Female Species

Recently a competition called Miss Arab World 2007 was held in Cairo without a bikini in sight. You can read more about it here. A Sudanese participated in the competition but Miss Bahrain won. I spent a long time looking for the Sudanese participant’s picture and I finally found it! Apparently her name is Sumaiah Mohamed and here she is.

Not bad, but I’ve seen hotter.

I was excited when I found the picture in SudanForum but as I scrolled down, the excitement evaporated.

I’m telling you, we Sudanese are wonderful. I think even when it comes to cotton candy, we Northerners and Southerners will still find a reason to argue and bring out the never-ending Arab/African debate. Just have a look at how badly the thread deteriorated. Here are some random quotes.

SoulBrother:
I give her a B- I seen more hotter Sudanese girl and personally ,,, I don’t Dig skinny girls any how ,, Good luck to her

RenHeit:
Anybody got her number, I would like to congratulate her for participating and tell her what a wonderful job her mom and dad did

GoldFace:
مسابقات الجمال حرااااااااااام (Drima translating: Beauty contests are haraaaam i.e. sinful)

Unconscious Lady:
Goldface If They wore a Bikini or anything of that sort . We could say it is Haram. But they didn’t ok.

TTG:
Where this took place and who were the voters?
If the voters were arabs or muslims, then, you don’t expect them to vote for a nigger, they will never do that.

note:
Except for the word MUSLIMS (which you are always trying to stuff it anywhere), You are right, i agree with you arabs will never vote for Sudanese.

RAM~MI~RAN:
Why didn’t they called it Miss terrorists world?, cuz that is the only thing they are good at…

Ana-omdurman:
a winner of a beauty contest is not just about a beautiful face and beautiful legs (according to its founders) but it is a competition compromises of knowledge & intellegence as well. True in North sudan there are alot more beautiful girls than this but they may not have the intellegence capacity to pass the questions.

papimorenito:
i think it said miss Sudan on her sach not miss north sudan. wasn’t it this knid of atitute that started both the the noth-south war and north-west wra? this exclusive nature of the northern arabs.

we don’t need a CPA nor DPA, we need change of atitute and mentality. or els both CPA and DPA are useless

papimorenito:
on a good day i can excuse identifying as an arab on linguistic grounds, but say you identify youself as an arab on political grounds, now tell me that ain’t propaganda.

Ana-omdurman:
It is miss north sudan that competes in the arab world,that is why I used north sudan as example. It is miss Dinka that usually competes in East africa & Uganda and america

papimorenito
although this may be true, it is the kind of atitute i’m talking about, why do we segragate ourselves, when miss dinka goes to represent sudan in African contest as you claimed, there is nothing that stipulates that a northern can not represent sudan in an African beauty contest as the competition is open to african countries, so why do you assume that a dinka can not go and represent sudan in an arab beauty contest, because she is not muslim or because she is not arab

Read it all from beginning to end here if you want to.  Sigh! More reason to celebrate our identity crisis! But for the sake of being more optimistic, I must say there were some sane people there.

Hairy Male Thighs Free for All to See, Evil Tempting Strands of Female Hair Coerced Into Hiding

NOTE: Before getting accused of being all kinds of vile things, let me clearly state that I do not think less of any woman who wears the hijab. What’s inside a woman’s head matters way more than what’s on top of it. In addition to that, the majority of my female relatives wear the hijab.

——————————-

I’m not an advocate of the hijab. I’m not an advocate of harsh secular laws that ban religious garments and symbols either. A Muslim woman should be free to choose whether she wants to cover her hair or not. Sadly, in various Muslim countries that’s not the case, thanks to genius Islamic scholars and brainwashed hijabi Muslim women who parrot the former’s lines.

Common Islamic logic in such societies says that Muslim women must follow the strict Islamic female dress code.

When leaving the home, a Muslim woman must at least cover her hair and body in loose and unrevealing clothing, obscuring the details of her body from the public; some also choose to cover their face and hands. The wisdom behind this dress code is to minimize sexual enticement and degradation in society as much as possible for both men and women.

If they don’t do so in countries like Iran, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and previously even Sudan, they get harassed and intimidated. Wonderful, I know. However when it comes to men, the Islamic male dress code flies out of the window.

A man must always be covered in loose and unrevealing clothing from his navel to his knee. This is the absolute minimum covering required. He must never, for example, go out in public wearing a short bathing suit.

Behold! I present to you last World Cup’s Iranian football team.

