Text
December 10, 2015
32,704 notes

Dear Non-Muslim Allies,

trans-muslims:

Dear Non-Muslim Allies,

I am writing to you because it has gotten just that bad. I have found myself telling too many people about the advice given to me years ago by the late composer Herbert Brun, a German Jew who fled Germany at the age of 15: “be sure that your passport is in order.” It’s not enough to laugh at Donald Trump anymore. The rhetoric about Muslims has gotten so nasty, and is everywhere, on every channel, every newsfeed. It is clearly fueling daily events of targeted violence, vandalism, vigilante harassment, discrimination. I want you to know that it has gotten bad enough that my family and I talk about what to keep on hand if we need to leave quickly, and where we should go, maybe if the election goes the wrong way, or if folks get stirred up enough to be dangerous before the election. When things seem less scary, we talk about a five or a ten year plan to go somewhere where cops don’t carry guns and hate speech isn’t allowed on network television. And if you don’t already know this about me, I want you to know that I was born in this country. I have lived my whole life in this country. I have spent my entire adult life working to help the poor, the disabled and the dispossessed access the legal system in this country. And I want you to know that I am devoutly and proudly Muslim.

I am writing this in response to a non Muslim friend’s question about what she can do. Because there is much that can be done in solidarity:

If you see a Muslim or someone who might be identified as Muslim being harassed, stop, say something, intervene, call for help.

If you ride public transportation, sit next to the hijabi woman and say asalam ‘alaykum (That means ‘peace to you.’). Don’t worry about mispronouncing it; she won’t care. Just say “peace” if you like. She’ll smile; smile back. If you feel like it, start a conversation. If you don’t, sit there and make sure no one harasses her.

If you have a Muslim work colleague, check in. Tell them that the news is horrifying and you want them to know you’re there for them.

If you have neighbors who are Muslim, keep an eye out for them. If you’re walking your kids home from the bus stop, invite their kids to walk with you.

Talk to your kids. They’re picking up on the anti-Muslim message. Make sure they know how you feel and talk to them about what they can do when they see bullying or hear hate speech at school.

Call out hate speech when you hear it—if it incites hatred or violence against a specified group, call it out: in your living room, at work, with friends, in public. It is most important that you do this among folks who may not know a Muslim.

Set up a “learn about Islam” forum at your book club, school, congregation, dinner club. Call your state CAIR organization, interfaith group or local mosque and see if there is someone who has speaking experience and could come and answer questions about Islam and American Muslims for your group. They won’t be offended. They will want the opportunity to do something to dispel the nastiness.

Write Op Eds and articles saying how deplorable the anti-Muslim rhetoric has gotten and voice your support for Muslim Americans in whatever way you can.

Call your state and local representatives, let them know that you are concerned about hate speech against your Muslim friends and neighbors in politics and the media, that it is unacceptable and you want them to call it out whenever they hear it, on your behalf.

Out yourself as someone who won’t stand for Islamophobia, or will stand with Muslims—there is an awful lot of hate filling the airways, and there are an awful lot of people with access to the media and/or authority stirring the pot about Muslims. Please help fill that space with support instead. Post, write, use your profile picture or blog to voice your support.

Ask me anything. Really. Engage the Muslims in your life. Make sure you really feel comfortable standing for and with your Muslim friends, neighbors, coworkers.

I can tell you that in addition to the very real threat to their civil and human rights that Muslims are facing, we are dealing with a tremendous amount of anxiety. While we, many of us, rely on our faith to stay strong, we are human. This is not an easy time. What you do will mean everything to the Muslim Americans around you. Thank you for reading and bless you in your efforts. Share freely.


Sofia Ali-Khan, 7 December 2015

(via bonehandledknife)

Tags: noted note to self islamophobia

Photoset
June 10, 2015
164,970 notes

lupinatic:

letsbeperfectlyreckless:

cyanine:

zubat:

importantrose:

cherrywitch:

turv:

Members of Ukrainian feminist group Femen staged protests across Europe as they called for a “topless jihad.” The demonstrations were in support of a young Tunisian activist named Amina Tyler. Last month, Tyler posted naked images of herself online, with the words “I own my body; it’s not the source of anyone’s honor” written on her bare chest. The head of Tunisia’s “Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice,” reportedly called for Tyler to be stoned to death for her putatively obscene actions, lest they lead to an epidemic. Tyler has since gone quiet, leading some to fear for her safety.

