Comments on: Visiting the Hijab…Again http://www.patheos.com/blogs/mmw/2009/10/visiting-the-hijab-again/ Looking at Muslim women in the media and pop culture Thu, 09 Feb 2012 03:20:36 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.3 By: Heather http://www.patheos.com/blogs/mmw/2009/10/visiting-the-hijab-again/#comment-7359 Heather Tue, 27 Oct 2009 20:08:10 +0000 http://muslimahmediawatch.org/?p=4807#comment-7359 @ Rochelle, Thank you so much--you put my feelings into words! And much more articulately than I could, I think. I tried to in commentary to the previous post on the original blog, Nuseiba. Whatever our ethnicity, of course we have an interest at stake in the survival and progress of women worldwide. Instructing people to ONLY focus on issues involving their ethnicity or coming from their own lived experience--and asserting that it's a problem to enter the dialog from the outside--divides us and does nothing to break down the barriers of understanding one another. @ Rochelle,

Thank you so much–you put my feelings into words! And much more articulately than I could, I think. I tried to in commentary to the previous post on the original blog, Nuseiba.

Whatever our ethnicity, of course we have an interest at stake in the survival and progress of women worldwide. Instructing people to ONLY focus on issues involving their ethnicity or coming from their own lived experience–and asserting that it’s a problem to enter the dialog from the outside–divides us and does nothing to break down the barriers of understanding one another.

]]> By: Polprav http://www.patheos.com/blogs/mmw/2009/10/visiting-the-hijab-again/#comment-7358 Polprav Fri, 23 Oct 2009 01:10:25 +0000 http://muslimahmediawatch.org/?p=4807#comment-7358 Hello from Russia! Can I quote a post in your blog with the link to you? Hello from Russia!
Can I quote a post in your blog with the link to you?

]]> By: Rochelle http://www.patheos.com/blogs/mmw/2009/10/visiting-the-hijab-again/#comment-7357 Rochelle Tue, 20 Oct 2009 17:57:54 +0000 http://muslimahmediawatch.org/?p=4807#comment-7357 I liked this post but I want to respond to this comment: "Ultimately, maybe that’s the problem – the assumption that they have an interest at stake in the discussion on women’s rights within Islam." This makes me uncomfortable for a couple reasons. One is, who decides who has a "legitimate" interest at stake in the discussion? Part of this is personal I have to admit. So I'm Iranian. But only half. Is that enough to be interested? Would the fact that I have lived in Iran make any difference? What about non-Muslim women who live in Muslim countries? Even though I'm only half-Iranian, the situation of women there affects me directly, my family, and my friends. The second concern is more general: Why is it only legitimate to be concerned about justice when it applies only to you? Certainly someone in Darfur will have more "interest at stake" by living there than there I would. She would also have more knowledge, experience, and legitimacy to analyse the situation. But do I have an interest at stake in preventing a genocide? Absolutely. Nobody says we can't care about disappearances in Argentina because we're not Argentinian. Nobody wants us to ignore rape in the Congo if we're not African. Do I really have no interest at stake in stopping racism against undocumented workers in the US just because I'm not Hispanic? My point is this: we all benefit from women having their due rights: not as Muslims or as woman but as human beings. There's a difference between "speaking on behalf of" and having an "interest at stake" in the discussion. We benefit -- morally, spiritually, mentally -- from a just world. I liked this post but I want to respond to this comment:

“Ultimately, maybe that’s the problem – the assumption that they have an interest at stake in the discussion on women’s rights within Islam.”

This makes me uncomfortable for a couple reasons. One is, who decides who has a “legitimate” interest at stake in the discussion? Part of this is personal I have to admit. So I’m Iranian. But only half. Is that enough to be interested? Would the fact that I have lived in Iran make any difference? What about non-Muslim women who live in Muslim countries? Even though I’m only half-Iranian, the situation of women there affects me directly, my family, and my friends.

The second concern is more general: Why is it only legitimate to be concerned about justice when it applies only to you? Certainly someone in Darfur will have more “interest at stake” by living there than there I would. She would also have more knowledge, experience, and legitimacy to analyse the situation. But do I have an interest at stake in preventing a genocide? Absolutely. Nobody says we can’t care about disappearances in Argentina because we’re not Argentinian. Nobody wants us to ignore rape in the Congo if we’re not African. Do I really have no interest at stake in stopping racism against undocumented workers in the US just because I’m not Hispanic?

My point is this: we all benefit from women having their due rights: not as Muslims or as woman but as human beings. There’s a difference between “speaking on behalf of” and having an “interest at stake” in the discussion. We benefit — morally, spiritually, mentally — from a just world.

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