Western Australia Hijabi Senator, Fatima Payman: I Want To Normalise Hijab Wearing
New Age Islam News Bureau
22 June 2022
• Naiyera Ashraf, an Egyptian Woman Slain At
University after Rejecting Marriage Proposal
• Girl Forced to Marry Her Cousin, Allegedly Kills
Herself in Central Afghanistan
• Despite Hijab Row, Muslim Girls in Karnataka’s
Dakshina Kannada, Udupi Shine In PUC Exams
• No Place for Burkinis in Grenoble’s Public Pools,
Rules Top French Court
• Online ‘Auction’ Of Muslim Women: Mumbai Court
Grants Bail to Three Accused Persons
• The Lady of Heaven Protestors Don’t Represent
British Muslims
• Maryam Azmoun Named Iran’s Women’s Football Coach
• ‘Digital Nation’ Conference Discusses Women’s Role
In Digital Transformation
Compiled by New
Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/australia-hijabi-senator-fatima-payman/d/127297
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Western Australia Hijabi Senator, Fatima Payman: I
Want To Normalise Hijab Wearing
New WA Senator Fatima
Payman is an Australian Muslim with cultural roots from Afghanistan. Source:
AAP / RICHARD WAINWRIGHT/AAPIMAGE
-----
June 22, 202
When Fatima Payman takes her seat in the Senate in
July, she will make history as the first woman to wear a hijab in Australia’s
parliament.
The 27-year-old Muslim Australian, confirmed as
Labor’s newest senator from Western Australia on Monday, says she will wear it
with pride.
“I want to normalise hijab wearing,” Payman tells
Guardian Australia.
“I hope to be an inspiration to many other young
Australians, that just because you believe in God, or just because you look
different, it shouldn’t prevent you from being involved in such an important
institution.
“You can’t be what you can’t see, and if that
[parliament] is not reflective of the general Australian public then how can
you have complete faith that they can hear your voice, and be your voice in
power?”
Payman is still pinching herself at being elected,
describing her path to becoming an Australian senator as “completely unreal”.
She was just five years old when she fled Afghanistan
with her family, seeking refuge from the Taliban who had targeted the family
because her grandfather was a member of the Afghan parliament.
From Pakistan, her father, Abdul Wakil Payman, left by
boat to come to Australia, “seeking a better life for his children”.
Three years later, Payman, her mother and her siblings
joined him in Perth, where he worked three jobs – as a kitchen hand, a security
guard and a taxi driver. Her mother ran a business providing driving lessons.
Payman said her father “would always talk about
politics” after dinner, hoping that one day she might return to Afghanistan to
be elected to his homeland’s parliament.
“He never conceptualised the idea that one day his
daughter could be running in the Senate in Australia,” she says.
After her father died of leukemia in 2018, Payman
became politically active, joining the United Workers Union as an organiser.
“When I joined the union I found that there were
resources out there for workers to fight for better wages, pay and conditions
that my dad didn’t have the privilege of, or the understanding of,” she says.
“Thinking of how hard he struggled for us and how much
he sacrificed for us, I can’t let his sacrifices go in vain and I really do
want to advocate for workers like him who are really just trying to make ends
meet and make a better life for their families.”
Payman makes light of the fact that she will join the
Senate at the same time as One Nation senator Pauline Hanson is reelected, who
once wore a burqa in the Senate as part of a political stunt calling for a ban
on the Muslim dress.
“I would like to say I wish Pauline didn’t do it
because she has stolen my thunder, I could have been the first one,” Payman
says. “But that is OK, maybe I’ll teach her how I wear my hijab.”
While Payman is not bothered by the focus on the
history-making moment of her Muslim headscarf, she says that her identity will
always be “Australian first”, saying she remains amazed at how quickly she
adopted her new country after arriving as an eight-year-old.
“Yes, I am the first hijab-wearing woman in
parliament, but it was my Labor values that carried me here,” she says.