Let’s dance and celebrate the double standards! But before we do that, please allow his Excellency Mufti Drima, the Sudanese Thinker to issue a Fatwa which all Muslims must blindly follow if they want to avoid eternal pain in the fires of hell.

It’s the moral duty of Ahmadinejad to punish the Iranian football team for revealing their hairy thighs and knees. The same goes for the House of Al Saud and other genius, wise, hijab advocating Islamic scholars. The Saudi football team must be punished accordingly. Moreover, since rape crimes are on the rise, female “moving black tents” (also known as ninjas) must not be allowed to walk in public. The way they move even when fully covered is still too tempting. From now on they’ll be transported inside boxes. Little eleven year old girls might have the same fate too. While we’re at it, let’s also reform Sharia laws so that boys as young as 7 will be forced to wear their own ninja costumes since many pedophiles are finding it difficult to control their extreme urges.

End of Fatwa.

Please spread the word or else Satan will bite you in your sleep tonight.

You may dance now.

Shua’a Dihailan, a Saudi make up artist, with her models during a European show!! I swear to you I am not making this shit up. I’m telling you people, this has got to be the weirdest post I’ve ever written because I simply have no words to express my conflicting emotions. Hilarious? Out of this world? WTF? Dodgy? Amazing? Innovative? Damn it, I give up. You decide. I’m speechless! Click here for more (sorry, Arabic article). I’m still speechless!

(hat tip: Amal A)

Heh?

Funding for tertiary courses in prostitution could be considered under changes aimed at boosting quality and relevance in the sector, New Zealand education officials say.

But MPs on parliament’s education and science select committee were told today that although courses in the world’s oldest profession might be considered if providers put them forward, they would still have to meet tight criteria to get funding.

*Scratching head*… interesting…

Howie, where are you man? This poor woman needs some serious psychotherapy. I feel bad for her. She’s been through a lot.

An interesting post.

Art that evokes is art that matters.

Me likes. What does it evoke in you? Conflicting feelings and thoughts? Can you reconcile them? I can’t… and I can’t be bothered to. I just like it.

(hat tip: Lawrence of Arabia @ eteraz)

Lovely article by Mona Eltahawy. I’m in agreement. Go girl! Those so called “imams” are real buggers. And indeed, multiculturalism has gone way too far in Germany.

I’m talking about a unique group of Palestinian women who oppose the Israeli occupation.

We are Palestinians living under occupation by Israel. The political situation is deteriorating as time passes by, and women’s rights is pushed further back on the political and social agenda. Anytime a woman tries to speak up, she is faced with fierce reactions from her surroundings. We have been under occupation since 1948. Being a Palestinian in this country means limited control over your life; everything is in the hand of the occupier. You are limited in moving around since most of the time you are not able to, because of curfews, closures, checkpoints and the wall that the Israeli government started to build since 2002 around the West Bank. You are focusing all of your energy on being able to provide for your family and basicaly in most cases just being able to survive.

Sounds lovely so far right? They deserve our full Muslim support right? Okay, I guess you’re probably still wondering what’s so unique about them… Here, ehm ehm (drumroll).

We are Gay in a society that has no mercy for sexual diversity. Coming out is not even an option because the consequences can be very severe. The options that are open to us are very slim; we either live a double life in order to survive, and still maintain good relations with the family, or run away to Israel where we can be forced into a hard life; prostitution, drugs..etc.

We have decided that the time has come to defy the norms of our society, and make them hear our voices for a change.

Yup, first it was Saudi lesbians and now it’s Palestinian lesbians aka ASWAT! Yaaay, woohoooo!! LOL!

(hat tip: Nizo)

I’m really getting sick and tired of all these so called “scholars” who interpret the “beating verse” in their own twisted way. I vehemently oppose them. We need more Laleh Bakhtiars:

Laleh Bakhtiar, whose English translation of the Qur’an (the first done by a woman) is due out in the spring, brings the session of ijtihad to a close by discussing what she learned about the Qur’an through personal study. Take the controversial verse 4:34. Conventional translation of it reads, “Husbands who fear adversity on the part of wives, admonish them, leave their bed, and beat them.”

But how could the Qur’an instruct men to beat their wives, Bakhtiar asks. After consulting numerous Muslim scholars and conducting her own in-depth study, she concluded that the Arabic root word “drb” (which has always been translated to “beat”) also means “to go away.”

So she translated the verse to be “Husbands who fear adversity on the part of wives, admonish them, leave their bed, and go away.” Now that’s major ijtihad. “We must deal with inconsistencies in the Qur’an,” she says, because the Qur’an is not wrong. The mistakes come, Bakhtiar says, in how we interpret it.

