Running for Allah
Muslim Sister Olympian
About the author
Suhaib Webb
Suhaib Webb is a contemporary American-Muslim educator, activist, and lecturer. His work bridges classical and contemporary Islamic thought, addressing issues of cultural, social and political relevance to Muslims in the West. After converting to Islam in 1992, Webb left his career in the music industry to pursue his passion in education. He earned a Bachelor’s in Education from the University of Central Oklahoma and received intensive private training in the Islamic Sciences under a renowned Muslim Scholar of Senegalese descent. Webb was hired as the Imam at the Islamic Society of Greater Oklahoma City, where he gave khutbas (sermons), taught religious classes, and provided counselling to families and young people; he also served as an Imam and resident scholar in communities across the U.S.
From 2004-2010, Suhaib Webb studied at the world’s preeminent Islamic institution of learning, Al-Azhar University, in the College of Shari`ah. During this time, after several years of studying the Arabic Language and the Islamic legal tradition, he also served as the head of the English Translation Department at Dar al-Ifta al-Misriyyah.
Outside of his studies at Al-Azhar, Suhaib Webb completed the memorization of the Quran in the city of Makkah, Saudi Arabia. He has been granted numerous traditional teaching licenses (ijazat), adhering to centuries-old Islamic scholarly practice of ensuring the highest standards of scholarship. Webb was named one of the 500 Most Influential Muslims in the World by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Center in 2010.
Asalaamu Alaikoum wa rahmatuh Allah wa barakatuh, may you be in the best of health and iman.
I was just wondering brother, do you know what country she is from and what her name is? I would like to pass the info. on, insha’Allah.
MashaAllah.
Jazak Allahu Khair, your sister in Islam,
Saleema
Wow mashAllah!
Wa alaikumus salaam,
Her name is Juashaunna Kelly . She is from the DC area. She has been struggling with track officials for years concerning her uniform. Imam Mahdi Bray wrote a good article concerning this. http://mahdibray.com/2008/01/17/admiring-the-faith-of-a-young-sister-and-standing-with-her/. Imam Suhaib I am not sure if I am allowed to link to another blog, if I am in error please delete.
Wa alaikumus salaam, I think my last post is incorrect. This sister is from Bahrain. Her name is Ruqaya Al Ghasara. There is another sister in the DC area, whom she kind of looks like. My apologies for the error.
Ma’shallah
Sorry to be a pessimist, but I’m surprised some mullah somewhere hasn’t already issued a fatwa saying that the sight of a woman running is too much fitna for the eyes of men!
But I agree that this is wonderful news for the ummah and we need more of it. Part of me also feels that it is the women that will lead the revival.
Hang on, has she won or just made it to the second heat of the Women’s 200 metres semi final?
Assalamu Alaikum,
While Sr. Ruqaya did very well, she did not make it to the finals, let alone win gold.
http://www.nbcolympics.com/trackandfield/resultsandschedules/rsc=ATW002200/index.html
However, her times are improving a lot, so who knows what the future holds for her? inshaAllah if she keeps working, maybe we’ll see her in the finals at the 2009 Worlds.
ASAK,
Sorry to say this, but it seems she has only won her heat in the 1st round. Out of all she had the 4th fastest time and looks in shape to get a medal insha Allah. Our boy from Kuwat won his heat of the 800m. Today I think they will do the semi’s.
Assalamu alaykum,
Please pardon my possible naivite, but I fail to see how a Muslim winning a gold medal in the Olympics, be it a man or a woman, is such “great news for the ummah” and why “we *need* more of it”?
Are the ambitions of the Prophet’s Community reduced to winning gold medals in sports tourneys?
even i do not want to seem like a challenger but i agree with this brother/sister. the aspirations of our Ummah are so very high, very very high and they are definately more than winning gold medals. also hijab is not just the veil on the head but it is the hijab of the whole body. the veil worn on the head is known only as a ‘khimar’.
c’mon guys… we gotta do more. inshAllah.
my apologies for any offence i caused.
asalamalaikum.
Wa Aleykumasalam,
Well, Servant of God. It is great news for the ummah, because if you look at the wider picture, theres a lack of Muslims participating in activities which are beneficial wider community, not that there isnt need for scholars, yet we needed to be rounded as Muslims, or otherwise we are seen as ignorant and lazy if we be specialised down one particular area.
You’ll see hardly any Muslims writing established books about environmental issues, or papers by Muslims which have in great science debates. There is a deficit of Muslims in a lot of Professionalities.. it makes us look ignorant.