“Before I am Afghan, or a migrant or a Muslim, I am an
Australian Labor senator, I do really want to emphasise that. I believe that
everyone deserves a fair go in life despite where they came from and what they
believe in, their sexual orientation, age or ability.”
She says she “has faith” that the new Labor government
will do more to improve the treatment of migrants and refugees in Australia and
also for those in offshore detention. She also wants to bring a focus to
cost-of-living concerns, childcare, climate change and other issues affecting
young families.
“I am really excited to get involved, learn as much as
I can and start to make a difference, because that is exactly why I put my hand
up in the first place,” she says.
When the button was finally pushed by the Australian
Electoral Commission on Monday, Payman says it was a “very emotional moment”.
“My mum was bawling,” she says. “She said ‘you have
fulfilled your dad’s dream and I wish he was here to witness that, he would be
so happy and proud of you’.
“There was relief but also a massive sense of responsibility.
There is a lot of work to be done. A lot of people are looking up to us as a
government with hope for an inclusive and diverse government.
“I honestly would do anything to know or see my dad’s
reaction. I know he would be so proud of me. He would feel that this has been
an unreal journey.”
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Source: ABNA24
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Naiyera Ashraf, an Egyptian Woman Slain At University
after Rejecting Marriage Proposal
Twenty-one-year-old
Egyptian woman Naiyera Ashraf’s throat was slit open in front of the entrance
of her university in Egypt by her friend after she rejected his marriage
proposal on June 20, 2022. (Twitter)
-----
21 June, 2022
Twenty-one-year-old Egyptian woman Naiyera Ashraf’s
throat was slit open in front of the entrance of her university in Egypt by a
man whose marriage proposal she had rejected, according to local media reports.
The heinous crime took place at the gate of Egypt’s
Mansoura University on Monday, where the victim was violently attacked with a
knife.
The man, whose name has not been officially confirmed
yet, was arrested, according to the Egyptian Public Prosecution.
People nearby who witnessed the crime handed the
suspect to the police, the public prosecution said in a statement.
After examining the victim’s body, the prosecution
found injuries on her neck and chest, among other areas and took statements
from security personnel at the university who confirmed the suspect’s identity.
According to a video of the incident that has been
circulating on social media, the suspect killed the 21-year-old on a busy
street. He was then seen getting beat up and restrained by bystanders.
The prosecution advised the public against circulating
footage of the crime any further or speculating about the suspect’s motive
because it could directly impact the “integrity of the investigation,” disturb
public order, compromise evidence, and cause harm to the victim’s family.
Source: Al Arabiya
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Girl Forced to Marry Her Cousin, Allegedly Kills
Herself in Central Afghanistan
By Saqalain Eqbal
21 Jun 2022
A girl who was forced to marry in Bamyan province in
the centre of Afghanistan, has allegedly committed suicide, according to local
sources.
The girl is said to have hanged herself after being
forced by her family to marry her cousin, in Said Baba village of Saighan
district in Bamyan province.
The source claims that the family of the girl who
committed suicide is trying to conceal the death of their daughter and the
forced marriage.
The Taliban provincial officials have not yet
responded to the incident.
The suicide of the girl in central Afghanistan, which
is attributed to forced marriage comes at a time when a woman was reported to
have shot herself dead following a verbal argument with her sisters.
Earlier this week, a woman had killed herself after a
verbal argument with her sisters in the north-western province of Ghor, in
Afghanistan.
Girls in Afghanistan are not only denied of the right
to education, following the collapse of the government to the Taliban, but are
also pressured for forced marriages and child marriages, with the Taliban’s
restrictive measures especially on women.
Suicides have been on the rise in various provinces of
Afghanistan recently.
Suicide in the country is attributed to domestic
violence, forced marriages and stress brought on by the country’s economic
standing which has adversely impacted the financial status of the Afghan
people.