G. Willow Wilson also said the following:

…‘yidrab’ is almost always used in modern Arabic to mean ‘to beat’; but that doesn’t mean it was used this way 1,400 years ago. Part of the reason we have Wahhabis running about sporting the Abrahim Lincoln beard is because they are reading ‘yihla’ as ‘to cut off’ [one's mustache] (its colloquial modern meaning) when in classical Arabic it means ‘to trim’. Hilarity ensues.

For more on the issue check this video out.

Oh you have no idea how much I love this picture. It shares similarities with this one. I simply love it. Oh I so freaking love it! Place it infront of one of “us” and you’ll get a reaction and then place it infront of one of “them”, and you’ll get an opposite reaction. It’s little pieces of art like this one that truly matter.

G. Willow Willson shares her thoughts. I have to say, I agree with much of what she says!

Me: so how was Sudan? Tell me the good stuff first.

Lil sis: The first few days were damn boring but after big bro arrived from US it became really fun. He took me out to many nice places.

Me: Really? Cool. Which passport did he use this time?

Lil sis: his American passport so that when he leaves they won’t force him to pay the Zakat payments like they force many of the others to.

Me: hmmm… seems like things are still the same. Give us the Zakat. It’s your duty to pay it as a Sudanese Muslim bla bla bla. Too bad most of the Zakat money never even makes it to the poor people who deserve it. (My uncle had a big headache when he wanted to return to Saudi after his holiday. They made him pay a lot of money.) Oh well… tell me more

Lil sis: We also went for many wedding parties and met many old friends. The weather was good too. Oh ya and check out my henna. Nice right? Bla bla bla…

Me: Okay, now tell me the bad stuff.

Lil sis: (Lots of bla bla bla)… Oh ya and we had to go to this market place called Sa’ad Gishra and aunty told me I had to wear a hijab or else some people there would verbally start harassing me for not being dressed decently enough.

Me: thinking WTFish?! I mean seriously… add some chili and spices to it… now let’s try it again… WTFish????!!!!!! *Disgusted*. I thought Turabi wasn’t ruling Sudan with al-Bashir anymore. It’s none of those people’s damn freaking business if you wear a hijab or not.

Lil sis: I know!

Hmmmm… I wonder how many “closet” Lesbians there are in Sudan… Yo, Sudanese ladies in the house… Any idea? I had the shock of my life last holiday when I met a Sudanese lesbian couple in Mamoon 7immeda uni. Long story. Maybe another day. Meanwhile enjoy the rants of Saudi lesbians here and here.

I’ve blogged about Taraji Mustafa a month ago and gave my opinion on her based on an Arabic article I read. Now after watching a video of the interview she had with Al Arabiya, I have more to say.

After watching the video, one can quite easily notice that Taraji Mustafa was emotionally charged when she was talking. She reminded a little bit of Wafa Sultan. Both were emotional when they spoke and both have the same hair do. The difference however was that Wafa’s criticisms were in the context of religion. Taraji’s are not. She has a clear disliking towards Arabs and Arab attitudes. Being a northern Sudanese she also seems to consider herself as purely African and not Afro-Arab as most northern Sudanese including myself do. At least that’s the impression I had. We northern Sudanese have a serious issue of identity crisis. Bring a group of us, put us together and drop the question “are you Arabs or Africans”. You’ll most probably end up witnessing a huge heated debate but anyways, this topic and the issue of internal racism within Sudan are beyond the scope of this post.

I support Taraji’s overall stance and interview. I believe there’s nothing wrong in establishing a Sudanese-Israeli friendship association. It’s actually a good thing. Let’s see the following:

Interviewer: Do you have any popular or official mandate to establish the Sudanese-Israeli Friendship Association, or is this your own personal initiative?

Taraji Mustafa: First of all, I do not need a mandate to talk about my personal beliefs, or those of some of the Sudanese people. None of the Sudanese friendship associations, like the Sudanese-Indian or the Sudanese-Swedish associations, and many others, needed a popular mandate. Why do I need a mandate to establish a friendship [association] with that part of the Israeli people that believes in friendship?

Exactly! Now, seriously what’s wrong with that statement? Hell, I myself, Drima of The Sudanese Thinker have my hand stretched out in peace and friendship to any Israeli out there who also wants peace and friendship. In fact, here’s a “digital brotherly hug and handshake” to all my Israeli readers who don’t mind living in peace and friendship with me.

I admire Taraji’s bravery and courage. It made me go WOW. The woman certainly has guts. She doesn’t conform to the general negative “bla bla blas” of Sudanese society. She speaks her mind freely and says what she wants confidently. I like that.

