Ignorance is Bliss… Says Who?

Inspired by a another quirky post on Qatar Living

By: Bint Khalid

There are moments in life when a person’s mind goes completely blank. Usually these moments occur as the human mind reacts in surprise, bewilderment or shock. You are either left speechless or in a silent debate with your own brain. I speak for myself when I admit that I have had my fair share of such instances. If you had to ask me to squeeze out a memory of such an instance then I would have to say it is one repeated statement, that was at times formed into a question, which used to drive my brain first into bafflement, and then into an insane mental process often revolving around the question ‘why’. In such a situation I tend to stand mutely, leaving the person in front of me to think that I had just agreed with what they had said that left me in amazement, unaware of the electric surge my brain was going through, and completely misunderstanding the look of incomprehension plastered on my face. This whole process is conducted in a matter of seconds, and by the time I react I see the back of their heads as they depart, oblivious to the mental slap I was sending their way.

“You like the freedom, huh?”, “So now you are free!”, “You can do whatever you like” are some such statements that set the tone for the scene described above. It seems like a simple and innocent question or statement, but in reality it is more than a friendly expression of compassion. Its deeper connotations are the exact reasons why I would always, every time, pause there mystified and just a little bit offended.    

Living in the United Kingdom for a time is why I was often asked such a question or had such statements blown my way, and the reason I found them unintelligent was because the concept of freedom is, in my humble view, subjective. I never saw how a Muslim going into a nightclub became the epitome of freedom (it seemed a major concern for many).

Now the words Arab and Muslim are often used interchangeably despite the fact that Arabs are an ethnic group while Muslims are those who are members of the Islamic faith, having nothing to with where a person is from or their ethnicity. It is something awkward when the two are jumbled together into one category. Nevertheless, I will resist going into a lengthy analysis of the semantics and distinctions between the two words, and as I am unaware as to which category you would particularly refer to, I will simply drop my head, relent, and do the same….    

So as I was saying… If one were to contemplate the issue of freedom today, it is comprehensive and covers countless scenarios and examples. But, what is the definition of freedom? And is there such a thing as imposed freedom, specifically in cases where my idea of freedom does not tally with yours? If we consider a couple of ideas with an open mind…

Using one commonly held rally sign; it is possible that some women might actually want to wear a veil and cover their faces with a niqab. It could happen in this bizarre world of ours, where nudist beaches are widely accepted, and a trash can littered with crumbled wrappers, used tissues and cigarette butts is proudly celebrated as art. The assumption that the niqab is a symbol of oppression leaving women ‘faceless’ is appealing to some, but should we question this assumption when such a piece of cloth is worn voluntarily?

Then again, the inconvenient aspect that some people might be happy with their ‘backward’ ways and customs that are so far away from what Europeans deem ‘forward’, like eating with your hand or taking the time to pray during the day, going through those motions that many non-Muslims find primitive, just might be those individuals living up to their own traditions and morals.

I am almost certain that when judging an American woman it would be wrong to assume that she represents the whole of female America, if not the whole of the Western population with all its different sects, ideologies and traditions. It might just as well be wrong and defective to assume that one Muslim Qatari/ Saudi/ Persian/ Yemeni/ Egyptian/ Moroccan/ Lebanese/ Turkish/ Afghani/ Pakistani/ Indonesian/ Chechnian woman is representative of the whole of the Arab and Muslim populations, or that the whole of the Arab and Muslim populations are represented by this one woman. More still, it is insulting to assume that a woman who is covered (and I will let you imagine the extent of such coverage as it drastically varies) should be pitied just as it is insulting to applaud another for strutting around half naked.

The underlying roots for this matter of contention are fear of the unknown, ignorance and a lack of empathy. Please do not conclude that someone like myself is a damsel in distress, needing that sympathetic look and words that in actuality say “poor you” just because I do not live the same way of life you believe I should. Is it possible there just might be a chance that I do what I do, and think what I think, and dress how I dress, purely because I want to? 

I find hypocrisy on such a colossal scale completely repulsive, where people coming from different backgrounds are shackled at the witness stand, placed under scrutiny, while those in the seat of judgment do not practice what they themselves preach.

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Related:

Why We Fear The Unknown, by Jeffery Winters.

Susie’s Big Adventure blog wrote about‘The Veil and The Hijab’.

Veiled Threats? by Martha Nussbaum.