-Shaking hands with non-Mahram men.
-How to get a haircut as a hijabi…
…as well as other fascinating topics plaguing Muslim sisters in America!

We will have a short discussion for 20 minutes, and then we will open
up the floor for questions from the audience either by phone, or
through the Facebook LivingHalal group

Mark your calendar, THIS SUNDAY 3PM (EST), in-sha-Allah

Update:

Click here for the recording,

Or, here is the full recording

Click to Play

Tips for practicing Islam in public in America.

LivingHalal in Action: From Sandra to Salma

livinghalal — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 23:55:00 +0000

CBC broadcasted this story, a good balance to the tragic story of Aqsa Parvez.

Hijab Stories: Compare and contrast

livinghalal — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 23:22:00 +0000

Story 1: Muslim reverts having problems with their parents because of Hijab.

Below is the email exchange:

assalam alaikum

A sister is having a problem with her mom (and dad
too) for wearing Hijab. First, they said u can’t wear
it inside the house, then they said you can’t wear it
when going out with us, so she stop going out with
parents, now they are saying you are cutting family
ties.

Their relationship was good before Islam. Now, mom is
crying and dad is arguing and all that.

Any ideas?

Please pray for her.

Email Response:

Wa’alaikum assalaam…

Yeah, I started making dua for her as soon as I read that. SubhanAllah. As if it’s not hard enough to start wearing hijab with everyone staring at you and asking questions, when your parents give you a hard time, too, it just wears you down. My mom used to call it my “garb”, as in garb meaning a garment, but the way she said it to me it sounded like it was short for “garbage”. My dad used to joke that people would think he was with a movie star in disguise or a cancer patient covering up her bald head. People would look at me in restaurants and he would keep whispering things like “see, they’re all pointing at the poor little cancer girl.” He lost his sense of humor over it after a while and won’t go out in public with me anymore either. My mom is noticeably embarrassed, but has decided that life goes on and so we go out everywhere together now. All of us reverts get the same problem. My friend Yasmine’s mom calls the hijab her “rags”. I also got the same line a lot about cutting family ties (usually after THEY had refused to spend time with me, same story), but you have to just keep trying. It is sooooo important in our deen, and you know this already, that we can never break ties with our family, that we have to give them love and respect, and that especially we have to give our mom the highest respect and the best treatment no matter what. Chances are that they will get used to the hijab after a while, or least most of them will. It also helped in my case to try to maintain some of the same sense of style that expresses my personality that they are used to, for their sake and for my own. For example, they tend to freak out way more seeing me in jilbab and a black hijab than to see me wearing long skirts (which I always liked) and a flowery/lacy matching scarf. And when my mom would talk about religion with me and cry, I would just try to give a loving response and explain my reasons for my faith to her, even when I had already explained it again and again. It’s not easy. Your family, who loves you more than anybody else, can also make you feel more uncomfortable than anyone else. It’s a long process.

Amina

Story 2: According to news reports, a father killed his daughter for not wearing Hijab

Father says killed daughter in Canadian hijab case
Tue Dec 11, 2007 1:50pm EST
TORONTO (Reuters) – A Canadian teenager who was said to have clashed with her father about whether she should wear a traditional Muslim head scarf died of injuries late on Monday, and her father told police he had killed her.Aqsa Parvez, 16, was found without a pulse in her home in the Toronto suburb of Mississauga earlier on Monday. She was resuscitated by paramedics, treated at two hospitals, and later succumbed to her injuries, police said on Tuesday.

Her father, 57-year-old Muhammad Parvez, has been charged with murder and was remanded back into custody after his first court appearance early on Tuesday.

“There was a 911 call placed by a man who indicated that he had just killed his daughter,” Jodi Dawson, a constable with Peel Regional Police, told Reuters. “Everything else is evidentiary in nature and the investigation is in its preliminary stages at this point.”

The victim’s brother, Waqas Parvez, 26, was arrested and charged with obstructing police.

The story was on the front pages of Canadian newspapers on Tuesday. The newspapers quoted friends and schoolmates of the victim as saying she argued with her father over wearing a hijab, the traditional head scarf worn by Muslim females.

Photos of the teen retrieved from a social networking Web site show her in Western dress with her long dark hair loose.

“She was always scared of her dad, she was always scared of her brother,” the Toronto Star quoted a classmate as saying.

Others were quoted as saying the girl wore traditional Muslim dress when leaving the house in the morning, but would change into other clothes in school washrooms.

Dawson said investigators will likely speak to the victim’s schoolmates. The father will return for a bail hearing on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Jonathan Spicer; Editing by Peter Galloway)

Hijab Stories 5: Sister Hiba from Egypt

livinghalal — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 23:50:00 +0000

Tags: Hijab, hijaab, scarf, muslim, moslim, women, stories, documentary, livinghalal.com

Hijab Stories 4: My Friend’s Hijab Story

livinghalal — Sun, 05 Nov 2006 02:38:00 +0000

Tags: Hijab, hijaab, scarf, muslim, moslim, women, stories, documentary, livinghalal.com

Hijab Story Project Guidelines

livinghalal — Sat, 04 Nov 2006 22:03:00 +0000

Our goal is to present the human side story of Hijab. Basically, the purpose of the “documentary” is to understand why Muslims women wear or NOT wear Hijab.
You need to show the deep inner human reasoning behind this outward choice (wearing or not wearing Hijab).

To produce an audio story, beside the content, sound quality matters GREATLY (read the recording tips).

Everyone has a different story, so tell your story the way you want, but the following are some of the commonly Included Information
-My name is … (say the name that they want to be known as)
-Age now and age when you practiced Hijab or stop practicing
-Are you a born Muslim and were you or your family practicing Islam?
-Are you are a revert/convert, how long it took you to practice Hijab?
-Do you live in a non-Muslim country, going to public school or Islamic one, working in “corporate America” or Muslim business?
-Born/raise in the west or Muslim country
-Do people wear Hijab in your family?
-How common is Hijab in your country?
-Why I didn’t want to wear it at the beginning, or why I don’t wear it now.
-Why are you wearing Hijab or why not?
-Was it difficult to wear Hijab, how did you start?
-Friends, family, co-workers, … reactions.
-Funny stories: positive or negative
-Any practical tips, like I started wearing Hijab after my sister encouraged me or after going to the Masjid more often…
-Are you going to raise your kids with Hijab? if yes, does that consider forcing them?
-What’s your reaction toward media stories that Muslims girls are being forced?

Recording Tips:

When record, don’t talk directly to the microphone that may create puffing sounds, talk to the microphone with an angle. But do talk close enough so your volume is loud and clear (best if u can wear a head phone to listen to your own voice while recording) or at least test your recording first.

You can record it using your computer and send the file to us (mp3 format best). Or you can record it on our Web site. http://www.livinghalal.org

WARNING:

Your story will be public, so anything you don’t want to say it, or can’t say it…. THEN DON’T SAY IT.

Legal Note:

By recording and sending your story, you are releasing the copyrights to LivingHalal.com and granting the permission to use it in any current or future work. LivingHalal.com will also have the right to perform any production work that may include but not limited to editing and inclusion of other clips, or transmitting, regenerating the story in any other forms including but not limited to written and electronic formats.

Hijab Story Project

Hijab Story 3: Hijab in American Public School

livinghalal — Mon, 25 Sep 2006 17:55:00 +0000

Asma 10 years old story: Hijab in public school in America

Project details

Hijab Stories 2: East Asian Born Muslim

livinghalal — Sun, 03 Sep 2006 09:04:00 +0000

Umm Abdullah’s story: Hijab in East Asia

Project details