Source: Khaama Press
https://www.khaama.com/girl-forced-to-marry-allegedly-kills-herself-in-central-afghanistan-65843/
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Despite Hijab Row, Muslim Girls In Karnataka’s
Dakshina Kannada, Udupi Shine In PUC Exams
By Sanath Prasad
June 21, 2022
The second pre-university (PU) examination in
Karnataka was conducted between April and May this year amid the hijab
controversy, especially in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts. Despite the
raging controversy, Muslim girls passed the examinations with flying colours
this year, according to teachers from government colleges in these two
districts.
In fact, Dakshina Kannada and Udupi also topped other
districts in the state when it came to the pass percentage this year by scoring
88.02% and 86.38%, respectively.
Although the education department did not clarify the
number of students who did not appear for the exams owing to the hijab issue,
girls on the other hand said they felt that being absent for just one
examination for the sake of hijab would cost them a whole academic year.
Shekar Rai, principal of Shri Ramachandra PU College
in Perne and who has worked as a teacher in Dakshina Kannada district for 15
years, said, “The hijab controversy hardly made any dent in Dakshina Kannada
and Udupi districts. The high record of pass percentage in these two districts
is a testament to the fact that students distanced themselves from communal
conflicts. In our college, we advised girls not to make any statements about
the controversy in public which will hamper their preparations for the exam.
The students obliged.”
He added, “Dakshina Kannada students usually have a
strong primary and secondary education compared to other districts that gives
them a strong academic foundation and makes it easier for them while pursuing
higher studies. Moreover, students here prefer to pursue science, engineering
and want to get into the private sector.”
Another teacher from a college in Udupi, who did not
wish to be named, said, “The girls showed that hijab and education are two
different things and have realised which is more important to them. Girls in
Udupi too complied with the uniform rules and are now returning to college.
However, there are a handful of girls who are still adamant about wearing the
hijab in class, but I am sure that over time the girls will realise.”
Ayisha Marzina (18), a science student in Dakshina
Kannada who scored 90.5% in the II PU examination this year, felt removing the
hijab was hardly a problem while appearing for the examination. “Although the
hijab controversy was a cause of concern for the community, I did not let the
problem reflect on my academic performance. My college did have the uniform
rules but I was not ready to miss my exam, which is a rare opportunity, because
of the hijab. My teachers were kind enough to allow us to wear the hijab on
campus,” said Marzina who wants to pursue pharmacy studies.
Ilham from St Aloysius College in Mangalore, who
scored 99.5% (597/600) in science and ranked fourth in the state, wants to
pursue clinical psychology. Speaking about her preparations for the exam, Ilham
said, “I used to study just three hours a day and took one subject at a time.
It’s because of my teachers that I understood all the concepts in the class and
did not worry about it at home. During my free time, I borrowed books from the
library and spent a few hours reading them.”
Ilham, who will be pursuing clinical psychology in
Yenepoya Medical College, adds, “I was initially angry about the hijab ban, but
realised I would be moving out of the college in a month’s time. Moreover, the
hijab controversy did not affect me much because it started at the time of the
preparatory exams when we did not have regular classes. I, instead, focused on
studies because it was a matter of 10-15 days and I could not afford to throw
away the hard work I had done. We were asked to remove the hijab and I
complied. My parents also supported me. It was all a matter of three hours
without a hijab and it would not really hurt me so much.”
Meanwhile, Niyafa Mariyam and Raiza Abubakkar from
Puttur, who scored 94.8% and 95% in arts and commerce, respectively, felt the
hijab controversy was a “distraction”. Raiza, who wants to pursue her major in
English, said, “Since I studied at a Muslim institution, I did not have any
problem. However, looking at the developments in other colleges, it really hurt
me and kept me distracted. It is really difficult to forgo a practice which we
have been following for years.”
