This week has been the week of the niqab for me. There has been the French ban on niqabs which has gotten everyone pent up for their own reasons. Then there has been the invasion of the niqabs in my hotel in Penang.

With regards to the France issue, it is more an issue for me with regards to the restriction on the freedom of expression and beliefs rather than about wearing of the niqab. If they stop a person dressing due to the person’s belief, what next? If you can walk around naked on a beach in France why can’t you cover yourself up entirely.

The niqab tour on the otherhand is bizarre. It is like nothing I have ever  seen before. My parents are amused and shocked at the same time and they are quite strict muslims.  The women at breakfast today could hardly eat and they kept on starting at others as if we were demons for showing our faces! The group seem to be from Saudi and the men are those typical Saudi men that us Dubai ladies have had to contend with many a time. They will perv and try and pick us up but repress their wives. I have no love for them and the women for allowing these men to do this to them. I also don’t like the tour as they are Saudis and they are worst nationality I have had to contend with on holiday after Israelis. I swear Saudis and Israelis should live on an island together cos they have the same messed up in the head superiority complex.

Anyway I don’t do politics so moving on (yeah I just wanted to mention the niqab tour cos its strange man).  My problem today is the niqab and the whole notion of it. I’ll give you various sceanarios to explain why I am not enamoured by niqabi’s:

There is an auntie from our community who has a new daughter-in-law.  The daughter wont take off the niqabi even when at home with her new family and will not eat with the family at dinner, but instead eats in her bedroom with her husband. The husband is wimp so won’t order her to take off the niqab and join the family as manners and etiquette dictates. Now from my understanding you are supposed to take off the niqab in your house. This new house is her home now so by not taking it off and joining the family she is being beyond offensive.
The other day one of the older, wiser aunties told the girl that she should take of the niqab in her house especially as there were only women in the house. The girl refused. She’s now been banned to visit this head auntie’s house and other people’s houses due to her unreasonable behaviour.

I have a cousin who is a niqabi. I really cant remember what she looks like but she’s supposedly my cousin. Anyway at my cousin’s funeral, all us girl cousin’s sat in a room together praying, gossiping, etc, as we do whilst the men went to the kabrastan/graveyard. The niqabi cousin refused to take off the niqab and wouldn’t touch us (did I mention she was wearing gloves). This was shameful as she wasn’t providing proper condolences to the family members. As you can imagine, my family from both sides of the family especially the girls are very much like me, so this was not accepted and she became Russia in the 80’s (very much frozen out).
Jack Straw a few years back stoked up a fire as he asked a niqabi to lift her veil as he couldn’t hear what she was saying. She got on her high horse. Loads of women decided to get back at Jack Straw to wear the niqab including 3 sisters in our community. The family are a bunch of religious nuts (I believe their brother is in jail right now for holding terrorist stuff on his computer – not too bright that one); but  to wear a niqab only to infuriate a politician is ridiculous no? They even told me that was the reason they were doing it. I mean how is this going to harm Jack Straw. It didn’t harm him at all by the looks of it. He is still one of the most respected politicians we had for a very long time and my brother worked with him once and said he was a sound bloke.
There is a bird in Dubai who does speeches about wearing the niqab. She talks/tweets/facebooks about it all the time. She then decide change her twitter pic to show her hands and wrist hennaed up. In Arabic/Sub continent culture the hand and wrists are sexually alluring parts of the body (kinda of like the Victorian era – remember Age of Innocence) and even more so with henna on it. If you are a niqab you cannot show your sexually alluring hands and wrists with henna on it especially if you are not married!! Haram quite a few of us said and then pressed the  unfollow button. (ok I also unfollowed her cos she was tweeting hadiths and suras to me – if I wanna know I’ll read the quran – thanks).  If it had been anyone else im sure there wouldn’t have been so many of us getting all stoked up about it but it was because it was her. You can’t go on and on and on about being a niqabi and then do something that is obviously not correct behaviour for one.
I went to DEWA to cancel my water and electricity. I was in the ladies section served by a niqabi. I couldn’t hear her. I looked around and there were no men around so I asked her politely to move her veil so I could hear her and close my account as quickly as possible. She wouldn’t do it. I got pissed off and complained to her manager. How can she be on the front desk providing customer service if you cant hear her was my argument. He agreed.

So what does the above show other than my disdain for the niqab?

Ithought that when you wore the niqab you were supposed to be inconspicious?? I feel it is being used by women not to cover up for religious reasons but as a form of expression for political, social and dare I say it, aggravating reasons. If you want to cover up go for it, but don’t be difficult about it and cause agro to the rest of us. You don’t see me giving speeches about what im wearing (H&M jeans, Marks &  Spencer top, Marc Jacobs bag, Havianas thin strap if you must know).

If you are with a bunch of ladies only, it’s offensive and rude to not take it off. Hell you might not be who we thought you were. I can only accept that you are not going to take if off in front of women if you are extremely minging or wearing skanky clothes underneath.

If you choose to wear the niqab let it be for the right reason and not just to prove a point to the politicians, other people, society. Have you not got something better to do in your life like a job or looking after your family, than proving a point??

And it cant work both ways. You can’t be all pious and self congratulating on wearing the niqab and then do some haram activities.

Also finally those ladies that stop wearing the niqab suddenly – why does that happen?? One minute you are drilling into us that you are a niqabi and then next you go to the opposite extreme and start wearing hoochy mama skirts and heels and act like a prostitute? Whats up with that??

Ok rant over.