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| Sister Yvonne Ridley |
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| Ankabut |
| 12/14/04 at 13:58:04 |
| Assalaamu'alaykum, I read this article by Sister Yvonne Ridley, it is spirited and witty, just like Sister Yvonne whom I met when she was in South Africa recently. Enjoy! Ankabut :-) ~~~~~~~~~~ 'It's only a piece of cloth' Can a woman in a hijab still get a taxi? asks Yvonne Ridley Sunday December 12, 2004 The Observer Wearing a headscarf is no big deal... unless you happen to be a Muslim, in which case this simple piece of cloth arouses opinions, hostile glances and worse. When I converted to Islam I knew I would have to embrace the Muslim head-dress. As for many converts, it was a huge stumbling block and I found all sorts of excuses not to wear the hijab - basically a symbol of modesty and a very public statement. When I finally did, the repercussions were enormous. All I did was put on a headscarf, but from that moment I became a second-class citizen. The reaction from some people was unbelievable. I knew I would become a target for abuse from the odd Islamaphobic oik, but I didn't expect so much open hostility from complete strangers. I can no longer be sure of getting a black cab in London... something I had taken for granted for many years. Let me give you some examples from the past two weeks: Edgware Road in London, an area with a substantial Arab population: three black cabs, orange 'for hire' lights glowing, drive past one after another. It's about 11.30pm and I'm freezing and desperate to get home. A fourth taxi stops to discharge a white passenger. I reach the vehicle and tap the window, beaming from ear-to-ear at my saviour. The driver turns and stares hard, his face contorted into hatred and rage, and drives off. Last month, pre-hijab, he would have returned the smile; now, in his eyes, I have been transformed into a terrorist. Next day, horrified by the events of the previous evening, I tell my story to a non-Muslim friend who is not sympathetic. 'Well if you go around looking like a Chechen Black Widow what do you expect?' she says. But black is my favourite colour. It's just that my little black dress has become a big black dress. That afternoon, I change my black hijab in favour of a paler silk turban-look which still covers my head. Very Vivienne Westwood, I think. I get my black cab without hassle, just a mere wave of the arm and I am taken to the West End for lunch with a very close friend who happens to be Jewish. It was the first time she had seen me in a hijab but she just laughs and makes some nice compliments. In her eyes I am the same person she became friends with five years ago. No change. What a relief. Later that day I meet some Muslim friends who also have not seen me for some time. They are excited to see me wearing a hijab, but tell me I look like a cross between a cancer victim and an Israeli settler. I report the unsavoury incident in the Edgware Road which had reduced me to tears. 'Welcome to the real world. This is what we have to put up with 24/7,' one tells me. There is more laughter at my apparent naivety, but I am puzzled and peeved at their acceptance that this is the way of things in Britain today. A couple of days later I attend Yasser Arafat's memorial at London's Friends' Meeting House and dress appropriately in black with matching hijab showing a small sliver of Palestinian kaffiyeh across the forehead. I may as well be sporting a Hamas-green 'jihad' tattoo across my temple from the openly hostile glares I receive from some passengers on London's Underground. Feeling uncomfortable and intimidated I get off at Baker Street and go to a taxi bay for the shortish journey down Euston Road. 'It's just across the road, why don't you walk?' barks the cabbie before returning to his newspaper. There have been other incidents including one taxi driver's, 'Don't leave a bomb in the back seat,' or, 'Where's bin Laden hiding?' There are also amusing moments such as being congratulated in Regent's Park mosque for my excellent grasp of English. But, in the eyes of many, I no longer am a real person. Waiters talk loudly and slowly if I am on my own, and if I am with a non-hijabi female, she is asked what I would like to eat. So, when I see a woman wearing a hijab, regardless of whether I know her, I smile and say in Arabic, 'As-Salaam-Alaikum,' which means, 'Peace unto you'. I know that the rest of her encounters that day may well be hostile. · Yvonne Ridley's current affairs show The Agenda will launch on the Islam Channel later this month. |