How many Muslims have crossed the atlantic? Or climbed Mount Everest? A handful if any.
We all need each other, and this can be an opportunity (above) that exposes Islam.
Allahu Alam…This is my perspective.
There was a neat article in Aziza magazine about 3 sisters that trained and finished a triathlon!
As the Ancient Romans use to say, “Give them bread and circus”
🙂 you guys be the judge of that one. Keep them entertained so that they may forget the more serious matters.
In regards to a muslim sister winning in the olympics, I have a problem with a sister running in extremely tight clothing exposing the shape of her body in front of more than a billion people. I also have a problem with the idea that she has uplifted the Ummah by running around a race track. So, I share the same contention as Servant of God.
As far as muslims doing more to help the environment, then I agree with that as well. I think what makes us look ignorant is the inferiority complex that we have where we feel we have to fit in with everything the West does to prove we are equal to them. If there’s any dimension where we should be sad to be inferior to the West in, then it should be in areas such as charity, health care, literacy and education, and other things that will bring meaningful upliftment to the ummah and the world around us. I’d love to be able to compete with the Christians and Jews in having charitable organizations that help the entire community, not just Muslims. Can you imagine, “A’isha bint Abu Bakr Medical Center” or “Abu Hurayrah Soup Kitchen”? The few charitable organizations we do have are targeted mostly to the Muslims. There’s nothing wrong with that, but someone mentioned something to the effect that it is important for the world to see that Muslims are making valuable contributions to the world around us. So let’s open up a battered women’s shelter. Let’s be at the forefront championing head start programs for preschoolers in economically depressed areas or adult literacy and workplace skills programs in areas of high unemployment.
Beyond that, I don’t see how one Muslimah (dressing in a way that belies the honor that Allah has bestowed upon women) competing in an athletic competition does anything for Islam, Muslims worldwide or even Muslims locally. If anything, it would embolden the non-Muslims to be even more fervent in their anti-Islamic discourse on women in Islam. I can see it now, “Muslim woman stands up for womens’ rights in the face of a 1400 year old religion.”
Our sense of honor is and always will be proportionate to our conciousness of Allah. Allah Ta Ala says “You are the best nation set forth for mankind because you ENJOIN THE GOOD and Forbid the EVIL and believe in Allah.” Beating them in athletic competitions doesn’t factor in to that, even to the least degree. No one’s saying that athleticism is haram. Quite the contrary, the body is an amana which must be kept in top condition. The fact of the matter is that (1) the way she’s dressed doesn’t conform to the proper way that any Muslim (let alone a woman) should dress and (2) it’s immodest for her to be running about in front of billions of people, most of whom are non-mahrams.
But if this is really a discourse about producing Muslims who are worthy of being looked up to because of their contributions to the Muslim Ummah in particular and humanity in general, my guess is to say that Muslim athletes, as a whole, have done very little to alleviate poverty, ignorance, hunger, joblessness, Islamophobia, disease, war, illiteracy, environmental pollution, or any other social ill when compared the millions of Muslim medical professionals, clergymen, educators, social workers, and others who work at the grassroots level to lift people up and help people out.
Wallahu A’lim
Wa Salaam Alaykum
I completely agree with what Musa has stated and quite honestly, I was somewhat taken aback by the picture. That being said, however, sometimes it is very crucial to move away from the sidelines and step into the game.
With recent events, I have come to realize that I am definitely not in a position to judge others. A person could be struggling inside more than you and me…the person could be more precious to Allah (swt) than I am…not everyone comes from the same backgrounds and are therefore at different levels in their imaan/practice (which goes on to affect their decisions and actions). When I first started wearing hijab, the rest of my dress did not match up and this was mainly due to my lack of understanding at a very young age. However, if I didn’t start somewhere and take that baby step, I would not have come to the understanding that I have today (astaghfirullah…I don’t know nearly as much as I should but alhumdulillah for the change). We have to be really careful about our criticisms because not everyone can pull through them. Of course, we shouldn’t sugarcoat the religion; we should know what is allowed and right…but I also feel like we should give people a chance to develop. May Allah (swt) guide us all.
P.s.: This was not a comment negating Musa’s response but just an addition of something that might have been missed. Forgive me if I have said anything wrong or hurtful.
