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

Bear hugs: spreading the love, one cartoon at a time

It's May 20, "Everybody Draw Muhammad Day."

If I had to leave every or page on Facebook except for one, it would be the "It's not that serious" page.

So you've probably heard about South Park controversy where South park depicted Prophet Muhammad as a bear. South Park then censored the episode after the creators were threatened by some guy who claims he's a Muslim and thinks he's tough, apparently.

I found the cartoon offensive. Other Muslims had found the cartoon offensive. But it's South Park. Doesn't the show poke fun at everything and everyone? Including Jesus and Moses. So why didn't Mr. Chester (of Revolution Muslim Website who posted the warning), say something a long time ago when they were being made fun of? All prophets are created equally and we should respect all. People watch South Park because of its satirical, profane humor. It's just a cartoon, therefore it's not that serious to threaten people's lives.

But Mr. Chester took it personally and threatened to kill the creators of South Park, which the media loved and made a big deal out of anything relating to such "Muslims are evils, see I told you" type of news stories because that's what people want to watch and read about.

So, on behalf of bunch of other Muslims who were flabbergasted at what Mr. Chester had said, let me clarify a couple of things. Be warned: the media might not like what I may have to say and maybe even ignore it.

A Jewish woman once brought a lamb that was poisoned to the Prophet Muhammad and he ate it. Afterward, people suggested they kill the woman. But the Prophet refused, although he felt the effects of the poison for years. The Prophet was a forgiving person. In another story, Prophet Muhammad had stones thrown at him by the people of Al-Taif. He bled from head to toe. He could have then asked cursed the people or punish them, but no. He prayed for them. In another example, Prophet Muhammad had sheep intestines thrown at him while he was prostrating in prayer, and he just prayed for justice.

See? It was all not that serious to the Prophet Muhammad. Did he threaten to kill anyone who harmed him? His acts were peaceful, just like a Muslim's acts should be. Just like any human being's acts should be. And if you did find the cartoon offensive because our beloved Prophet was mocked, then express your feelings in other ways. Blog about it. Create dialogue with others. Write a letter to the editor. Send the creators a message telling them it was offensive to you and other Muslims. But it will still go on. People will make fun of prophets and have been making fun of prophets and religion for a long period of time. There are other ways to let the anger out. In a peaceful way.

Prophet Muhammad would give a bear hug (no pun intended) to his enemies if he could, because he was so merciful and just.

As for the Facebook group "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day" on May 20, it's your freedom to draw whatever you wish, if it makes you feel good about yourselves. However, Muslims will not threaten to kill you. We will just invite you to read about who Prophet Muhammad really was.

So on a final note to Mr. Chester, South Park Creators, creators of the Facebook group, and the media: I'll quote the Joker: "Why so serious?"

Because it's not that serious. It's just a cartoon, get over it. Now let's just give each other bear hugs and spread love and peace throughout the world! And draw non-offensive cartoon, as well.

What are your opinions and thoughts?