{"id":4712,"date":"2009-09-22T00:00:09","date_gmt":"2009-09-22T07:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/muslimahmediawatch.org\/?p=4712"},"modified":"2009-09-22T00:00:09","modified_gmt":"2009-09-22T07:00:09","slug":"veiled-voices-inspiring-everyday-role-models","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2009\/09\/veiled-voices-inspiring-everyday-role-models\/","title":{"rendered":"Veiled Voices: Inspiring Everyday Role Models"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Veiled Voices<\/em><\/a> is a documentary that profiles three influential women who are religious leaders, their families, and the communities they serve: Ghina Hammoud in Lebanon, Dr. Su\u2019ad Saleh in Egypt, and Huda al-Habash in Syria. The film is produced and directed by Brigid Maher, who is an assistant professor and head of the New Media concentration in the Film and Media Arts Division of the School of Communication at American University.<\/p>\n

When I first heard about the documentary<\/a>, I thought, \u201cOh, no, not another take on veiled women who are\u00a0oppressed\u201d, given the the cliched title, \u201cVeiled Voices\u201d. I asked Maher about this, and she surprised me with her answer,<\/p>\n

Naturally we have a play on words with the title \u201cVeiled Voices\u201d, because it both confronts our obsession and moves beyond it. \u00a0The West may think women\u2019s voices are veiled because of the veil but when you hear the voices of \u00a0veiled women you understand something very different and far more complex and shatter any notion of a verbal veil\u2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I particularly liked the idea of \u201cconfronting obsessions\u201d, which the film does. All three of its subjects wear headscarves, but discussion of the veil constitutes only two minutes of the hour-long film (thank Allah).<\/p>\n

\"Dr.
Dr. Su'ad Saleh. Image via Veiled Voices website.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This film left a lasting impression on me personally because it shows the kind of Islam I try to adhere to, from a female perspective. The women filmed are both normal and extraordinary\u00a0at once. They are religious leaders by profession, but are also wives and mothers. They observe hijab, they are well-traveled, well-educated, well-spoken and well-read. \u00a0I respect that all our readers do not want to fit this\u00a0particular\u00a0mold. For some these women might be too liberal, for others, too conservative. For me, they are the type of Muslim women I admire, and this is why I enjoyed watching the film so much.<\/p>\n

Maher shows these women in several different lights, both\u00a0 personally\u00a0 and\u00a0 professionally. We get to watch them interact with their families, their followers, and the media. We also hear their views on sensitive topics like domestic abuse and divorce.\u00a0I asked Maher why she decided to focus on women as religious leaders in particular.<\/p>\n

There has been a lot of ground covered in documentaries about women in Islam in particular with the veil. \u00a0Yet, I still felt that misunderstandings among non-Muslims was a pervasive problem. \u00a0If we have so much media on the subject, why are Muslim women still misunderstood? \u00a0I wanted to move beyond the question of veiling, as that to me was such a small part of what it meant to be Muslim. If women can penetrate leadership in government, agencies, companies, etc., it can be fairly illuminating in regards to what kind of power they\u2019re able to wield. \u00a0So it made sense to start there in regards to Islam and women and this ground hadn\u2019t been covered yet. \u00a0I wanted to move beyond question of the veil to more pertinent questions of what kind of leadership roles women are able to have in their communities and who is influenced by them.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Maher includes several interviews with men as well, some related to the women, others from high-ranking religious and political backgrounds, which serve as both a contrast and compliment to the women in question. Each of the three women interviewed are very influential, albeit in different ways.<\/p>\n

Ghina Hammoud faces a personal challenge in gaining legitimacy as a leader as a divorced woman, since divorce is controversial in conservative communities throughout Lebanon. However, she has found strength to rebuild her life through her role as a community leader. It is incredibly heart-wrenching to hear about and watch the separation\u00a0from her beautiful twin daughters. Hammoud\u201ds personality shines through the camera as she laughs and cries.<\/p>\n

The story of Dr. Su\u2019ad Saleh <\/strong><\/span>demonstrates how, in a country that is known for having the highest number of women religious leaders and teachers, these women still fight for public recognition by the Egyptian religious authority at Al Azhar, the famous Cairo mosque and university founded in the 10th century.\u00a0 Dr. Saleh is also media personality, and wields\u00a0a lot of authority. Whilst she has no institutional support, the story of her late-husband\u2019s encouragement \u00a0is very touching.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\"Huda
Huda Al-Habash. Image via Veiled Voices website.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Unlike her two counterparts in Lebanon and Egypt, Huda Al-Habbash (pictured right) has both institutional support and the support of her husband. She teaches women in Damascus, and lectures all over the Middle East, helping people \u201cmove\u2026from ignorance to knowledge.\u201d She comes across like a very rigid woman initially, but surprises viewers later on with her flexibility.<\/p>\n

