Soccer, modesty, sex, Islam

I'm in the office, writing quizzes, eagerly awaiting updates from the England-Switzerland Euro 2004 match about to take place in Portugal. I know my girlfriend is equally interested in the outcome of the later game, Croatia-France.

I was sent a link to this interesting interview with Mohja Kahf, a professor of comp lit at the University of Arkansas and an observant Muslim woman. She's also a blogger, and writes what can only be described as a rather racy blog on Islam and sexuality. The interview itself is at Nerve.com, a site that may be offensive to some, but it's worth linking to.

What I found interesting was Kahf's take on modesty and sexuality, a topic that generated a lot of heat when I posted about it last month. Here's an excerpt from the Nerve interview:

Q: Do Muslim women seek to change their role?

A: I don't claim to speak for all Muslim women, but I think huge numbers of Muslim women feel that the problem is not Islam but how men have interpreted and practiced it. But there are even larger numbers of conservative Muslim women who want to live in a world where Islam is practiced conventionally. The main proponents of barriers in mosques are women.

Q: Why?

A: Because they just feel more comfortable back there, behind them. We can lie down, we can breast-feed our children, and we don't have to be seen by the men. Conservative women are very comfortable with where Islam is. They feel that Islam gives them a lot of authority and respect. It's like if you go to a church and everyone knows who you are. You don't want to rock the boat. You get a lot of respect wearing the hijab [headscarf], for example.

Q: Do you wear one?

A: I've worn one since I was twelve. But starting about five years ago, I wear it and I don't wear it. I wear it out of pride in my heritage, but I don't wear it in the required Islamic way anymore.

Q:Do women feel sexier when they take it off ?

A:Women who are covered up feel very sexy, let me tell you.

Q: Really?

A: (laughs) Yes! There is such a sense of feeling enveloped and private, like sitting by a cozy fire. Like no one else has access to this warmth, no one else can see you. No one can see your thong underwear hiking up your back! (laughs) There are boundaries clearly demarcated between inside and outside, private and public, and for many women and men that is more conducive to a healthy sex life. (Emphasis Hugo's)

From Professor Kahf's blog, I clicked over to the Muslim Wakeup internet site, and found lots of good things about what's happening in progressive Islam these days. Given that the phrase "progressive Islam" is almost as much of an oxymoron these days as "socialist evangelical", I thought it was definitely worth the visit. Check it out.

Oh, and I am feeling fine after yesterday's little accident. I've also crawled out of the little whole of self pity into which I had briefly disappeared.

Comments

[Danny Vidal]

I don't think it makes a difference whether or not muslim women are or are not sexy ,burqa or no burqa, theyre still sexy as long as they show (if they show) a little ankle , foot or toe cleavage. It's all relative, it depends on the male observer's taste or tastes.
Not all men are brutes anyways, (although some men are) , and that there ARE is an insult to men just the same