Has everyone seen the photo of the Archbishop of Canterbury presenting an award to Hafiz Muhammad Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi? If not, please have a look

[TheStateWeAreIn]

I don’t know what to say really, I just want as many women on MN as possible to see this picture.

Particularly Hafiz Muhammad Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi‘s wife.

There’s so much going on there.

(I know there’s another thread about the award and it’s subsequent withdrawal, I just wanted to start a thread to focus on the photo)

This will be the UK in future years unless we elect a leader with a pair of bollocks!!.

Go through the whole Lambeth Palace photostream
compare the outfits of the various recipients and their families
www.flickr.com/photos/lambethpalace/55522258704

I would like to have seen a picture of the Archbishop and the Iman shaking hands. Now that would really have shown a positive relationship between two religions. I doubt that that picture exists however, though of course if the Archbishop were a man there would be no issue about a handshake.

I used to feel ambivalent about women wearing burka and niqab. But now I don’t. Hijab is one thing ( though so many religions have weird rules about covering womens hair I do sometimes wonder if it is some sort of sexual perversion that has been absorbed into religion in some creepy way! ) though I personally don’t like to see it on young prepubertal girls. But my feelings about women covering themselves totally have changed and I now feel it actually has no place in UK society. When I see how women in Egypt, Iran and even Afghanistan - countries which at one time even within living memory were not so prescriptive about women’s dress - are treated if they try to uncover, then I feel more and more that this aspect of Islam is driven largely by male domination, misogyny and oppression towards women than any religious observance.

Really interesting question and I reject all religious beliefs so I’ll never be able to answer from actual experience, but I suspect I’d feel much more oppressed being told what to wear or risk brutal punishment rather than choosing what to wear myself and dressing accordingly. 🤷‍♀️

I wonder if a male AB of C would have agreed to this photo or would have realised how bad the optics would be.

What absolute total bollocks 🙄. There are lots of very good arguments for reducing immigration but this is not one of them. FFS.

Oh my God, I saw this photo yesterday and didn't even notice his wife was there. Mission accomplished maybe.

Wearing extreme clothing to cover up is performative Islam. The 'Look at how holy I am'. branch of cultural Islam. Muslims are required to protect the environment. The statistics on young Muslim women cycling are very low. Many Muslim women go in for the, 'look at how devout I am', rather than following Islamic law. Islam also teaches that the body is a temple. Wearing full covering so the body is denied Vitamin D from the sun. (Covered Muslim women are traditionally low in Vit D) is not Islamic.

Behave yersel wuman!!
ridiculous comment.😂

Very good points. Is this because of Wahhabism?
I've seen girls of primary school age wearing the hijab in our town.

Yes, she's almost invisible.

I imagine the Archbishop of Canterbury is quite full of contradictions anyway given she rose through the ranks of a church who was at war with itself over female vicars and had quite the hoo haa about becoming bishops, and a lot of the Anglican community I'm sure are still not happy about it! And that's not to mention the wider Christian faith having a lot of problems with women doing anything in the church other than being nuns or flower arranging.

What does Mrs Ashrafi say about her choice of dress? Are you a feminist @TheStateWeAreIn ?

"His wife's thoughts". Hahaha you do realise she will not be allowed any independent thoughts of her own? Probably not allowed out of the house on her own either.

Can you say a bit more? I’m looking but not noticing much so far- apart from excessive black and Anglican blue. I wouldn’t fit in, sartorially speaking, though I’m very involved in a church community.

It shouldn't be women having to change their dress it should be men changing their behaviour

You would gladly wear one, but it would make you struggle because you couldn't be yourself.

"Creative" is one word for that, I guess.

Its horrendous. That they actually expect us to believe women want to dress like that.

And the timing is ironic: in Afghanistan they just banned girls from going to school: and legalised child marriage. Iraq just did as well.

It is not a cultural choice if you havd been indoctrinated from childhood. It is not empowering if only women do it. It is a stain on our country that we allow the oppression of women because it's masquerading as culture.

Agree that we need to keep these two conversations separate. Women’s rights need to be their own subject. Otherwise, concerns get inappropriately tainted with the xenophobic brush.

The Anglican Church is a joke. Just a couple days ago Leeds Cathedral unveiled a "tapestry" commemorating 5 Hamas Terrorists. Then to add insult to injury the Dean was asked if he condemned the murder of The Bibas family (a mother and her two babies taken captive on October 7th) and he wouldn't.

I say if men can't control themselves maybe they should wear blindfolds instead of the women covering their entire body.

Very interesting question

No I was not indoctrinated and forced to hide my face and body. I did not have my clitoris and labia sliced off and my vagina sewn shut. I am not forced to remain within the family home and not allowed out without a male relative. Just because it didn't and won't happen to me, doesn’t mean I don't care about it happening to others. No one voted to accept primitive, mysoginistic and often violent behaviours in the uk and we wouldn't accept it happening to white girls.

the coercion that starts from a young age making adult women believe that wearing a full face covering is a free choice is from misogyny

how the full face covering came about, how the uptake in recent years is all about controlling women

I can not support a full ban but I do support a ban in public facing roles and headscarves for girls in school

we are a progressive country this is not progressive in any way at all

Its also not a cultural choice if women are punished for not wearing it. Which they can be in several places.