OLYMPIC HIJAB...
Tuesday, August 19, 2008 at 08:08PM 
Did you see that Islam has gone sporty?
Today, Al Ghasara won her heat of the women’s 200m sprint at the Bird's Nest stadium - despite being clothed head to foot. Al Ghasara finished first followed by France's Muriel Hurtis-Houairi and Sri Lanka's Susanthika Jayasinghe. Admittedly, Al Ghasara 's hijab is a rather sportier version of the traditional dress. Clinging to her body as she powers down the track the hijab completely covers her head, arms and legs. Known as a Hijood - or hijab combined with a sports hood - the costume was specially designed for Al Ghasara by an Australian sports clothing company.
It allows Muslim athletes to compete while still adhering to the strict modesty required of their faith.
I reckon the big challenge is to get the sporting burqa.
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Reader Comments (57)
Nothing could be worse than those disgusting baggy pants worn at women's basketball. When the Chinese turn out in them they look truly laughable. I was pleased to see today the Australian girls have reverted to shorts.
They are winners in them every day.
Im amazed she was allowed anywhere near a sport where the male racing machines are simply well-trained and well-prepared blokes in very tight, gonad enhancing tights.
Alison, we can only speculate whether she was made see the gonads at the starting line and was dashing away in fright or at the finish and was running to get a closer look.
Going for gold. Either way, she won.
She probably faces quite a deal of oppostion in her home country for even participating so I give her a great deal of credit.
Surely this defies the point of female athletes.
Looks like a man to me.
>>Surely this defies the point of female athletes<<
Eh?
I'd say she in fact achieved the point of all athletes - she won!
>>Looks like a man to me.<<
Daphne, from the side, they all look like young men.
True Noel, but look at her face - I'm calling tranny with no funds for improvements.
'Looks like a man to me.'
Looks like a pillock to me.
What's a pillock?
Daphne: It is a slang term for a penis.
I think pillock is a slang term for idiot. My mum uses it a fair amount. She would be shocked - shocked I tell you! etc to think she was calling people penises.
It's a strange costume, but as Mahons says the fact that she is free to compete is a step in the right direction.
Athletics doesn't have too many regulations on what competitors can wear and sadly they've yet to follow the innovative example of Beach Volleyball's clothing regulations.
Looks like a man. But can't see his/her throat for Adam's apple.
Afet looking at the photograph and seeing the heavily clad runner's face I'm glad I can't see the rest of her body.
I don't want to distract from the stupid comments here, but it should be remembered that Bahrain is one of the more liberal countries in the region, and women and girls there generally have no problem wearing western gear - in fact, you see a lot of pretty young things sporting English school blazers!
Women also have a right to vote and are represented in the country's legislative council (which by the way also includes Jews and Christians). Bahrain was (still is?) represented at the UN by a woman, a lawyer, and when its turn came to head the chamber, she was duly appointed, one of the first women from any country to hold the office.
There has, however, been somethng of a revival by the Shiite political party. Maybe things are getting more conservative now.
Bahrain is a beautiful place and is well worth a visit. It has a lot of the olde-worlde charm of a former British port, but little of the tackiness you see in the Emirates.
It's weird that the men always manage to look modest but the women are laughed at for covering up. The women of the world should wake up, men continually oppress them by staring at them as if they are cows, but they think they are being liberated.
Islam frees women.
It's weird that the men always manage to look modest but the women are laughed at for covering up. The women of the world should wake up, men continually oppress them by staring at them as if they are cows, but they think they are being liberated.
Islam frees women.
Qatqay
If you are not a troll then it would be great to have an Islamic pespective here.
The issue is not with modesty but with opression. Women should be free to wear what they like and while I find much of modern fashion vulgar it is at least a free choice.
I don't believe Muslim women are free to choose their style of dress and that is where the problem lies.
>>Women should be free to wear what they like <<
Whence this sudden tolerance, Henry? I seem to remember you being one of those who objected to women baring a breast in public places...
Noel
Not me. I didn't express an opinion on that one. I don't even have one.
Sorry, Henry, if I mistook you for someone else (how could I! :), but in any case you are wrong with
>>Women should be free to wear what they like ... I don't believe Muslim women are free to choose their style of dress and that is where the problem lies.<<
In most "muslim" countries, women can wear a whole range of styles - western, traditional..... There is of course also a difference between what is legally allowed and social convention, as there is here.
i.e. the situation there is more or less the same as in the west, or at least doesn't differ much in principle.
There are also strict laws and conventions on what women wear here, as that breast debate showed.
Its not too different to that outfit Cathy Freeman wore in the Sydney Olympics. She looked a right tit too.
Noel
Are you saying that there is no issue with Muslim women being forced to wear Muslim clothing? That they have the same freedom as Western women in that regard?