Brother Franco,
To you the dreams and hopes of this muslimah may be a fruitless dash in aping the west, but isn’t the mimicry of outperforming the west in intellectual cultivation, piety or wizardy of any sort laid in the parochial desire of chauvinism and bravado? Even if that type of physical and spiritual aggrandizement were acceptable, would there ever be a point of self-adolation that is ‘halal’? I guess you get my point. By trying to snuff out the inherent harm in the flame carried by this muslimah’s choice of dress, are we not risking the potential good that might come of it? Somebody said, catastrophe means both fear and oppportunity in chinese, how can we photo-finish the strides of an ummah as diverse as ours, there will be trippings…
Salaam
Well said
Dear servant and Musa,
As-salamu alaikum, The Prophet said, There are two realities which are highly neglected, Health and free time. It is also well known that the Prophet and A’ishah raced in plain view before at least twice. Secondly, The sister is keeping her identity although not the ideal Hijaab, you should have seen the morrocan “sister” who was basically in panties and a tank top. Lets not be rigid. The reality is that the symbolism in the olympics is the point that your missing. The best athletes in the world. We are almost one in four people on the planet, yet we only get about 2% of the medals. This deen is not just about moral activities. Have you read up on early Muslim history. The Muslims were clearly physically superior to their foes if you know what I mean. That got them respect in those times and opened the door to their hearts. We expect that Muslim countries should at least count for a fifth of the medals but sadly we see countries which are made of less than 50 million mostly non-Muslims like south Korea who have in themselves twice the medals of the whole Muslim world. Muslims should do everything they can to earn the respect of the world while holding tight to their own values.
Lets take a look at the big picture and broaden our horizons
I think its best to be respectful and not call a sister a “sister” simply because of what she wears. The prophet said don’t help shaitan against your brother and insulting them or looking down on them definitely assist in that. We are here to call to those who have not enjoyed the beauty in islam that we have seen, not to classify them as anything else other than from us. Look at the words of Allah when he describes the prophet “verily Allah has bestowed a great blessing when you sent his messenger FROM AMONGST YOU…”. The prophet didn’t have a self righteous attitude and Allah taught him how.
salam alaykum
I can understand some some of the comments above, but I give mad props to this sister who is showing her faith as a Muslima and showing that you can be out there & be a proud Muslima and muhajabat. Imagine how much dawah she is giving — on NBC i was watching her race and they said “she is fully covered b/c of modesty in relation to her Muslim faith.” Imagine all the people watching that just were given dawah too.
Its been hard to see a lot of sisters I know and love take off the hijab b/c its not an easy thing to do. There’s a lot of pressure to take it off especially those of us who want to have successful careers to be out there w/ hijab. So seeing this successful muhajabat sister out there — it just makes me smile.
Nadia Aziz
🙂
Assalamualaikum,
There have been some very good points made. What people have to understand is that it would have taken this sister a lot of courage to cover from head to toe. At a time when many muslims are adopting the western fashion and discouraged from covering up – she has managed to do this in an environment where many athletes are doing the opposite.
I just wanted to tell you a story:
Every ramadan we have a radio station running called Mashal Radio. On one particular show they had a guest on who was a prominent community worker – he was a role model for the local kids. During this show someone text in saying that alcohol and drugs were really cool etc etc (they also had obscene words in the text). The presenter challenged the listener to come on air and justify what they had said. Now, the guest said ‘lets take a step back, it might be that this person wants help. They might be surrounded by the wrong type of people who are a bad influence on you. If this is the case then you need to get out of that crowd and find the right people who will be better for you.’ (i’ve paraphrased it, can’t remember it word for word)
One day the presenter was out going somewhere and this little boy approached him. The boy said he knows who sent that text, and took the presenter to that person.
The presenter met the girl who told him that when she sent that text she was at the lowest point in her life. When the community worker gave that advice – she heard it , and the penny dropped. She packed her stuff right there and then and left the bad crowd behind.
The day when the presenter explained all this on air – was the day that this girl would’ve committed suicide!!! But she was still alive thanks to a brother who had the wisdom to give good advice. She has got her life back on track and has been off the drugs and alcohol since.
We have been blessed by Allah with guidance. However there are many out there who are really struggling. There are many out there who are dressing wrong, acting wrong, in the wrong crowd etc etc. But as long as each of them are calling themselves a muslim – there is a gem inside of them. And i have experienced this first hand.
Walaikumsalam
As salaamu ‘alaykum,
I appreciate many of the different perspectives on this issue. As the father of three daughters I understand the desire to be able to have them as individuals pursue sports if that’s what interests them and I see this sister as making one attempt to do that while still observing hijab (althought the shortcomings of this hijab are also obvious)…inshAllaah may we continue to see others trying to improve on that.