In particular, Dr. Saleh\u2019s story has a a lot of significance, especially when she speaks about her application to become a muftiya <\/em>(female religious authority) for Al Azhar. Her application was subject to voting by the board, which is exclusively constituted of men. She\u00a0received\u00a0only one male vote, and it literally broke my heart when she wistfully asks, \u201cWho would vote for a woman?\u201d. \u00a0Maher juxtaposes Dr. Saleh\u2019s story an interview with the Grand Mufti of Egypt, Shaykh Tantawi, who is speaking about women\u2019s rights, and welcoming women to become muftiyas<\/em>. The irony is startling. We also see Dr. Saleh as she moves about from her television show, to the class she lectures at the Al Azhar women\u2019s faculty for religious studies, where she is a professor.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0beginning\u00a0and ending of the film are both equally poignant. Al-Habbash opens the movie with a narrative about A\u2019isha, the Prophet Muhammad\u2019s (PBUH) wife, her role in Islam, and her legacy. I thought it quite fitting to open a movie about religious guides with the example of one of\u00a0Islam\u2019s first and most\u00a0prominent\u00a0female religious leaders. The film closes on Dr. Saleh, speaking about her role as a religious leader. She confidently declares that she will continue giving fatawa <\/em>(religious rulings) without the cloak of Al Azhar: she asserts that \u201cI don\u2019t need it\u201d and \u201cI will continue doing so\u00a0unofficially\u201d. \u00a0This\u00a0 sends a very strong message to the viewers about Muslim women \u2013 that they do not need permission\/backing from men, as is the common stereotype.<\/p>\n

The film focuses on a particular type of Muslim woman, and does not export the findings to all Muslim women. It shows them in relation to their own communities and societies only, in their own respective countries.<\/p>\n

I asked Maher how she thought these women would affect the way the West views Muslim women:<\/p>\n

We have just started screening the film but I had done a series of \u201ctest screenings\u201d and people would say to me, \u201cthese women must be feminists. \u00a0They must be on the fringe of Islam or liberals.\u201d The fact is that these women aren\u2019t at all on the fringe and that the notion of feminism can also be quite pluralistic. These women represent mainstream interpretations of Islam in their countries so I think when people realize this, it shatters their stereotypes of Muslim in general. \u00a0Perhaps they realize there\u2019s little difference between what Ghina dealt with and a personal obstacle they faced. \u00a0Or they may wish that their husband helped clean up after dinner like Huda\u2019s husband. \u00a0Or they feel inspired with how Dr. Su\u2019ad Saleh took on the religious establishment and kept on going undeterred. \u00a0I will say I did not realize how much these women and stories would affect my own life\u2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I also did not realize how much they would affect me. I found myself being drawn into their lives and stories. The movie certainly offers a rare glimpse into the lives of Muslim women leaders. At times it surprised my own pre-conceived\u00a0ideas about the women, like when I learnt about Al-Habbash\u2019s daughter studying abroad, or Hammoud having\u00a0traveled\u00a0the world.<\/p>\n

Maher\u00a0successfully\u00a0manages to confront and move beyond the stereotype of a submissive Arab Muslim woman, and I highly\u00a0recommend\u00a0everyone to watch it. Though not all will find the women\u2019s views to their liking, the documentary allows them to tell their situations as is, and must be commended for that.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Veiled Voices is a documentary that profiles three influential women who are religious leaders, their families, and the communities they serve: Ghina Hammoud in Lebanon, Dr. Su\u2019ad Saleh in Egypt, and Huda al-Habash in Syria. The film is produced and directed by Brigid Maher, who is an assistant professor and head of the New Media […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":177,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[1439],"class_list":["post-4712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-television","tag-veiled-voices"],"yoast_head":"\nVeiled Voices: Inspiring Everyday Role Models<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Veiled Voices is a documentary that profiles three influential women who are religious leaders, their families, and the communities they serve: Ghina\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2009\/09\/veiled-voices-inspiring-everyday-role-models\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" 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