Mariyam, who wants to pursue law and who studied in a
Muslim institution, said, “I have been interested in law since Class 10. As an
aspiring law student, I felt really disappointed after reading the high court
order on hijab. I was really worried if I would be allowed to write the exam
with the hijab on, but my college allowed it.”
Source: Indian Express
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No place for burkinis in Grenoble’s public pools,
rules top French court
June 21, 2022
PARIS: Full-body swimwear including the Burkini should
not be worn in public pools in the city of Grenoble, France’s top
administrative court ruled on Tuesday, upholding an earlier order by a lower
court.
“The new rules of procedure for the municipal swimming
pools of Grenoble affect (...) the proper functioning of the public service,
and undermines the equal treatment of users, so that the neutrality of public
service is compromised,” the Conseil d’Etat said in a statement.
Body-covering swimwear — which leaves only the face,
hands and feet exposed — is often worn by Muslim women who wish to preserve
their modesty in accordance with their beliefs.
Grenoble’s city council had voted in favor of allowing
the use of burkinis on May 16, sparking howls of protest from conservative and
far-right politicians.
The city’s move was challenged by the government and a
lower administrative court suspended the measure. Grenoble responded by taking
its legal fight to the Conseil d’Etat.
After the Conseil d’Etat’s ruling, Interior Minister
Gerald Darmanin said Grenoble’s act had been “definitively overruled.”
“A victory for our “separatism” law, for secularism
and above all for the Republic,” Darmanin said.
Nobody at Grenoble’s city council was immediately
available for comment.
The debate about burkinis has been heated in France
since 2016, when a city in the south of France tried to ban them from public
beaches. On that occasion, the Conseil d’Etat overturned the ban, saying it
infringed fundamental liberties.
There is no nationwide ban in place, but they are
prohibited in many public pools across the country.
Far-right party leader Marine Le Pen — who came second
after Macron in presidential elections in April and who scored a historic
success in Sunday’s legislative elections — has said she wants to introduce a
law banning burkinis in municipal pools.
Muslim rights organizations in France have said that
bans on burkinis restrict fundamental liberties and discriminate against Muslim
women.
France, which has the largest Muslim minority in
Europe, estimated at 5 million, in 2010 introduced a ban on full-face niqab and
burqa veils in public.
Source: Arab News
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2107946/world
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Online ‘auction’ of Muslim women: Mumbai court grants
bail to three accused persons
June 22, 2022
A Mumbai sessions court on Tuesday granted bail to
three persons accused in a case related to an app that illegally posted
photographs of Muslim women as part of an online “auction” aimed at harassing
and abusing them, PTI reported.
Additional Sessions Judge AB Sharma granted bail to
Neeraj Bishnoi, Aumkareshwar Thakur and Neeraj Singh.
Images of prominent Indian Muslim women had been
uploaded on the “Bulli Bai” application as part of an online “auction”. On
January 1, many of the women who were targeted highlighted the incident on
social media.
This was the second such attempt in less than a year.
In July last year, an app called “Sulli Deals” had posted hundreds of images of
Muslim women and described them as “deals of the day”.
“Bulli” and “sulli” are abusive and derogatory ways of
referring to Muslim women.
In his bail application filed through advocate Shivam
Deshmukh, Bishnoi claimed that he was falsely implicated in the case, reported
PTI. Suggesting that his co-accused had already been given bail, Bishnoi sought
parity in the case.
On April 12, a Mumbai court had granted bail to three
accused in the “Bulli Bai” case – Vishal Jha, Shweta Singh and Mayank Rawat.
The judge had said that Jha, Singh and Rawat played a
lesser role as compared to the other two accused persons, who were older and
had a “deeper understanding” of the matter.
While granting them bail, the court had also asked
their parents or caregivers to arrange for their counselling, including
appropriate behaviour on social media. The judge had noted that the three
accused persons had examinations and that their future prospects would be hampered
if they were to remain in jail.
Meanwhile, the court observed the allegations against
Thakur, Neeraj Singh and Bishnoi were serious, adding that that they had
deliberately created the app.