| Re: Sister Yvonne Ridley |
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| Fozia |
| 12/14/04 at 15:47:14 |
| [slm] Hmmm can't say that I've experienced such hostility...but then again I've never tried to catch a cab at 11:30pm. Perhaps one gets immune to it and doesn't notice it after a while??? Wassalaam |
| Re: Sister Yvonne Ridley |
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| Laila_Y_A |
| 12/14/04 at 16:15:19 |
| [slm] My only experience with cabbies occured in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA, some years back. My Dad and step Mom were in OK. visiting her sick Mother when Dad had a heart attack and was flown to Tulsa. I flew from Missouri to be with them, and late at night, I too was in need of a cab. Luckily, my driver was a very nice Muslim man who, after asking me several questions, found I was indeed Muslim, and had reverted through my own studies. I was in hijab- black but not jilbab or abaya. As he pulled up at the hospital and I asked the fee, he relayed it was usually $20 from t he airport to town, but as I was Muslim, he only charged me half that! Al-hamdullah for such a nice man! it made the small tribulation at the airports just that, small. [wlm] :-) Laila |
| Re: Sister Yvonne Ridley |
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| Kathy |
| 12/15/04 at 08:46:04 |
| [slm] Back in the early nineties I was living in Chicago and took lots of cabs. When I first moved there I was not a hijabi. Alhumdullillah, I noticed a big difference when I started to cover. I never had to wait for a cabbie. I remember at the time thinking that the brothers did not want me to be standing on the street corner and picked me up right away! Back then 90% of the cab drivers seemed to be Muslim. (Or... it was only the Muslim Bros who picked me up!) Does any sisters ever feel weird being alone in the cab with a man? |
| Re: Sister Yvonne Ridley |
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| Ameera15 |
| 12/15/04 at 19:53:04 |
| This is exactly what I wanted to ask - isn't Haram for a woman to be alone in a car with strange man? |
| Re: Sister Yvonne Ridley |
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| resistance4ever |
| 12/17/04 at 07:55:49 |
| [slm] "Hmmm can't say that I've experienced such hostility" Fozia, its different for asian muslims. If you are a white revert, and you wear the hijab, you get a lot of abuse. The rest of the white community often see her as a "traitor". My sister or sisters in law never get any abuse that i have noticed, even though sometimes wear the full veil, they are asian. My wife who is not asian, and just wears a hijab, gets filthy looks, some people look at her in bemusement not knowing what to make of it, and some people have made comments whilst driving past. If your white and you cover, its a lot worse. Amirah "This is exactly what I wanted to ask - isn't Haram for a woman to be alone in a car with strange man?" You have to look at the broader picture. Yvonne Ridley is a revert, she has grown up in a non-islaamic environment living as a christian, so she has grown up with totally different rules. So when people convert, they still have that non-muslim upbringing having a huge influence on how they behave. They cannot automatically cancel out the past 15 or 20 or 30 years of how they have lived their life. Slowly and gradually will reverts remove aspects from their lifestyle which is unislaamic, but is the norm to non-muslims. Its easy for born muslims, as we have always been taught how to act, whats right and whats wrong. But its not the same for someone who has been brought up totally different. [wlm] |
| 12/17/04 at 08:00:54 |
| resistance4ever |
| Re: Sister Yvonne Ridley |
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| Yusufzai |
| 12/17/04 at 09:02:09 |
| I think its much worse if your white not because they think your a traitor, like they care anyway. I'm Asian (Pathan) with fair skin, and well people just think I'm Arab, which is worse, as I know what they must be thinking when i step on a bus, that there must be something under that big frumpy dress (Jilbab) that i'm wearing. And that the're probably waiting for a big bang |
| Re: Sister Yvonne Ridley |
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| Fozia |
| 12/17/04 at 09:30:36 |
