First Arab Woman goes to North Pole

Elham Al-Qasimi is the first Arab woman to go to the North Pole. Here is a video from CNN: http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/international/2010/06/02/ime.arctic.arab.woman.bk.f.cnn


Here's her blog:
http://elhamalqasimi.com/

Go Elham! Let's see how the media will cover this following Rima Fakih's story and SATC 2

Sex and the city 2 vs. hijabies in the city

So I watched Sex and the City 2 and wow do I have some mixed feelings about it.

First of all it's filled with stereotypes. Rich Arabs in "Abu Dhabi," dubbed the "new middle-east" which equals to "modernized." So the four ladies go to Abu Dhabi and stay at this super luxurious hotel with fancy shmancy butlers and food. The ladies are awed by the females who are at the hotel, wearing 'niqwab' which is actually supposed to be 'niqab.' I mean if you're going to make a film in an Arab country (the filmed was set in Morocco by the way) then at least get the Arabic words right.

Anyway, so they think it's funny how the niqwab-ed ladies eat french fries and poke some fun at them as well as the female swimmers in burkini's (a head to toe swimmin suit). At that same scene, however, they were talking about how pretty a girl's abaya was because of it's embroidery and this was popular among young liberal females.

Fast forward to dull, unoriginal boring scenes, (and a couple of Samanatha's disturbing scenes which I thought gave American ladies a bad image --i.e. think sexual desires at 52) and in the end you see some niqwab-ed ladies take off their head covering and abayas and are dressed in sexy stylish clothing and look hot.

Anyway, the movie emphasized that in Abu Dhabi (or any Muslim country), people dressed modestly and mixing and touching of the opposite sex is illegal (Samantha got arrested for what she was doing on the beach).

At times it portrayed Arab men as controllers, but it also showed that American men the same way as the lawyer lady (I forgot her name) kept being silenced by her male colleagues). So treatment of women was an issue in the movie, that both American, Arab, Muslim, non-Muslim females can be treated negatively and unfairly.

However, most of the strict scenes that happened in the movie, is most likely not true in a country as liberal and diverse and UAE. I mean if this movie took place in Saudi Arabia, then I'd understand.

Now, for any non-muslim who sees the movie and wonders if arab women are really like that, I'll leave you with a question. Are all american women like samantha?

It was also a bit awkward to walk out of the movie theatre after the movie was done with my friends (being all hijabi's and the movie had a bunch of stereotypes). But we wore stylish clothes, handbags, sunglasses, and walked out in confidence with our hijabs on proudly and out into the city -- Hijabies in the city.


Here's an article that critics the movie:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/25/sex-and-the-city-2-review_n_589155.html

A little girl wearing hijab? -From Oprah's website

This is interesting. Would you guys (muslim or non-muslims) let your little kid wear a scarf at a young age (what's the youngest you would let them? 9? 8? 11?)


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http://www.oprah.com/spirit/Choosing-to-Wear-the-Muslim-Headscarf

Sorry it's been a while: updates, hummus, MISS USA, immigration laws!

I apologize for not keeping up to date on my blog. I don't think anyone reads this, but one day maybe someone will! Anyway some updates on things that happned the past couple of weeks:

Saudi Woman beats up virtue cop <--- sweet!

Elvis Costello cancels Israel Concerts <-- even more sweet!

Muslim designers mix the hijab with latest fashions <--- i like hijabi fashion

CAIR Video: Fla. Mosque Attack Called Terrorism, Reward Offered <--- not sweet

Arizona Ethnic Studies Classes Banned, Teachers With Accents Can No Longer Teach English <--- pathetic along with the new illegal immigration law

Congratulations America, a Muslim is Miss USA 2010 <--- seriously the most ironic thing ever. someone representing america is 'muslim and arab' hahaha. bahaha. oh and dont forget since president obama is "muslim" also, and wasn't even born in the "u.s." we have two people represeting the usa who are muslims. be. afraid. be. very. afraid. they. are. taking. over.

and the best for last (dedicated to this blog)
Biggest Serving of Hummus ever made

Awesome Female Muslimah: Ambreen, 15, boxer

Again, this doesn't show up in the media often. I love these inspiring young, strong, enthusiastic females! Go Ambreen--sting like a muslimah-butt-kicking- butterfly

Ambreen Sadiq, Muslim girl boxer, aims to combat prejudice to succeed in the ring

Few girls, let alone Muslim girls, can expect to be encouraged to pick up a pair of boxing gloves and go out fighting.

But Ambreen Sadiq, a 15-year-old schoolgirl from Bradford, has overcome opposition in her community to win her latest fight and aim for the 2016 Olympics.

Hailed tonight as a “pioneer” by the Amateur Boxing Association, Ambreen has already won the national female championship for her age and weight.

She has overcome opposition from her community to be nominated as junior sports personality of the year at the British Asian Sports Awards.

In the ring, she transforms from shy Muslim in traditional dress to a rapid-fire fighting machine in shorts, vest and ponytail.

Few Muslim women go into boxing, although one exception is Laila Ali, Mohammed Ali’s daughter, a professional boxer who now hosts American Gladiators.

A Channel 4 documentary tomorrow night shows Ambreen, trained by coach Naz Jalil of Eastburn boxing club, defeat Leigh Park’s Bobbie Clark.

According to one report of the match, Ambreen, who is known as “Beeno”, “dominated her southpaw opponent from the off, catching her with numerous combination shots to go 9-2 up after the first round.”

The Bradford Telegraph and Argus reported: “She continued to pressure Clark, who had no option but to come forward to win some points of her own but each time was met with a barrage of punches, leaving the score 14-3 after round two.

“The third round was Sadiq’s best. Her skills saw her slip Clarke’s punches, making her miss wildly.

“On one occasion, she slipped under a big right, turned Clark and delivered three big shots which forced the referee to give an eight count as the Eastburn girl triumphed 20-5.”

Ambreen has already attended one training session with the England squad.

Her father, Shokit Ali Sadiq, who has encouraged her since childhood, said he had predicted since she was a baby that she would become a boxer. “Nobody would believe me.”

Ambreen said: “I know you should not show your arms and legs off but I am not doing it so I can show my arms and legs off to the whole world. I am doing it so I can enjoy boxing. It is what I want.”

The Muslim Council of Britain said: “We would not take a position against this.” He said some Muslim scholars did, however, regard boxing in general as “inhumane”.

Ayesha Abdeen, vice-chair of the Muslim Women’s Sports Foundation, said: “We believe that women should have an opportunity to take part in sport and keep fit and healthy. A Muslim woman boxer I would say is quite rare.”

Martin Utley, regional coach for the Amateur Boxing Association, said she was one of the top female boxers in Britain: “There are other Muslim girl boxers but not at this competitive level. She is pioneering as far as Muslim girls are concerned in boxing.”