Thursday, January 4, 2007

putting the fun back in fundamentalism



Some friends of mine discussed recently about the growing fundamentalism in the Maldives..to be particular, one of them was extremely concerned that his rather liberal-free thinking-easy going girlfriend has suddenly decided to wear the buruqaa and cover herself up in a "black tent" as he calls it. He says that he is concerned that over night she has suddenly gone from being "areligious" to a "fundamentalist" and that "she does not really know what she's doing and she has definitely not thought about it thoroughly" as he puts it .

The rest of us beleives that he is just upset that she won't let him shag her anymore.

Leaving the predicament of my friend aside, it is true that this black-buruqaa clad culture IS growing at an alarming rate in the Maldives. Where does that lead us? If we are liberal then surely people should be free to choose how to dress as they want or is it more than just a buruqaa and an outer-garment we are talking about? Just because someone choose to dress in a certain manner doesn't necessarily means that she is not the same person you knew before or is it?

According to my friend, it is NOT.

The worst, he says, is that she can't even take a joke anymore.

So is being a "fundamentalist" mean you can't joke? I decided to check the internet for Islamic jokes and here are some I found.

WARNING: If you even remotely think you might be offended, just LOOK AWAY NOW.

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A Muslim father catches his son masturbating. He says, "Don't do that my son, or Allah will strike you blind." The child says, "Abu, I'm over here."

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An Imam shocked his community when he announced that he was resigning from that particular Masjid and moving to a drier climate. After the session, a very distraught lady came to the Imam with tears in her eyes, "Oh, Imam, we are going to miss you so much. We don't want you to leave!" The kind hearted Imam said "Now, now, sister, don't carry on. The Imam who takes my place might be even better than me".

"Yeah", she said, with a tone of disappointment in her voice, "That's what they said the last time too . . . "


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A man is taking a walk in Central park in New York. Suddenly he sees a little girl being attacked by a pit bull dog . He runs over and starts fighting with the dog. He succeeds in killing the dog and saving the girl's life. A policeman who was watching the scene walks over and says: "You are a hero, tomorrow you can read it in all the newspapers: "Brave New Yorker saves the life of little girl" The man says: - "But I am not a New Yorker!" "Oh ,then it will say in newspapers in the morning: 'Brave American saves life of little girl'" – the policeman answers. "But I am not an American!" – says the man. "Oh, what are you then? " The man says: - "I am a Muslim !" The next day the newspapers says: "Islamic extremist kills innocent American dog.

3 comments:

hamzah said...

I guess when someone chooses to wear the Borka themselves its alright. As long as they're aware of both pro and con arguments. The sad thing is its usually peer pressure or parental coercion or both. Losing your sense of humor is a bit extreme though. I have a friend who purdahd up a couple of months ago and she's kept all of her personality traits. Some serious brainwashing might have taken place in the case of your friend's girlfriend.

Athena said...

Hey I liked the jokes, very nice. Its sad if they are really taking the fun out of a person. I am for Buruga as long as its their own choice and they are happy with it. I should also add that there should be no prejudice against anyone who chooses to give it up. Three cheers for freedom of choice!

Anonymous said...

If only they chose it themselves. Peer pressure and coercion seems to be the case in the majority.
But why? They are doing it because religion says so. Because they think they are exuding sex and come-ons.
It does not stop there. They start chanting Allah Akbar and try to prevent you from hip-hop dancing and ..the list goes on.
This is the big challenge ahead for Maldivians. Can they resist the peer pressure and coercion to wear the batwoman dress?