| [quote author=Yusufzai link=board=sis;num=1103047084;start=0#6 date=12/17/04 at 09:02:09] I think its much worse if your white not because they think your a traitor, like they care anyway. I'm Asian (Pathan) with fair skin, and well people just think I'm Arab, which is worse, as I know what they must be thinking when i step on a bus, that there must be something under that big frumpy dress (Jilbab) that i'm wearing. And that the're probably waiting for a big bang [/quote] [slm] Now I have had that reaction, the first train journey I took shortly after 9/11 I got the most peculiar looks, I really really felt tempted to ask 'Watcha lookin at?' (well no actually I didn't, I felt incredibly hurt to be honest). On the other hand we've had some really lovely experiences too, the eid before last my husband donned a dishdasaha and went off for eid prayers, his friends wife promptly went into labour so hubby had to make his way back on a bus, the white bus driver asked him if he was muslim, when my husband told him he was he was rewarded with 'Eid mubarak' it still makes my day when I think of it. I guess we get the good too with the bad, I always try and smile and look approachable. Wassalaam |
| 12/18/04 at 04:49:27 |
| Fozia |
| Re: Sister Yvonne Ridley |
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| Ameera15 |
| 12/17/04 at 18:13:00 |
| I asked that question exactly because I have seen Muslim women in well known Arab country riding a taxi alone. My question wasn't addressed to the new reverts, as myself I am revert and well awere of the difficulty of new changes. But even now or before Islam I don't feel confortable being alone with the taxi driver. |
| Re: Sister Yvonne Ridley |
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| Stephanie |
| 12/17/04 at 19:14:30 |
| [slm] I'm a white revert, right smack dab in the midwest USA, aka the Bible Belt, and I can honestly say that I haven't had any real problems alhumdillillah. Sure, I've had the occasional weird or hostile glance, but overall I think people are actually nicer to me now. I get alot of nods and smiles from strangers and I believe that's their way of showing me acceptance. In a sense I do agree that people view white reverts as traitors, etc compared to an Asian or Arab whose religious practices can be brushed off as cultural or something they were brought up to be. At the same time, I think people are more willing to ask me questions about Islam and why I became a Muslim, etc and I look at it as a chance to educate. I've noticed the longer I wear and become comfortable in hijab the more confident I am. For instance when I first started covering, I was pretty paranoid and attributed every bad interaction to the fact that it must be because I'm Muslim. Maybe I'm just better at ignoring it now, but I don't notice the negativity the same as I used to. Funny, before reading this post earlier, I was thinking about all the trials my European brothers and sisters are facing. It seems like every day, their is another hijab ban there, or like today the broadcaster on NPR (typically leans liberal) was talking about what a bold move it was for the European Union to even consider Turkey since theY're a *GASP* Muslim country ( a fact I find arguable given the governments fanatical secular views). So just when I was starting to think that Europe is more Islamiphobic than the US I remembered that atleast Europe isn't attacking Muslim nations everytime they get the chance. . . So I guess as another poster said You take the good with the bad. May Allah bless and strengthen the Ummah, Amin. [wlm] :-) |
| Re: Sister Yvonne Ridley |
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| Fozia |
| 12/18/04 at 04:53:37 |
| [slm] I've been thinking about this, and I think the reason why white reverts get picked on is because, then there is no denying that there must be somethig in this Islam thing. I mean, I can be brushed off as a backward illiterate who has been brainwashed and subdued into accepting being covered in head to toe and being oppressed... However when you get your litterate thinking white sis, well I assume that must scare the non-believers, why are these liberated women going down that road? That's what I think anyways. Wassalaam |
| Re: Sister Yvonne Ridley |
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| muslimah853 |
| 12/18/04 at 17:40:56 |
| [slm] I can't speak to the UK, but I can say that what she describes is very common in the US where African Americans (men in particular) are concerned. Though it isn't limited to men only. African Americans routinely have trouble hailing cabs all the time, many folks tend to think that they are going to be robbed if they pick up a black person. Or many times cab drivers will not take you to a black neighborhood. Sigh. It's the same junk, different particulars. |
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