Abu Majeed, I do think it is important that we speak clearly and accurately when we talk about Prophet (saw) and any of our mothers. Are you sure that the races with Aisha were conducted in “plain view.” When Shaykh Yaser Birjas spoke about this event he mentioned that the Prophet (saw) had everyone move ahead so that the Prophet (saw) and ‘Aisha were alone. The hadith is reported by ‘Aisha, not anyone else as far as I know. So are you sure it was in ‘plain view’ or maybe you could clarify what you mean by ‘plain view’? Jazzak Allaahu Khayr.
Sister I cannot understand how wearing tight clothes is modesty. Just because you wear a scarf on your head does not mean you are wearing hijab. Could you imagine a sister wearing daisy dukes and then putting a scarf on her head. What would we say then; masha Allah she is representing. Tight clothes goes against the whole purpose of the hijab. When the prophet look at hellfire and he saw woman he described them as clothed but naked.
Think about that one. I am done with the comments. However, I would like someone more knowledgable to comment. Therefore, I ask Imam Suhaib to share his opinion about it.
Wa Salaam Alaykum
“My guess is to say that Muslim athletes, as a whole, have done very little to alleviate poverty, ignorance, hunger, joblessness, Islamophobia…”
Muhammad Ali, an athlete who walked around a square pen in his shorts trying to punch another guy out, due to the excellence and perfection he achieved in his profession probably stands as the most admired Muslim in contemporary American history. I think it’s safe to say that this Muslim athlete did a whole lot portray a positive image of Muslims. On the scale of an individual, and not of an industry or collective group, his reputation has done more to offset Islamophobia than any other single Muslim individual in American history…
unless anyone can provide us with the name of a doctor, teacher, or any other service professional who is as well known as a positive player in american society.
i think its important to recognize that if a profession is halal by sound opinion, then Allah has created potential for a person to achieve respect and honor in that work.
it’s hard for muslim women who want to do stuff like this, no doubt about that. this discussion that is displayed above is revolving around the same issue that ive been struggling with since forever. how much is too much? some girls like to write, and because they can write they…well, write! on the other hand, some girls like to sing, others like to run, but can they just…run?
it used to frustrate me so much! how come a girl can express her writing, or poetry, because it’s less prone to fall into haram, and someone like me who likes to do something more out-there cant? hamdullah, i think i finally realized that it doesnt matter WHAT you like to do. truth is, with everything youd like to accomplish, theres pros and theres cons. some have more than the other, its never proportional. for example, you can write about bad stuff…and that makes it bad! with singing, its harder because you might unintentionally cause fitnah. so, okay, you can sing about good stuff, but questions pop up like..where will i sing? how will i sing? and how will people perceive me when i sing? or in this young athlete’s case…how can i cover? people dont usually realize the amount of effort one has to put into what they are doing in order to make sure it steers as far away from the bad as possible. they just see the outcome…which sometimes can be a bad thing.
theres so many factors involved, its hard to take a side really. for one, you are always told that if theres a will, theres a way. on the other hand, obstacles upon obstacles pile their way up in front of you such that doing things completely right are insanely difficult. but if you persist, you can break them down son!
and then comes the final question: will Allah be pleased with me? because in reality, it all boils down to this. even if your intentions are in absolute check and youve taken care of everything that could potentially be haram, you need to take an ubiased step back and evaluate it all. if you went through all of this trouble and you feel bad…dont do it! thank you fitrah 🙂
with this olympic runner lady, i see hope and i see persistence. true, were no perfect just yet, but with people like her, at least were getting there. if you believe ur doing the right thing, then theres a way. maybe 5 years down the line, there will be clothes better designed to cover muslim women. maybe 20 years down the line, there will be olympics for women only. and if we still persist, maybe, just maybe, we might have a muslim olympics. who knows? nobody ever said we’d start out perfect. but we can work to a point where the girls in the future KNOW what theyre doing is halal without a doubt 🙂
for muslim girls, its hard at this age and moment in time. but were the first ones to try this stuff out. if we dont persist and try our best to do things in a halal way, there will be no concept of dream. lets not look at things in black-and-white mode, or else we’ll miss the rainbow.
Asalamu alaykum,
While I certainly respect everyone’s contentions, I fail to understand why some are so judgmental? Many Muslim sisters are struggling to hold it down, and a hyper patriarchal cynical discourse is doing little to help them. I found our “track star’s” struggle representative of the challenge that many of us are going through everyday. The only difference is her’s happened in China and our happens at home, the office, school and at night in front of our computers.