In a chargesheet filed in March, the police claimed
that Bishnoi had asked a co-accused to send him photos of 100 “famous and
non-Bharatiya Janata Party Muslim women” so he could put them up for auction,
PTI reported.
Bishnoi was also the first person to have shared the
link to the “Bulli Bai” app on his Twitter group, the chargesheet said.
After Tuesday’s order, all the accused persons
arrested by the Mumbai Police in the case have been granted bail, according to
The Quint.
Source: Scroll
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The Lady of Heaven protestors don’t represent British
Muslims
18 June 2022
The protests against the film The Lady of Heaven
reminded me of a demonstration I attended as a child. My father had taken me to
Hyde Park to stand with thousands of other British Muslims to oppose Salman
Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses. Ban the book, the cries went up. Some began to
burn copies. Others started to chant ‘Death to Rushdie’. My father quickly
grabbed my hand and turned away. ‘We are not a people who burn books or kill
authors,’ he said later. He never joined a protest again.
Last week, angry young Muslim men surrounded shopping
malls and cinemas in Leeds, Bolton, Sheffield, Birmingham and London to demand
the banning of The Lady of Heaven. Cineworld, caught off-guard, backed down and
accepted the mobs’ demands.
The BBC and Sky News, rightly worried about free
speech, hosted debates (a trading of insults, really) between leaders of rival
factions. More than 130,000 people signed an online petition demanding the
film’s removal. But there are 3.4 million Muslims in Britain: who speaks for
them?
When church clerics get involved in politics, we’re
told who they are and what denomination they represent. With Islam, they’re
just seen as ‘angry Muslims’. No one seems interested in digging deeper to find
out what’s really going on – and how representative the activists are.
A direct line can be drawn between the Rushdie
protests and those of last week. They originate from one section of the leaders
of Britain’s Muslim population: the Barelvis. Named after a Muslim poet and
scholar, Ahmed Raza Khan Barelvi, they have, historically, been peaceful and
moderate. Khan penned some of the most beautiful poetry and songs in Urdu
dedicated to Mohammed. But latterly the Barelvis have begun to accuse other
Muslim sects – Shiite, Deobandi and Wahhabi – of not loving the Prophet
sufficiently.
Eleven years ago, this politicised devotion led to the
assassination by a Barelvi of Salman Taseer, the governor of Punjab, for the
crime of failing to punish a Christian woman accused of insulting the Prophet.
Astonishingly, some mosques in Britain with links to Pakistan also condemned
Taseer and praised his assassin. The Braveli movement in Britain is now torn
between British laws and the blasphemy laws of the hardliners in Pakistan. Last
week’s clashes were a victory for the hardliners.
It’s vital to understand the different strands of
Islam in Britain if we want to defeat the potentially dangerous anti-West ones.
Islam is a world religion but Arabs, Turks, Bengalis, Nigerians, Somalis and
Algerians are not leading or organising these protests. It’s just one sect.
It’s vital also to understand how most British Muslims see things. Opinion
polls show that Muslims are, if anything, more likely than non-Muslims to say they’re
proud to be British. Such patriotism is an extremely useful way of tempering
nascent sectarianism.
Ordinary Muslims have no truck with the activists.
They want to live here because they like our laws and our liberties. How do we
know? Visit any mosque on a Friday and watch regular Muslims perform their
prayers. When the activists then begin with their political messages and
appeals for money, congregants quickly leave. More tellingly still, most
Muslims don’t even attend mosque gatherings.
What I’d like to have seen on the news after The Lady
of Heaven protests was the matter being debated by Muslim women. This was a
story about the Prophet’s daughter Fatima, a patient and prescient pioneer of
early Islam but the only people who appeared on television were Shiite and
Sunni men. Among Islamist activists, women are treated as second-class
citizens, inheriting less, unable to divorce freely or marry non-Muslims. This
systemic misogyny needs to be exposed and ended, along with the extreme
intolerance now on display. As the Koran says: ‘To you, your religion; to me,
mine.’