There are some glaring flaws Taraji made in her passionate speech which I didn’t like though. Here’s the first:

…Lawyers called me to say they were initiating a constitutional lawsuit against the Sudanese government because of the words “to all countries, except Israel” [in Sudanese passports]. Sudan is the only country to include in its passports such a clause, which deprives a very wide sector of Christians, and even Muslims, from visiting [Jerusalem] and the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Wrong! That was a dumb statement. Sudan is not the only country with such a clause in its passport.

Moreover and secondly in my humble opinion, Taraji herself is guilty to a certain extent of the same thing she accuses the Arabs of. Let’s see the following:

The Palestinian people should not forget that we, the Sudanese people, opened our doors to them in the days of Sabra and Shatila. The Palestinians should not forget that Ja’far al-Numeiri saved Yasser Arafat in the days of Black September. Unfortunately, none of this is imparted to the Palestinian people, which, as has been proven, treats the Sudanese in the worst possible way – with racism and persecution – because they are black.

I don’t think it was fair for her to say that. She herself made a generalization too. Sure, Palestinians are not all lovely non-racist angels but at the same time they’re not all evil racist devils. How can you make such a blunt generalizing statement and describe a whole people as racist? Now, listen up guys and girls. I’m not going to sit here behind my keyboard and tell you that I haven’t experienced racism from Arabs who view northern Sudanese darker skinned Afro-Arabs as lesser Arabs. I’ve experienced my own share of racism from Arabs… in fact too much of it especially during my childhood school days in Qatar. I’ve been called names like charcoal, chocolate boy, “blackie” and slave. I’ve experienced racism from Lebanese, Jordanians, Syrians, Qataris, Saudis but not Palestinians. Yes, not Palestinians. However does that mean that just because I never met a Palestinian who is racist, all Palestinians must automatically be non-racist angels? Bleh, yup sure ‘cause you know I’m just like totally retarded. Damn it, of course not! I bet you a thousand bucks that there are some racist retarded Palestinians out there! Also ask any Sudanese who they think are the most racist of all Arabs and there’s a 90% chance they’ll answer “the Lebanese”. Hell, many Lebanese call Sudanese peanuts, “fustug il 3abeed” which translates as “peanuts of the slaves”. Yes, the Lebanese have a bad reputation amongst the Sudanese and many of us consider them to be racist but you see this is exactly what I heavily dislike… this whole generalization and stereotyping thing which of course I myself am embarrassed to say used to be quite guilty of in the past when it came to Jews and Israelis.

Most of the racist retards that I really hated back during my childhood school days in Qatar were Lebanese mostly, Syrians, Jordanians and Qataris but at the same time my best friends in class mainly consisted of 2 Palestinians, a Jordanian, a Bahraini, 3 Qataris and a Lebanese. My point? Don’t generalize and paint all people with the same ugly brush. I think Taraji got too emotional during the interview and I didn’t like the sweeping statements she made. My guess is that she probably had a very bad experience with a Palestinian person sometime in the past. It’s kind of like those funny Sudanese I know who visit India only to return back and say “man, Indians are smelly”, or get robbed while visiting Egypt only to return back and say “man, Egyptians are thieves”, or go to a fully packed mosque while visiting Indonesia only to return back and say “man, Indonesians are such good religious Muslims”. I can go on and on but you get the idea.

Taraji also makes another generalization:

I believe the Arab media in its entirety – TV, websites, movies, and songs – should be held responsible for this racist behavior. We are sick and tired of seeing blacks in Egyptian TV series in the roles of doormen, waiters, or drivers. We are sick and tired of the stereotyping of blacks in the media, in series aired in the Gulf countries.

In its entirety??!! Like whole damn entirety?!! As in everything?! If she said “some”, I would have no problem but “entirety”?! Damn! People, do you see what I’m trying to point out here? The roles in Egyptian TV simply portray reality. Most of the mentioned jobs are held by dark skinned Nubian Egyptians from the far south of Egypt. Portraying blacks holding such jobs isn’t racist. Plus how the hell can you explain the huge popularity of many dark skinned Egyptian actors and singers? And how can you explain the popularity of this Kuwaiti band which I really like?

Please Taraji, I admire your courage and bravery but chill out a little bit. Don’t generalize and don’t get heated up in the moment. Friendly peace loving Israelis deserve our friendship and we should stand against the wrong ignorant stereotypes about them but let’s not paint all Arabs with the same brush.

Oh well… there you go… my thoughts on Taraji Mustafa’s interview.