This is too punk

This is so incredibly raw and important and it needs to spread like wildfire

HELL YEAH badass as fuck

Femen and their “topless jihad” protests are absolute fucking garbage and I can’t believe they’re being praised on my dashboard. I’m not a Muslim woman so I will quote Uzma Kolsy instead regarding the issue. 

“The reason that I and other Muslim women were turned off by Femen was because their motivations and methods reeked of a pervading and deep-rooted ignorance of Islam itself. […] Femen did not spark a much-needed discussion on human rights violations against women in the Muslim world. Instead, it ignited a number of incendiary attacks on the beliefs and autonomy of Muslim women; first in Muslim-majority countries, and later, the global community. The protest prompted Muslim women to speak up — not just because they took particular offense to the tired notion they are gagged and rendered mute, but because they felt the need to defend their faith and their right to choose how they practice it. This meaningful response undercut Femen’s core, flawed presumption, that Muslim women are oppressed because Islam is inherently oppressive. To defend Femen’s protests, then, is to defend this line of thinking — a dangerous, caustic, and inept approach in tackling issues of gender inequality in the Muslim world today. […] Femen may have stood up for one woman’s right to bare her body, but they denounce my right and choice to cover mine, however I see fit. The discourse that Femen brought to the floor is not one that will allow us to progress as a society, but it is one that will pigeonhole all Muslim women as oppressed victims, frame the discussion within the bounds of the stereotypes that exist about Muslim women, and will relegate Muslim women to constantly defending their faith rather than discussing the larger issues at hand. And then there is the hijab, the iconic piece of cloth that Femen has deemed a symbol of oppression. Wearing the hijab, to be clear, is a sacred act of worship that many Muslim women practice voluntarily. In fact, I have friends who cover their hair against the will of their husbands and fathers who, ironically, fear for their safety in an increasingly Islamophobic climate. In a sorely misinformed and cruelly inimical statement, Femen’s leader Inna Shevchenko equated the hijab with “the blood and all the crimes that are based on your religion,” and called for Muslim women to remove it in solidarity. And what if the Muslim woman she was debating had complied? She’d be doing it as an act of coercion. When Femen’s free speech thwarts a woman’s freedom of religion, then they have become no better than the abusers they are protesting. […] Thousands of Muslim American women wear the hijab, and it falls within their Constitutionally protected rights to do so. Making associations that imply that the donning of the headscarf is oppressive, while showing off silky tresses is liberating, is unscrupulous. In the aftermath of the Femen protest, Muslim women came out in droves to demonstrate that Islam is not oppressive and that they have the right to choose to wear the hijab. In response, Shevchenko told Huffington Post U.K., “They write on their posters that they don’t need liberation but in their eyes it’s written ‘help me.’” As supposed trailblazers in initiating a discussion on women and religion, it is tragically ironic that when Muslim women spoke up, Femen didn’t care to listen. […] In the post-9/11 world, Femen’s dangerous assertions only feed the already raging flames of Islamophobia. It is wrong to associate violence perpetrated in the name of Islam with an emblem of faith because it perpetuates the horridly inaccurate assumption that Islam condones violence. To say that Islam guides its adherents to commit atrocities against any people speaks to the limited understanding of the accuser. […] Contrary to what Femen would have you believe, it is possible to practice Islam and champion women’s rights at the same time. Muslim feminists would tell you as much — as long as they aren’t being drowned out.” (x)

Don’t support Femen. Don’t support their “topless jihad” protest. Don’t perpetuate Islamophobia. 

tldr: FEMEN IS A GARBAGE ORGANIZATION

I wasn’t going to reblog until the last two ^ 

I love my religion so much, and I choose not to wear the hijab right now, but the amount of friends I have who adore it and love wearing it is enough for me to understand the freedom of choice.

Sorry - I forgot to tag this as islamophobia! Going back and doing it now

(via cthulhu-with-a-fez)

Tags: islamophobia is a thing look guys yes it is your right to show skin but it is also someone else's right to NOT show skin in case the islamic thing is too challenging for you think of it like this i might wear a leather jacket jeans boots and a hat (covering everything but my face hands and some of my hair) and that's fine or i might wear a sports bra and shorts (showing everything except breasts ass and crotch) and that's fine too because it's my body and i get to choose how i will and will not show it off if you want to demonstrate go nuts but muslim women are not inherently oppressed by their choice to wear the hijab the burkha the niqab or anything else and it is wrong to suggest that they are because it implies that they are not intelligent enough to understand it for themselves and that they need to be rescued they are free to act in accordance to their beliefs and if you disagree i invite you to fuck right off moran is pissed tag novel