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Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Jalsa Salana: UK Muslim women ‘concerned' over negative attitudes toward hijab
British Muslim women attending the UK's largest Islamic convention have expressed their concerns after a survey found half of Britons believe Muslim women are pressured into wearing the hijab. Held annually at Oakland Farm in Alton, Hampshire, the Jalsa Salana attracts more than 40,000 participants in the Ahmadiyya Muslim community from across the world. As the event concluded on Sunday, a number of Muslim women in attendance reacted to the findings of a recent YouGov polling commissioned by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community which found that 49% of respondents believe 'most British Muslim women who wear a hijab do so because they feel pressured by their family or community.' 'I was very disappointed, but maybe not all together surprised,' Munazzah Chou, 40, said. 'I think the scale was quite eye-opening, because it's quite a significant proportion.' Ms Chou, who works as an ophthalmologist in the NHS, added: 'The misconceptions about Muslim women in particular are slightly insulting toward the intellectual capacity of Muslim women. 'People make choices every day that we don't understand: as a doctor, I see patients and we offer them treatments, and they often make choices that we wouldn't recommend, but I never jump to the conclusion that they're being coerced. 'I know that my choice to wear hijab is just based on my religious belief.' Referring to the Jalsa Salana convention, she added: 'There are 20,000 women here who would have a different journey towards wearing their hijab, but I think every single one of them would tell you how this is not a coercive practice. 'They've done it out of personal choice, and all from possibly slightly different, nuanced reasons – but all out of free will.' Syeda Ahmad, 23, said the polling results made her feel as though Muslim women 'keep having to have the same conversations and make the same points over and over again'. 'We do make our own choices, and we are fully thinking human beings who are able to do that ourselves,' she said. 'I feel like the results are maybe a reflection of a certain kind of attitude towards Muslim women that is more concerned with telling us how we feel and what we need, as opposed to asking us.' University student Unaizah Ahmad, 25, said she felt 'concerned' over the polling results. 'When there are calls made for hijab bans, I wonder if this is the mentality that is playing in the background and plays a role in people,' she said. 'And in my experience, it's the complete opposite. 'My hijab is completely my own choice. My religion, the way I practice it, is completely my own choice. 'I've never felt coerced or pressured to do with it. 'To people who hold that belief: I would encourage them to speak to Muslim women who wear a hijab, and hear it from them instead of giving in to preconceived biases.' In June, Reform deputy leader Richard Tice said there should be a 'national debate' on banning the burka. This came as former party chairman Zia Yusuf resigned following an internal row, in which he described a question asked to the Prime Minister by the party's newest MP, Sarah Pochin, about banning the burka as 'dumb'. Syeda Ahmad also further raised concerns over how these renewed calls for a ban on face-covering clothes will impact upon Muslim women and girls. 'If you're actually concerned about Muslim women and how we might be feeling, one of the worst things you can do is project your own prejudices and assumptions onto us,' she said. 'We've seen in other European countries that have introduced things like hijab bans or burka bans – we know from research that only serves to alienate Muslim women. 'It restricts them from places of education. It restricts them from places of work.' Wearing face-covering clothes is currently banned in seven European countries – France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Switzerland, Austria and Bulgaria – while other countries have enacted partial bans. 'A great thing about Britain is that there are no bans like that,' Ms Ahmad added. 'That's why you'll find Muslim women in this country working in all manner of professions, as confident people.' She added: 'Religion is personal to people. 'They decide what they want to do, what they want to follow, how far they want to follow it, and there's no punishment for not wearing a hijab in Islam. 'Crucially, Islam allows you to make a personal choice.' A spokesperson for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community said the survey's results 'highlight a persistent misunderstanding about Islamic teachings on modesty and women's choices'. The YouGov survey of 2,130 adults in Great Britain in mid-July asked people if they felt different groups of immigrants by religion generally have a positive or negative impact on the UK. While 41% said Muslim immigrants have a negative impact, the proportions feeling this way were much lower for other groups. Just under a quarter (24%) of respondents felt Muslim immigrants had a positive impact on the UK, lower than for any of the other religions stated.
