"Why are you like this?" I remember being asked that when I was 16.
"Are you a Muslim?" funny I was asked this when I was 13 by mother and again at 17 by a girl from my school.
"You can't be 100% Arab, are you sure you aren't Indian?" I was asked that 17 as well.
Guess what? I have a solid answer to one of those questions: Yes, inbreeding.
Why am I like this? Let's define the "THIS" shall we:
1. Not wearing a headscarf
2. Opinionated towards customs and traditions
3. Opinionated towards political beliefs
4. Not particularly religious
So my answers come with some form of self censorship because believe it or not, I do agree with an "Arab" and "Islamic" custom of keeping others privacy "Istir 3ala '3airak" (Arabizi) to translate that it means "To "curtain" upon someone else". (I don't always agree with this sentiment though)
When you're a kid you live in the bliss of your own ignorance. When you get older you begin to figure out things aren't exactly how they seemed at all. Here are my answers:
1. I don't wear a headscarf because I don't believe that I should have to wrap myself up if a man doesn't. I'm not owned by this person, I'm not a possession. I don't believe in keeping the "freshness" of my beauty for someone else. I don't believe by not wearing a headscarf I'm "fair game". I don't believe women who wear the headscarf are necessarily modest, or uphold modesty. I don't believe it hides your beauty, and I don't believe it shields you from rapists, or abusive men. I don't dress like a hooker, I don't act like a hooker, and I'm not asking to get looked at. Plus don't men get looked at too? I can keep going if you want. I'm not disrespecting other people's comfort, or personal reason for wearing a headscarf, my mother wears one, my aunts wear them, they feel secure, they feel like they are a part of their culture or tradition, they are happy, they can be fashionable with them.. etc etc.. it's just not for me
2. Customs and traditions that no longer serve the benefit of your people, that can be very detrimental psychologically as well as physically - should be abolished the moment that realization is made. Abolished maybe a strong word, so here's the sugar coated way to put it "Not everything is everyone's business". My marriage, my hymen, my body, my life. FUCK YOU.
3. Not everything is black and white, it doesn't take a genius to figure that one out. A King is the sugar coated version of something that rhymes with Operator.
4. I can remember the day someone told me that all non Muslims go to hell unless they are REALLY REALLY good or translation - as close to being Muslim as possible. That wasn't going to fly in my brain because I loved my Thursday Mom so much, and I had met so many nice Christian people, that honestly have treated me better than my muslim family and friends.
Let me top off this nice glass of lemonade by adding a few more things:
- Gossiping old ladies and aunties who feel they have a say in someone's life when they don't even have a conversation with them can go role play Dumbo with their old lady skin.
- Polygamy - only works if everyone is HAPPY about it. Which from my experience has NEVER been the case and has made the children of ALL those marriages into unhappy adults. So again UNLESS ALL ARE HAPPY AND DO I MEAN FUCKING ECSTATIC ABOUT IT IT'S NOT GOING TO WORK.
You know what the biggest joke of all is? I spent most my life in a Muslim Arab society, and the only reason I ever strayed away is because of the people themselves and their contradictions. So if you are looking to give me crap about my choices here's my answer: YOU BROUGHT ME HERE
P.S. SHORTBREAD WAS RESTOCKED