I don't believe that is true. Here we see women murdered for not wearing it.
Another in Canada
TORONTO (Dec. 11) - 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.
It's not the same as our culture Noel. Not by a long shot.
"It's not the same as our culture...."
I think the key word here is CULTURE... too much emphasis in the news and media is on areas that are cultural rather than Religous. There's a big difference between peoples culture and Islam.
"There's a big difference between peoples culture and Islam."
I prefer my culture in a petri dish,
my (female people) in thong bikinis and
my Islamic neighbours back in Pakiland.
A lot of us islamic neighbours are british born and bred.... why would u send us to a country we don't belong to.
And if u want your "female people" (daughters/sisters/mothers) to wear thong bikinis thats up to them!
"my Islamic neighbours back in Pakiland."
I'm assuming almost all British Mohammed-the-Paedo worshippers are from Pakistan then?
Hi Henry and all
Well, Muslim woman are ordained by Almighty Allah, to wear such that covers their beauty, they are not ordered by their husbands, their culture, their fathers and not their brothers.
A Muslim has to obey the commands of the Almighty, and being modest is one of the formost requirements.In fact, even men are not allowed to wear what they will. Men must cover from they navel to their knees, even if they are in the presence of men alone.
As I said before, a Muslim woman is liberated by being free from having to worry whether her back looks bigger then another woman's. She is respected for being who she is, and not what she looks like. It is absolutely her own choice, a choice to obey the Almighty.
Qayqay
She has the choice to wear shorts and a short sleeve shirt while walking down the streets of Tehran or Riyadh? Better tell the governments of those places.
"Qayqay
She has the choice to wear shorts and a short sleeve shirt while walking down the streets of Tehran or Riyadh? Better tell the governments of those places.
"
Don't worry Phantom, those 2 cities will be deserted glass covered craters in a couple years time :)
>>She has the choice to wear shorts and a short sleeve shirt while walking down the streets of Tehran or Riyadh?<<
But Phantom, until a relatively short time ago women also couldn't walk down the streets of your own New York in that gear. And even still a woman in NY can't work outdoors in summer in the same attire as men if she wishes.
Yet you are taking your place and your day as the ultimate good, the pinnacle of freedom - as if there were no past and no future (forgetting the rest of the world for the moment). This is not so much arrogant as blind: my prejudices are ok. Their prejudices are bad.
>>Are you saying that there is no issue with Muslim women being forced to wear Muslim clothing? That they have the same freedom as Western women in that regard?<<
Of course there is with some, and of course there isn't with others. Some have less and some even have more freedoms than some western women in that regard.
Yet you use the blanket term "muslim women" as it suits your prejudices.
You will be aware that there are already too many ill-informed hotheads around just looking for something more to fuel their ethnic and racial hatreds, the stuff your generalisations give them.
That they are about as far from "Christianity" as one can get also goes without saying.
And what happens if she doesn't choose to obey the Almighty's dress code in an Islamic country?
But Phantom, until a relatively short time ago women also couldn't walk down the streets of your own New York in that gear
Are talking about the 1940's Noel?
Daphne,
Yes, for example. i.e. exactly the period when the ATW ideologues of the Right think everything was in order.
I wouldn't know about that time frame personally Noel, I was a 60's baby. :-)
Noel
Hop the same plane with Maggie. There are a lot of women in shorts in August, including a fine representation from the immense flocks of European tourists that we see in all parts of Manhattan.
Daphne, these ladies don't reveal much more than the one above!
They're being stylish Noel, not dressed by the Almighty.
Apples and oranges.
To be honest, I really don't care what the middle eastern ladies wear - but it looks mighty odd on western streets.
Hey all,
Many of us choose to cover for God, some for personal reasons. Often we don't want to be objectified or perhaps to throw off the cosmopolitan view that women ARE only of value for their looks. I want to be valued for my mind and not looks alone. In fact, I'm still judged by looks, but it is as a Muslim woman... and that is alright by me.
Yes, some nations force women to wear them. Some shamefully kill over it. That's against what most of us Muslims view as true Islam.
Many of us hijabis (as covering Muslim chics call ourselves) like style, sports, music, hiking, biking, lifeguarding, DJ-ing and more. It was only a matter of time before the hijabi Olympian.
Yes those prejudiced folks are so happy to call us all ___________ someone from somewhere else. We can't be your all American or British neighbor.
Well, I'm Scotts-Irish and Hispanic. Sometimes I wear it for the same reason I loved trashy punk rock. It ticks some people off and makes them uncomfortable. Yes, I'm a Muslim from freaking Idaho. My Puerto Rican husband is covered in tattoos on his arms... and I'm covered in fabric.
Haha. Don't you just HATE stereotypes. I know I do.
I also love hijabi Olympians!
-In Bahrain women don't have to wear hijab... most do culturaly and religiously.
