Comments on: Shame on You: Shame Cartoons

By: orangey

orangey — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 02:22:05 +0000

After seeing those little ads, I don’t whether to laugh or cry. I mean the cartoon that was in the middle made me giggle, but the one after that..the not-so-good woman who “…Copies the infidels and watches satellite TV channels” THAT one was a real piece of work. Honestly,though, it’s not creepy and preachy cartoons and ads like those that inspire Muslim women- it’s real things like the Quran and Sunnah.

By: COVERYOURLOLLIPOP!

COVERYOURLOLLIPOP! — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 01:29:23 +0000

this is kind of off topic but Ive come accross men in the uk who will attack a woman for spite if they somehow think she thinks she’s too good for them, if a woman covers herself some men will take this as a personal insult,so wearing a hijab would offer little protection against these ignorant creeps, also sickeningly enough Ive heard about a niqab fetish-which just goes to show that a certain amount of responsability has to lie with the man, no matter how much you cover up, there will still be a group of men who will have these thoughts,anyway surely it is wrong to try and scare women into covering for the wrong reasons.Also,a lot of the time sexual assault seems to be about ego and control,once this man I knew forced himself on me after I’d said no several times,and how he was it seemed like he couldnt stand not to get his own way,like how dare she turn me down,who does she think she is rather than not being able to control his urge,which brings me back to what I said a minute ago.Also, this is completely ramdom, but as someone who’s been sexually assualted on several occasions,I recommend wearing jeans under your normal clothes if you have to go out on your own very late at night(as tight as possible,so if you ever were unfortunate enough to get attacked they would struggle with the jeans which would buy you more time to try and get free,sorry to sound patronizing but I never thought of this myself until I nearly got raped on a late night train wearing a long skirt with just underwear underneath,he wouldve got a lot less near raping me if I’d had tight ,awkward jeans on.

By: Na'ima B. Robert

Na'ima B. Robert — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 01:04:05 +0000

SubhanAllah, it really is pathetic how ALL these cartoons are aimed at women, at our supposedly innate sense of ‘shame’ – as if men don’t and shouldn’t feel shame for their actions.
A journalist once slapped me in the face (figuratively speaking, of course) with the statement that, in Islam, shame is a woman’s trait while honour is a man’s trait. Seems these catoons are appealing to this sort of mentality… how depressing.

By: You might as well laugh

You might as well laugh — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 17:19:32 +0000

I can’t stop laughing at the second cartoon. It brings to mind the glances I’ve seen towards the younger Somali women in my local area in north London from those perhaps a decade older. They are no so much disapproving of a more obviously fashionable younger generation as in awe. Why wouldn’t these women in their thirties, flapping around beneath those dark layers be envious of the enlightenment of those who walk without fear of condemnation.

[This comment has been moderated to fit within comment guidelines.]

By: Ethar

Ethar — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 09:54:23 +0000

@ Admirim: Thanks!

That’s an interesting idea—and I’m in no way qualified to answer it. But speaking from my own personal experience, it comes from a belief that you are more ‘Muslim’ than non-veiled women are, that you have gone further ‘down the path.’

Unfortunately, this belief fails to take into account that iman faith is not something you can see. The tangible manifestations of Islam (veil, beard, holding a rosary, praying etc) in no way represent what the status of a person’s heart is, and how close s/he is to their God. Once you get that, you stop judging based on what you ‘see.’

@ Nobody: You misunderstand what I meant about the glow…I meant that the cartoon was trying to tell us dress in a certain way (excluding the ‘pray all prayers on time’ bit), and you will get that glow.

I know what you mean about people who have faces that seem to glow. I spent six weeks in a Tarim, a tiny village in Yemen this summer studying in an Islamic school, and I know what you mean. My point is, this glow doesn’t come if I ‘look’ a certain way—it comes from the status of my heart.

The book sounds interesting. I will def. check it out.

By: nobody

nobody — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 15:31:38 +0000

BismillahirRahmanirRahim

selam alaykum — very interesting article. I don’t know what the answers are… Your passing obseration about the glow around the face of the cartoon hijabi made me a little sad though. Some time ago I used to live at a Sufi dergah, and after being there a while, keeping salat and making zikr every day, not committing any major sins, sometimes during Fajr or during the zikr at night I could literally see a glow of light coming off people’s skin. It was beautiful, and remembering it now reminds me of a time when I felt closer to Allah than I do today…

It does seem that many Muslims are more interested in controlling each other than drawing closer to Allah. In a wonderful book called *Healing the Shame that Binds You*, John Bradford talks about the difference between healthy shame (shame that motivates us to correct our mistakes) and toxic shame (existential shame that makes us ashamed to be who we are). Check it out?

selam alaykum…

By: Aynur

Aynur — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 06:23:07 +0000

@Admirim …. interesting subtopic. I can’t answer that though myself…

By: Admirim

Admirim — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 06:55:34 +0000

Excellent post!
It is a well established fact that some “hijabis”, if not most consider themselves superior to other women. Do you think this is by large the by-product of these campaigns or is it something deeper?

By: Melinda

Melinda — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 01:44:43 +0000

The whole thing makes me so sad. But excellent post, Ethar.

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