Aquila: A New Kind of Muslim Woman?

May 11, 2010 By alicia

For those familiar with women’s “lifestyle” magazines, the call to be “sexy” in some way or another is not new. We women need to have “sexy” everything: attitude, legs, skin, armpits, you name it. So pervasive is this message that I’m surprised that no one has spontaneously combusted from sexual arousal at the sight of a women’s magazine devotee.

And then we have the new Aquila magazine, whose key buzzwords are modesty and fabulousness.

The front cover of Aquila's latest edition. Image via the Aquila website.

As the “world’s first English fashion and lifestyle magazine for cosmopolitan Muslim women in Asia” that is based in Singapore, Aquila serves up the standard menu of any glossy: tips on make-up, shopping, book and film reviews, and some lightweight advice on career-building.

Aimed at readers from Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore, modesty and fabulousness are far from alien concepts: Muslim women of all ages, hijabis in particular, in Southeast Asia are intensely responsive to new faith-based sartorial trends, perhaps more so than women who do not cover their hair.

That said, Islamic consumerism, as cynical as it sounds, is a fairly new phenomenon in which women in the region form an active role. Aquila is an obvious byproduct of the purchasing power of Muslim women in Southeast Asia, but whether or not it aims to be representative of its target audience is quite another matter. So let us explore this issue by breaking it down to three parts, based on how well it’s doing for its intended readers thus far:

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Filed Under: Books/Magazines Tagged With: , , , ,

Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda: Islam as Rehab for Women

March 18, 2010 By alicia

British novelist Martin Amis has expressed regret that his late sister did not embrace Islam to save herself from self-destruction. Everyone is understandably confused.

To begin with, Amis is not a neutral figure on Islam and women: he thinks that Muslims should be masterminded into becoming “more like human beings.” He likes the idea of being a “gynocrat,” a feminist self-styling so unconvincing even the most naïve will feel cynical about his political predilections. In an interview with Abu Dhabis’ The National, Amis revealed that his sister Sally, who died in 2000, was “pathologically promiscuous” and had severe depression and alcoholism. Amis believes that Islam would have come to her rescue, despite her conversion to Catholicism.

There are many problems with Amis wishing that his late sister had been a Muslim. First, despite his negative views of Muslims, Amis views Islam as a rehab program for troubled souls who needs to be “fixed.” According to him, “The continence of Islam, the austerity, the demands it makes” on Muslims may prove to be an excellent regimen for “such an uncontrollable girl” like his sister. Amis is perhaps unaware or refuses to acknowledge the fact that an overwhelming number of Muslims make a conscious choice about practicing Islam, rather than seeing that Islam makes demands of its adherents. The Islamic austerity that he cooks up in his imagination is partly mythical and wildly unrepresentative of any religious group.

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Filed Under: Culture/Society, Web Tagged With: , , ,

Malaysia’s Newest Cane Campaign

February 22, 2010 By alicia

In Malaysia, where we are swamped with mixed messages from religious authorities and pop song lyrics, those of us lucky enough to find love are bound to run into trouble. Just a week short of Valentine’s day, three women and three men were caned under Shariah law for committing “illicit sex.” This marks the materialization of a long threat to punish Muslim Malaysians for moral crimes – prior to this, no one had been caned for unlawful sexual behavior. Curiously, the public was informed more than a week after their sentence was meted out. News of the women was released first, followed by reports of the three men a day after. Why?

The piecemeal fashion of the reports can be interpreted as strategic sensationalism: the level of shock raised at the announcement places the women squarely at the centre of attention and scrutiny, while at the same time pushes them in comparison with another woman, Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, who has been awaiting her whipping for consuming beer for several months,. By making their caning secret, the Shariah court has conveniently sidestepped the criticisms raised by women’s groups and human rights advocates that had in some way “interfered” with Kartika’s case.

In a way, one could read this as a defiant act by the religious authorities who cannot bear being publicly challenged in spite of their institutionalized power and influence over the Malays in the country. Another curious twist to this story is that the women admitted to their offense, yet they received the maximum punishment despite officially declaring their guilt. Do I detect hastiness and eagerness on the legal authority’s behalf to first condemn then punish harshly those who seek compassion?

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Filed Under: News, Politics Tagged With: , , ,
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