The Independent
3 days ago
- Health
- The Independent
Muslim women say the hijab is empowering as half of Britons believe they are ‘pressured into wearing it'
Muslim women have spoken about how wearing the hijab is 'empowering' in the face of a new poll that has revealed almost half of Britons believe that women are pressured into putting it on. The survey found 49 per cent of the British public believe Muslim women wear the hijab due to family or community pressure, while just a quarter (26 per cent) see the decision as a personal choice. The new YouGov survey – which was commissioned by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community and involved polling 2,130 UK adults earlier this month – comes as more than 20,000 Muslim women gather at the country's biggest Muslim convention, Jalsa Salana UK. Dr Munazzah Chou, 40, one of the over 6,000 female volunteers at Jalsa Salana helping to run a tent city on 210 acres of Hampshire farmland, told The Independent she started wearing the hijab at the age of 16. 'There are many choices we make everyday,' she said. 'I have made the choice to wear the hijab, as an expression of my religious beliefs.' Her words were echoed by Dr Maleeha Mansur, who felt the hijab was 'empowering'. Responding to the findings, the 36-year-old obstetrics and gynaecology registrar from Uxbridge, west London, said: 'I'm not surprised by the results, but it's disheartening, because I wish people would listen to how Muslim women actually feel.' The women we spoke to at Jalsa Salana believe that wearing the hijab is a liberating choice. 'Wearing the hijab is a choice like any other, and the hijab enables us to feel spiritually grounded in a world that is materially oriented', said Dr Chou, an ophthalmologist from Farnham, in Surrey. 'It's empowering because when I'm going about my day to day life, I don't have to think or worry about appearances – I don't think that's the most important thing', echoed Dr Mansur who is also a teaching fellow at the Nuffield Department of Women's and Reproductive Health at the University of Oxford. 'It's empowering because I choose who gets to see my beauty and who doesn't.' The survey results also showed that the majority (53 per cent) of Britons believe that Islam is not compatible with British values. And a stark disparity was found between the number of people who view Muslim immigrants negatively (41 per cent) compared to Christians (7 per cent), Jews (13 per cent), Sikhs (14 per cent) and Hindus (15 per cent). Meanwhile, almost a third of the British public (31 per cent) believes Islam promotes violence, according to the research. At Jalsa Salana, the Union Jack will be raised along with an Islamic flag to mark the beginning of a three day 'Muslim festival' with over 40,000 people attending from across the world. The annual event, held by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, features a series of keynote addresses by His Holiness Mirza Masroor Ahmad, the Caliph and worldwide head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. Attendees at this year's event which also showcased exhibitions, bookstalls and a bazaar, insist that there is no conflict between being British and being Muslim. Media narratives are to blame for the rise in misconceptions, believes Dr Chou. 'Public perceptions are not formed in a vacuum. I do think that media coverage of Muslim women perpetuates the idea that we are 'other' rather than fully fledged members of society.' Iffat Mirza-Rashid, 26, a doctoral student at Cambridge University, said of her decision to wear the hijab: 'Look at society today – there's a lot of pressure on women to look a certain way. The hijab is a powerful response and resistance to that sort of pressure. It encourages the people around us to see us for who we are, rather than what we look like – and that's really empowering.' The comparative literature researcher continued: 'It's just a piece of cloth – but then it's so much more, because it's a reflection of your beliefs. It's powerful to be able to express your beliefs because you can make a certain statement about who you are and what your priorities are.'
Yahoo
21-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Want to ban the burka? Try asking the women like me first
When Sarah Pochin, the Reform MP, recently asked prime minister Keir Starmer whether Britain should follow France, Belgium, and Denmark in banning the burka, my mother - watching the clip beside me - tilted her head and asked, 'What is she saying? 'Burger'?' It wasn't just a mishearing. It was a reminder that in this country, politicians feel entitled to debate our clothing, our faith and our freedom - yet still stumble over the word burka. They discuss what Muslim women wear, but can't pronounce it correctly. It's not burger, and it's not burk-ah. It's boorkah. The very least politicians can do, before legislating our lives, is get the name right. Some might argue that since some Muslim-majority countries have banned the burka - that makes it a legitimate position. Morocco, Tunisia, and others have imposed restrictions, often in the name of modernisation, national unity, or security. Runcorn and Helsby MP Sarah Pochin questioned Keir Starmer in Prime Minister's Questions whether he would follow some European countries lead in banning the burka. — Sky News (@SkyNews) June 5, 2025 But authoritarianism should not be confused with liberation. The outcome is the same: women's agency is erased, and the state decides how we appear in public. That isn't empowerment - it's control, dressed up as reform. In 2015, a white man approached me and asked: 'What colour is your hair under your veil?' I replied: 'It's pink,' but didn't ask him what colour his hair had been before he went bald. That moment stayed with me because it revealed how people feel entitled to interrogate Muslim women. I later wrote a book about that experience, My Hair Is Pink Under This Veil, chronicling my decision to wear the hijab and the questions, assumptions, and aggressions that came with it. The burka, like the hijab, has become a symbol onto which people project their fears, fantasies and frustrations. But behind every veil is a person - thinking, choosing, living. So when politicians like Sarah Pochin suggest banning the burka, they're not just mispronouncing a word, they're speaking for women like me without asking our opinion. Women like me who are voters, writers, public office holders and community builders. Our identities cannot be legislated away and our voices won't be silenced - not by policy, not by prejudice, not by fear. This is discrimination, and it's happening in a country where 61% of young women from racial minorities already report facing bias at work. The