As a muslimah what defines you, what sets u apart from the rest, what makes you stand out and even ridiculed? what is the most debated and controversial piece of garment in the West.. Not the bikini that for sure, but the hijab. A mere piece of cloth that is revered by many, the same cloth that is shunned by some and the very same piece of chastity that many, Muslim included, view as an agent of oppression. A barrier to reality and a end of one’s life if it’s donned. This hijab has been ripped, burned, thrashed and flung, and yet again it has been hurt.
This hijab has become soiled, with the blood of an innocent victim, a woman who defied the stereotype of a Hijabi, a professional, outspoken and an advocate for her rights. ..
MARWA EL SHERBINI.
Have you heard of Marwa El Sherbini,
Or is it just another name to?
Did your r screen flash with the breaking news,
Or is her story still waiting in a queue?
DO you have a moment to hear her tale,
Or would you rather check your mail?
The Facts : Marwa Sherbini was murdered in a courtroom during a case in which she had sued her killer after he called her a “terrorist” due to her wearing her headscarf. The murderer appealed against his fine, and during the hearing stabbed Ms Sherbini 18 times.
To the world, Marwa is another statistic of islamaphobia, another number in the casualty this war on Islam has claimed but to me she is the hijab martyr!
She was a human being, like me and you, a 32 year old pregnant women, a mother to a three year old boy, a wife, sister, daughter... A pharmacist, a Hijabi and most of all my sister in Islam.. a muslimah!
A woman to be celebrated not mourned and, a story to be remembered not forgotten. Let her death not be another catalyst to fuel anger into violence but a means of motivation for the down trodden to stand up and let their voices be heard.
With the media attention focusing on the headscarf and the abolishing of this act so dear to Our Lord, one would have expected to have heard this story, but truth be told many have heard but a vague interpretation or a very condensed version of the event.
This incident seems like something straight out an action movie. A few days ago a suspect was allowed to enter a court with a weapon, this minor discrepancy led to a women been stabbed numerous time in broad daylight. In the eight minutes it took for him to butcher her, the so-called security did little to intervene other than to shoot the one person who tried to save her, her husband.
What has happened to the worlds, when a suspect is allowed into the house of law armed? Where was the security checks, the body searches was it overlooked because he did not have facial hear or was it because his head was not covered.
Not in sadness, but in honour is Marwa remembered as
'Shaheeda Hijab' she stood up for what many of us overlook, ignore and defy. She stood up to bring honour back to the Hijab, to strip the connotation of ‘terrorist’ from this garment which is so symbolic to a religion of peace and to not allow herself to be trampled by an ignorant society. To many she has become the face of Islamaphobia, the growing prejudice and discrimination against Islam or Muslims.
To understand the events that took place, one has to rewind a year back and understand the chain of events that led to the massacre of a Muslimah.
Source: http://muslimmatters.org/2009/07/10/marwa-sherbini-the-hijab-martyr/
Marwa Sherbini, 33 and her husband Elwy Ali Okaz had been living in Dresden, Germany for Elwy’s scholarship at the famed Max-Planck Institute for Physics. While Elwy was wrapping up his 3-year scholarship, with his thesis due in the coming days, Marwa was raising her three year-old son. She was also three months pregnant with her second child.
The horrifying chain of events began with a small but significant event. Last summer, Marwa had taken her son to a park and while there, she found a young German man on the play-swing. She requested him to give the swing up for her 3-year old. The man’s reaction was bitter, resorting to unprovoked verbal abuse– calling her an “Islamist”, a “terrorist” and worse. Marwa, unlike so many others who face this everyday across the world, did not stay silent, and with her husband’s full support, took him to court over the incident.
A trial ensued and a District court found the German man (identified in some reports as Alex A.) guilty and fined him 780 €. The hateful Islamophobe murderer-to-be filed an appeal, and this hearing was being held last Wednesday. Here it is where the deadly assault took place. Just as Marwa had finished her testimony, the attacker moved across the courtroom and stabbed her – not once but eighteen times! EIGHTEEN TIMES.
Marwa’s husband, Elwi Okaz, made a desperate attempt to save his wife but a policeman’s bullet hit him (accidentally), and he collapsed, unable to rescue Marwa. All the while, the young son was witnessing this butchery. If one were to imagine this scenario that unfolded in the courtroom, it would truly be sickening and despicable.
One would expect such a horrific incident to have caused an international stir of catastrophic proportions, ironic enough we see the complete opposite. An eerie silence, a hush of taboo topic permeates the media air and instead of seeing the face of the murderer splashed across the front page and our screen flashing with repeat clips of the ghastly act we were bombarded with tributes to the Legends who had died of natural causes.
Had the shoe been on the other feet, the world would have came to a standstill as the breaking news was churned into the media machines, a war would have been declared, the murderer would have tried and sentenced already and his face would have stared at us from every nook and cranny.. Where is this freedom we speak off and which is is the justice that we stand for, because from the view I have our freedom is a twisted term that is constantly evolving and justice is a slippery word that stands closer to discrimination with every day!Let Marwa’s tale not be forgotten like the heroes of yesteryear, but her struggle, her end be celebrated and in our dua’as may she always live.
RIP Marwa al-Sherbini. Allah Bless You! Unfortunately, if the situation was reversed, way more people would have heard about this atrocity
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