I found the reaction of the, what seems, religious establishment, representative of the frustrations that many of us are faced with as Muslims who are trying to do our best. While I empathize with their contentions, I cannot apprehend the drowning sense of self righteousness that echos from their words? Religious leaders must realize that they are not dealing with books, sentences and rules of grammar, but human beings who struggle to translate those books and ideals, as best they can, into their lives. By pulling their support from under the legs of their communities, religious leaders will only succeed in distancing them from the very thing that causes their communities to struggle: fusing ambitions with faith. And to be quite honest, this is what has made the, so labeled, religious groups and methods, hated in most communities.
Instead of debunking our sister, I suggest we build on her efforts, encourage and find the strength to guide and share. I competed in athletics and was awed at her sense of bravery, the strength that came form her face and that message that says, “I’m Muslim.”
Not free of mistakes, but struggling has always been our model. If Imams are impotent to embrace a community that is struggling with self identity and growth, then they will have no one to blame but themselves when that community fails. There is not doubt that the community loves the faith, but there is a doubt that the community loves itself. Overly judgmental, at times rude and simplistic religious leaders aren’t going to help.
Move beyond your studies brothers, get out of the books and deal with the people.
SDW
Salam,
Brother SDW, I agree with your methodology when applied on the level of an individual, or even at the level of a community. When dealing with Muslims that are struggling, we cannot be judgmental, and must help them build on the good inside of them. Nobody is perfect, everyone is struggling, and that indeed is the paradigm of our Deen.
However, when speaking about global events, trends in society, and at the level of the Ummah at large, I believe we have to maintain a more orthodox discourse. What’s good is good, and what’s not is not. So while it may be inept/judgmental/self-righteous/harmful to rebuke a Muslim sister on her face for not covering properly, for example, it is certainly not so to preach to a Jumu’ah gathering the gravity of revealing one’s awrah in the sight of Allah, and the consequences of doing so on the individual and the society at large.
Similarly, I do not see how there is anything self-righteous or judgmental with teaching people about the negative aspects of a public issue at hand, such as this one.
If we follow your line of thought, then wouldn’t it amount to self-righteousness to remind the people not to leave their cell phone on during salah after someone’s phone rings during prayer? Wouldn’t it amount to being judgmental to publicly condemn Fatima Wadud’s leading the Friday prayer? Wouldn’t it amount to being judgmental and self-righeous to condemn Muslims engaged in acts of terrorism!!??
We have to make a distinction between helping the people and trying to please the people by watering down our Deen. There’s a difference between the two, though the line may be fine at times. Perhaps this was the reason why many of our scholars distanced themselves from the people. I’m not saying we should do that. But saying that those who command what is good and forbid what is evil are somehow self-righteous, judgmental, and cut off from the people … I think that’s going a little overboard.
And Allah knows best.
Assalamu alaykum,
This message is for the owner of this blog, Imam Suhaib Webb:
Dear Imam, I want to apologize for the tone of my previous post. I read your post and saw “SDW” at the end and started replying. Afterwards I realized from the top part of your post that SDW stood for Suhaib Webb, and that you are the Imam who runs this blog. I am new to your blog. I heard about you and your blog recently from a friend of mine and decided to check it out.
Although I stand by what I said in my post, I would have worded things differently. At any rate, I didn’t intend any offense, and I hope you haven’t taken any.
Sincerely,
A humble servant of God
Asalamu alaykum,
Servant of God:
I think there is a lot to learn from your responses. I would encourage you to think deeper about what I wrote and understand that there is no difference on “what” but on “how.” I think your experience is indicative of the things I initially stated. Perhaps, if you had only thought deeper about your response, your wording and method of discourse, there would be no need for apologize. After all, respect and good adab is something we should practice with everyone, not just Imams and Islamic workers. The Prophet (sa) said, “Be good to all people.”
Working with mufitis on a daily basis and observing them in action provided me with my humble foundation and understanding. I cannot thank Allah enough for that. After spending a number of years studying works after works, it was, and is, my work on the ground in Egypt, observing the legal process, that has shown me, based on the principles found in our usol, that the understanding I articulated is, inshallah, correct. al-Shatibi quotes the son of ‘Umar bin ‘Abdul ‘Aziz encouraging his father to implement the totality of Islamic rulings (very similar to what you mentioned as right being right and wrong being wrong] ‘Umar bin ‘Abdul ‘Aziz responded that doing so would be counterproductive and would cause great harm to the Muslims. Ibn Taymmiyah noted that the concept of an all or none process is sheer foolishness and al-Juwayni noted that as well. It is one thing to know the texts, and another to understand their application. A fetish for the literal, with little regard for the causes, aims and dynamics of the texts, tends to, at times, undermine the texts themselves. My humble advice to you akhi is to slow down, adopt a softer warmer discourse and learn to, as al-Shatibi noted, “carry the questioner like the doctor carries a sick weak person.”