debate around Islam, inequality and integration shifts with every headline, political soundbite, crisis or act of violence. Against this backdrop, Muslim women have had to fight to carve out our place in society. How can we speak of integration in a Brexit era when Muslim women are still labelled "submissive" and white men feel emboldened to tear veils from our heads in public? When Muslim girls grow up amid poverty, deprivation, drug abuse and exploitation? When gender-based Islamophobia intensifies under the guise of national cohesion? We must ask what the veil means - not just to Muslim women, but to those who react to it. Is it a personal expression of faith and identity? A misunderstood political symbol? Or a mirror exposing the anxieties of modern Britain? Right-wing and nationalist forces have long exploited the veil as either a symbol of oppression or defiance, and labelled it something to fear. I remember working on the Isle of Dogs in East London when the British National Party had a councillor elected. Combat 18 roamed the streets. A Muslim grocer had a pig's head flung into his shop in broad daylight. There was one estate where I had to support two Bangladeshi families to relocate after repeated hostilities. One mother had her headscarf pulled off while walking her children to school. The racists shouted: "Rights for whites". A local police station had to assign female officers to escort children to Quranic classes. In another case, a white woman filed a complaint against her elderly Muslim neighbour for planting coriander instead of roses in her garden. When I asked if the woman had broken any tenancy rules or caused disturbance, the complainant said no, but insisted: "She's gotta learn to be like us. British." When Boris Johnson made his "letterbox" comment in 2018, several older Muslim women asked me if he owned a hairbrush, and said they'd gladly send him one if not. That same weekend, I was travelling with a group of women when a man let us board the train first. One of the women wearing a niqab was the last to get on. As she stepped through the doors, he laughed and said: 'Hold on, you forgot the letterbox.' He thought it was a joke, just quoting the former prime minister. This is the landscape Muslim women navigate: a Britain where our plants, our clothing, our languages and even our presence are subject to judgment. And still, we show up - as doctors, nurses, teachers, CEOs, activists, artists, engineers, journalists, scientists, academics, councillors, carers and community organisers. Because we believe in a Britain where Muslim women are trusted to define our own visibility - not questioned, not punished and not erased.
South China Morning Post
21-07-2025
- Sport
- South China Morning Post
How this sports club empowers Hong Kong's ethnic minorities
A social club in Hong Kong wants to help people who come from ethnic minority backgrounds get involved in sports and become coaches. Inherited Sports supports ethnic minority communities by providing programmes that are sensitive to their cultural and religious needs. For example, the group runs a swimming class for Muslim women and children. They use Kowloon Park Swimming Pool when it is closed to the public and only have women coaches and lifeguards on duty. The initiative also trains young people to become coaches and sports leaders. According to the city's 2021 census, more than half of the South Asian community in Hong Kong work in just four areas. Not being fluent in Cantonese and Mandarin is often a barrier. But people from ethnic minority communities also face other challenges, such as racial discrimination, fewer resources and harmful stereotypes. Inherited Sports offers them training and workshops in a range of sports. It also provides a subsidy and career advice. The group has already helped 11 men and two women become certified coaches.
Arab News
10-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Arab News
Sudanese novelist Leila Aboulela awarded PEN Pinter prize for her work on migration
LONDON: Sudanese author Leila Aboulela has been named the winner of the 2025 PEN Pinter Prize, honoring her literary contributions that explore themes of faith, migration and the lives of Muslim women in displacement. The award was announced at English PEN's annual summer party on Wednesday at the October Gallery in London. Judges praised the author for her 'nuanced and rich perspectives on themes that are vital in our contemporary world: Faith, migration and displacement,' calling her work 'a balm, a shelter and an inspiration.' Aboulela, who grew up in Khartoum and has lived in Aberdeen, Scotland since 1990, is known for her six novels including 'Minaret,' 'The Translator,' a New York Times 100 Notable Books of the Year, and 'Lyrics Alley,' as well as two short story collections. Her latest collection 'Elsewhere, Home' won the Saltire Fiction Book of the Year Award. Aboulela's latest novel 'River Spirit,' which was published in 2023, portrays the period leading up to the British conquest of Sudan in 1898, shedding light on the complex human dimensions of the conflict between Britain and Sudan, Christianity and Islam, and the dynamics of colonizer versus colonized. On receiving the award, she said: 'For someone like me, a Muslim Sudanese immigrant who writes from a religious perspective, probing the limits of secular tolerance, this recognition feels truly significant. It brings expansion and depth to the meaning of freedom of expression and whose stories get heard.' She will officially receive the award at a ceremony at the British Library on Oct. 10, where she will also announce the recipient of the accompanying Writer of Courage award. This year's judging panel included poet and author Mona Arshi, novelist Nadifa Mohamed, and English PEN chair Ruth Borthwick, who praised Aboulela's work for its literary depth and social relevance. 'Leila Aboulela's writing is extraordinary in its range and sensibility,' Borthwick said. 'From jewel-like short stories to tender novels, she tells us rarely heard stories that make us think anew about who lives in our neighborhoods and communities, and how they navigate their lives.' Arshi said that the author 'offers us nuanced and rich perspectives on themes that are vital in our contemporary world: Faith, migration, and displacement,' while Mohamed praised Aboulela's work for centring 'the lives and decisions of Muslim women.' 'Her work is marked by a commitment to make the lives and decisions of Muslim women central, and to examine their struggles and pleasures with dignity,' Mohamed said. The PEN Pinter Prize was established in 2009 in memory of Nobel Laureate Harold Pinter. Previous winners include Arundhati Roy in 2024 and Michael Rosen in 2023.