-How come when a nun covers, it is modesty...
But when Roqaya and I do it, it's oppression?
-Nuns are different!!!... that's what people say to me anyway... For me wearing the hijab was a personal choice, no one in my family does in fact some people were against me doing so however for me it was a CHOICE to follow my religion and my beliefs. Just as other people choose to expose themselves for every tom dick or harry to gawp at i choose to cover myself.this also doesn't mean that the clothes i wear are not fashionable, just that they are modest.
Well, what happens to one who does not follow the rules of the Almighty?
That is why there is heaven and hell. And a better heaven for those try harder and a worse hell for those who are worse than others. At the end of the day, we have to rely on the Mercy of the Almighty.
This is simple enough. We are commanded by the Almighty to do what is right.
I ask you, why dont woman where bikinis when they are in congress or in business? Is this not going back in time, to the stone ages? Is this the way to be 'civilised?'
You dont understand, Muslim woman are not oppressed, they are not held by dagger if they do not cover up. And if a woman chooses to walk down a street in saudi with a bikini, she should not be killed, she should be encouraged. She should be helped to get to the Straight Path. But she must realize that she is wrong
If an Islamic goverment does something like killing a lady for wearing a bikini,(I have never heard of such), then that would not be Islamic.
Here's the deal.
In a patriarch society, you're going to have it ran by a bunch of mamma boys wanting everything ran their way. No matter what way that is.
Second, if you are a Muslimah that CHOOSES to cover full hijab or not you are going to be looked at as oppressed by people who don't care about your heart only your clothes. If you choose to wear next to nothing your going to have people who only care about your body and not your mind. Catch 22 huh?
So as an American Muslim white woman who converted to Islam I chose to wear hijab and applaud anyone who does the same, to any extent. This includes my friends of other faiths. I didn't put it on because a culture, a man, a need to belong. I chose to cause it's how I felt. I still rock climb, hike, and swim everything I used to.
As for people who says she looks like a guy....you must be blind. And for those that say she looks like a man's tata, you've spent way too much time in the guys locker room.
Qayqay
I am the Almighty. I am the true Allah. You should worship me.
She absolutely does look like a man too, I'll tell you that.Look at those shoulders.
These attire practices absolutely are required in Saudi Arabia. If you do not wear what the religious police like they will hit you on the ankles with a stick. At times, these practices have gotten people
killed
The muslim women appear to be at odds on this one.
One (I bet she was born muslim) believes your going to Hell if you don't wear it.
Two converts opt for it because it makes them feel good.
Whatever floats your boats ladies!
She definitely looks like a man Staci, nothing feminine about that woman at all. Why would you applaud your non-muslim friends for choosing to wear the hijab? That sounds really odd.
I think she's saying her non-muslim friends support her in wearing it. Although I have a few Christian, Jewish and Rastafari (who consider themselves in the Abrahamic faiths) friends who cover their and/or simply wear modest dress.
Of course we disagree on reasons/benefits to wearing hijab. As with all religions, Islam is not a monolith. Chrisitanity and Judaism (and other world religions) differ their beliefs; there are Christians who believe in covering women modestly, alcohol as forbidden, trans substantiation (the communion wine miraculously changing to Jesus blood in a literal way), predestination, etc.
The Phantom- Do you have any Saudi friends/ acquaintances? The place varies greatly. One of my friends and her mother did not wear a hijab because her father said it was not required for them. They lived in a medium sized town not run by clerics. It was no problem.
Besides, why does the whole Muslim world have to be held responsible for the actions of Saudi? As it so happens, Indonesia is the world's largest Muslim country.. not Saudi. There are at least 2 billion Muslims worldwide, and most of us are not from Saudi.
I'm curious Aisha, did you find atw because of this story or have you been reading us for awhile?
Daphne,
I found you all while searching for a photo about the hijabi olympian. I have quite enjoyed everyone's posts and subject matter since. You've absolutely been bookmarked, even on my blackberry.
Funny and amusing blogs, all strung together with various authors and a plethora of subjects. With a few exceptions, the discussions are well formed. None of the banal "yes men" and no infantile people who have to ad hominem their way out of any situation. Sure, I've been guilty of a non-sequitor or post hoc argument. But it is nice to see intelectual conversations.
So the answer is yes, I found ATW through this article.
The Phantom.
This is the response? It shows just how Muslims win without resorting to ever acting like babarians.
Daphne
Going to hell? I said there is a better heaven for those who try harder, Muslims with the Mercy of the Almighty, will all go to heaven. The Almighty decides who goes to hell and who does not. Yet, people who die as unbelievers, there is a very certain end for them, that I am sure about.
Of course, I might have a different opinion as to Sister Aisha or Sister Staci, but we are all defending the right, as to opposing it.
and neither is she the only one
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