SDW
Some of us youth are trying our best to improve ourselves, and we’re a long way away from being the ideal muslims which the critics amongst the religious elite want us to be like. But when someone tries to be islamic or does something which is closer to being islamic than not at all, to then knock that person down with criticism, thats harsh. Thats going to make them and others like them give up, which shaytan encourages, however this is not the result we want.
Jazakallahkhair Imam for having a down to earth approach.
Zahir – totally agree with you. In my line of work as a community worker i have seen this situation many times over. Youngsters living in non-islamic environments who then start to practice the deen are constantly being put down.
Please allow our muslim brothers and sisters the time and space to develop. We all have our own journey to take. Some complete the journey quicker, whilst others stumble along the way. I pray that Allah makes their path easy for them.
Say what you will about Muslims representing, and may Allah bless this sister with good in this life and the next, but how many of us would feel comfortable if our own wives, mothers, sisters, or daughters were to run in this manner, in plain view of billions of an audience, wearing what is required to wear in such a circumstance? And the above comment is not intended to pass judgement on a sister whose daily struggles we know nothing about but just a question of whether there are any double standards on the practices we are encouraging for others and adopting ourselves.
subhanAllah, this sister is inspiring.
as fellow muslims, it is not our duty to pass such a critical judgment on her; it’s not like we are in contact with her and can tell her personally that we think her clothes may be too tight, whatever the case. but as a fellow hijab-wearing sister, seeing her on the race track sporting her “hijood” only makes me feel stronger with my hijab. it’s not always easy, but thinking that sister ruqaya can compete in the world olympics with her hair covered [and, essentially, the word MUSLIM plastered on her forehead], it makes the difficult hijaab days SO much easier!
alhamdulillah. and Allah knows best.
Asalam Aleikum
Congratulations to the sister for her achievement. I pray to Allah swt to continue guiding us all and make us stronger & better in our deen. Ameen.
We are here to share and to learn from one another and this morning I found myself thinking of one of the comment made in regards to “prohibition of the sister making sujood in public”. (I believe this was on one of the previous article where the sister was in sujood position)
Mine is more of a question about that comment.
Are there restrictions on places where sisters can make sujood?
For example when am outside the house away from masjid and its prayer time. I do try to find somewhere private (secluded) and perform my prayer but let us say there was completely no privacy. Can a sister stand up and pray in between the crowd?
Jzkheri
Soemtimes i feel so out of place and i have to question why did i embrace Islam again and again.
I am not going to get into explaining why, but every where i look Muslims are biting chunks out of each other, under the guise of forbidding the wrong and enjoining the right and also defending the bidah and rejecting the sunnah.
We should learn to leave people alone, not make any comments about them. Especially this, because like it or not, its ghibat.
If you do not know the sister then leave it alone.
O.k, she may well be doing wrong, but do you think that Allah would not place around her family and friends that are enjoining the right and forbidding the wrong?
Although i agree with many comments from both sides that has been made here. It is not the place, nor the time, if at all.
I am very sensative, as is anybody, and i feel the disunity between Muslims just in this post.
Had my faith been based on present day Muslims i would have apostated Islam. This is how much i hate ghibat, backbiting, fault picking. It is far to common.
May Allah forgive us all, and i would advice a moderator to delete this thread altoghether because it is a stain and a source of sin.
Those people who are already in the deen or born Muslims, and when they do these sorts of things, it should be looked down upon.
However, those who were non-Muslims and then they embrace Islam whilst involved in these sorts of things then that is a positive thing for Islam.
Each has it’s place.
Respect respect to this woman .. 🙂
Its wonderful that she is able to pursue her dreams, however hijab is not just a headcovering, it includes wearing loose, modest clothing. Unfortunately the uniform she is wearing is tight, and reveals her figure, leaving little to imagination. Muslim women should be able to engage in sports, however it should not compromise wearing modest clothing. A lot of people assume hijab is just a head covering so you see swimmers, runners, etc sporting tight, revealing outfits and pairing it with a hijab. This is not hijab.