The conflict between Islamist activists and our
liberties will not end any time soon. But to win this fight, it would help to
recognise what is going on.
Source: Spectator
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/who-speaks-for-britains-modest-muslims
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Maryam Azmoun named Iran’s women’s football coach
June 21, 2022
The 48-year-old has returned to the Iranian team for
the second time. She led the women’s national team from 2016 to 2020.
Azmoun replaced Maryam Irandoost who stepped down from
her role last week.
Iran prepare to compete at the 2022 CAFA Women's
Championship in early July under leadership of Azmoun.
Source: Tehran Times
https://www.tehrantimes.com/news/473908/Maryam-Azmoun-named-Iran-s-women-s-football-coach
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‘Digital Nation’ conference discusses women’s role in
digital transformation
Al-Masry Al-Youm
June 20, 2022
On Monday, the last day of the “Digital Nation”
exhibition and conference, a session entitled “Women are a key driver of
digital transformation”, discussed the proposals of women in the ICT sector and
the opportunities that digital transformation needs for women to work and
participate in the development process taking place because of technology
solutions and means of communication.
Egypt University of Informatics (EUI) encourages the
concept of entrepreneurship and self-employment ideas that depend on constant
creativity and innovation, in a number of technological disciplines such as
business administration, artificial intelligence, digital marketing and others,
Reem Bahgat, EUI President, said.
She stressed that in the various disciplines being
studied the concept of entrepreneurship and innovation is the focus.
The Egyptian government generally tends to support
self-employed women and entrepreneurs, not only in the technological fields,
but in all fields, Bahgat added.
Information Technology Industry Development Agency
(ITIDA)-supported programs are being implemented at the level of all
governorates in Egypt, Amany Rabie, Executive Vice President of ITIDA said.
After the COVID-19 pandemic, a boom in the spread of
these programs spread and the ability to better reach every citizen in their
homes was enhanced, which supported the concept of remote study and work, which
greatly supported women, Rabie said.
ITIDA implemented the “She is a Pioneer” program,
which has benefited more than 600 women.
This program was developed after the coronavirus
precautionary measures were imposed and social distancing was mandatory, she
added.
ITIDA implemented also the “Our Digital Future”
initiative, which supports many success stories for a large number of women
across Egypt and is based on distance learning program.
More than 200,000 people have benefited from the “Our
Digital Future” initiative, of whom about 35 percent were women, she said.
ITIDA programs take into account justice when
providing opportunities to women in Egypt, and therefore the programs
implemented by the authority serve women in any governorate, Rabie stated.
IBM is always keen to be a partner of the Egyptian
government in all digital transformation programs and technology, Marwa Abbas,
General Manager of IBM Egypt, said, adding that she is the first woman to run the
company in Egypt, which reflects the company’s interest in empowering women
being an active element in the society.
She pointed out that all international companies are
usually keen to have a specific percentage of women in all work departments,
not only in Egypt, but all over in the world.
IBM aims to train 30 million people worldwide before
the end of 2030, and there is no doubt that women have a large share of this
goal in a manner that serves the sustainable development process, Abbas said.
Victory Link company has a program to train women
after graduation at the university to qualify them for the labor market, Engy
al-Sabban, CEO of Victory Link, said.
The company launched the “A New One” initiative to
tell the success stories of inspiring women and their successful experiences in
the labor market and in life in general, with the aim of reaching all young
women across Egypt and other Arab countries, Sabban said.
A book is currently being published that includes a
large number of women’s success stories in Egypt, under the auspices of the
Ministry of Solidarity.
The book is scheduled to be published annually and to
include ten stories of successful Egyptian women in their fields, Sabban said.
Source: Egypt Independent
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URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/australia-hijabi-senator-fatima-payman/d/127297