It was this article in The Observer that sparked my interest in From my Sister’s Lips, a book written by Na’ima B Robert as a ‘celebration of Muslim womanhood.’

Na’ima B. Robert is the daughter of a white South African father of Scottish descent and a black South African mother of Zulu descent. Born in Leeds, she grew up in Zimbabwe and went on to gain a first-class degree from the University of London. She has worked in the travel and tourism industry, was a teacher and has written and illustated children’s books. Following her conversion to Islam and her marriage to a Ghanaian revert, she settled in South London, where she now lives with her husband and two small sons.

Having experienced very little (if any) religious upbringing with no family connections to a faith I hoped that Robert’s invitation to view life ‘beneath the veil’ would to some degree widen my understanding of ‘western reverts’. She explores the many stereotypical notions of Muslim women in Britain from ‘covering’ to marriage to motherhood and offers an in-depth account of her personal journey to Islam.

At times I found Robert’s analysis of women and Islam rather difficult and somewhat overly self-righteous but as a non-Muslim this is understandable and something she herself put into words – ‘Although I have tried to explain Islamic concepts as clearly as possible, there are some things that will be difficult for non-Muslims to understand. The Muslim accepts these things because of his faith and grounding in Islamic knowledge – the same cannot be expected of those who have not entered the faith’.

One concept that particularly interests me concerning Islam is the progression from the hijab and loose fitting clothing to the abaya(h) (modest ‘dresses’) to half/full jilbabs and the burqa/niqab. What exactly is it that women find so ‘liberating’ about covering their physical attributes? And why is it that they do all of this in the name of ‘Allah?’ What ‘reward’ do they receive for embracing Islamic values and traditions? It wasn’t until ‘Part 2:Living Islam‘ that I really connected with what was being said. As a vegan I guess in someways I belong to a group of extreme individuals that share/respect and stand by certain principles no matter what strains are placed upon me to indulge in non-vegan products (ridicule/peer pressure/ignorance/facilities etc.) It is possible then for me to understand the Muslim dress progression in terms of vegetarianism progression i.e. from lacto-ovo vegetarianism to lacto/ovo vegetarianism to veganism to fruitarianism etc etc. Being vegan is something I am proud to be everyday and something I find personally rewarding/liberating through a lack of falter. By drawing such an analogy (albeit a rather simple one — I know) I feel that I can at least begin to understand a small amount of the many challenges that faces a Muslim woman in a western world. I am far from ignorant to the western attitudes concerning Muslims (gender roles/threat of terrorism/suicide bombers/honour killings/arranged marriages etc) and further seek to develop my personal understandings of Islam and it’s magnitude of followers.

Refreshing, controversial and often surprising, From my Sisters’ Lips is an invitation to a world usually seen only by those admitted to its inner circle. It is a celebration of their womanhood and friendship – a celebration of their Islam.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, February 9th, 2006 at 3:10 pm and is filed under Reviews and tagged as books, hejab, muslim, women. Print this blog post. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.