Meet Gisele Marie, The Niqab-Clad Heavy Metal Guitarist From Brazil

Gisele Marie, is a Brazil-based heavy metal guitarist who also happens to be a Muslim niqab-wearing convert. Yes indeedy, she was allegedly born to Catholic German parents in Sao Paulo, Brazil, 42 years ago, found her way to Wicca, and then converted to Islam in 2009 after her dad died.

"Spectrus" is her brothers heavy metal band, and she's been playing with them since 2012, though it appears she has recently parted ways and has started her own ban with a 2016 release of a new album.

Gisele Marie says of her:

“People do not expect to see a Muslim woman who uses a Burqa, practices the religion properly and is a professional guitarist who plays in a Heavy Metal band. " “So many people are shocked by it, but other people are curious and find it interesting, and others think that it is cool.

Surely she should know that those who are so uber devout that they feel the need to wear a niqab or burqa also believe that music is haram (forbidden) in their religion.

It's probably a gimmick, and she's probably a man. Check her out.

Clip about Gisele Marie here, if you can bear to listen to the music.

Photos and more on her story.

Did Parents Of Chicago Guy Headed To Join ISIS Influence Him?

Here's a picture of the parents of 19-year-old Mohammed Hamzah Khan, that Chicago guy who was arrested at O'Hare International Airport this past Saturday on his way to Syria to join the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

Any wonder why he might have been inspired to go to Syria to fight with ISIS? Mother wears a niqab, not just a veil, but a niqab. And according to anti-political Islam Canadian Muslim Tarek Fatah, the fact the father has a beard but no mustache is a "dead give away." Fatah tweeted:

"Anytime u see a Muslim with long beard & moustache shaved off @Swiftie01 chances r fella is radical Anti-West, prime candidate for jihad."

He lived with his quite obviously religiously conservative Muslim parents Zarine Khan and Shafi Ullah Khan in Bolingbrook, a suburb of Chicago. Shared a room with a younger brother. Purchased a $4,000 ticket to Istanbul, Turkey. Not sure where a 19-year-old would get $4,000 plus cash for a hotel room and a bus ticket to Syrian/Turkish border towns. And none of the family knew what he was planning?

He allegedly left the following letter for his parents:

"FIRST and FOREMOST, PLEASE MAKE SURE TO NOT TELL THE AUTHORITIES For if this were to happen it will jeopardize not only the safety of us but our family as well."

He also asked his parents and siblings to "join me in the Islamic State."

I think that would be a grand idea.

Sources: Chicago Tribune, USA Today

Life Under ISIS Rule In Raqqa- Video Full Report

Here's the full France 24 news report on the 25-year-old woman who traveled back to Raqqa to film what life is like under Islamic State rule. She was born there, and this is the first time she has ever worn a veil.

Life looks like hell there.

Brave woman.

Video- Syrian Woman Films ISIL In Raqqa With Hidden Camera

One brave Syrian woman filmed life in Islamic State infested Raqqa using a hidden camera.

Under ISIS aka ISIL, the women are now forced to wear niqabs. Although some wear it by choice. Towards the end of the video snippet, the woman enters an Internet club filled with French females speaking to their families, and insisting they will never go home.

The Ugliest Islamic Face Veil Of All- The Burghu

The burghu, not to be mixed up with the wheat product bulgur, is probably one of the ugliest forms of Islamic face coverings you will ever encounter. There's very little information out there other than references to it in an article in Gulf News regarding a recently published book by Dr. Reem El Mutwalli titled 'Sultani, Changes in Women's Traditional Dress in the UAE during the reign of Shaikh Zayid Bi Sultan Al Nahyan 1966-2004.'

The burqa, and niqab are ugly enough:

Afghan Blue Burqa

Niqab

But the burghu looks like a cross between something out of some  fetishist/S and M catalogue and some kind of muzzle you'd use on a vicious pet. It also disturbingly resembles a mustache, at least in the photos below, which are published in Mutwalli's book.

Mutwalli  actually has an uber cool website, and a Pinterest board where you can see other photos of traditional outfits worn during the period of time she writes about, some of which are actually quite beautiful. But this burghu... it's  just another symbol of the "muzzling" of Arab Muslim womenfolk. According to some info on one of the photos on her Pinterest board (although that one is called a Bandari costume), the younger generation no longer wears them, and it's usually married older women and rural dwellers in the UAE, Oman, Qatar and Arabs of southern Iran and southeastern Turkey who still do.

Source: Gulf News

Anti-Snoring Billboard Of Soldier And Niqabi Muslim Wife Causes Stir

A company which makes products to help stop snoring has decided to embrace diversity in its ad campaigns. On the SnoreStop website, along with a middle-aged white couple, there's a gay couple, a lesbian couple, a bi-racial couple, and now it's added a Muslim couple to a billboard placed smack dab in the middle of Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles. But it's not just any Muslim couple, it's actually a real life United States soldier embracing his Muslim wife (although in a video on Huffpo it says she's his girlfriend). I don't think he's Muslim, at least not yet, but SnoreStop obviously wasn't satisfied in finding a Muslim couple with a hijab-clad wife, no, she had to be a niqabi, the second most drastic form of Islamic dress, and totally out of place in Western society.

Apparently reaction has been mixed, but not in the way you might think. Many applaud the diversity, some felt they were "misusing the image of servicemen", and still others believe it would be offensive to Muslims. For a change, the Council on American-Islamic Relations seems unfazed and actually rather pleased, for obvious reasons.

“I think that that is a worthy image which is designed to spark debate on the issues of races and religion and ethnicity,” said Ibrahim Hooper, the national communications director for the Council of American-Islamic Relations.

and:

Akbar Ahmed, chair of Islamic studies and professor at American University in Washington DC, said that because the billboard depicted the couple in “a very classic, matrimonial pose,” it was not intended to cause outrage.

Billboards like this are going to get responses,” Ahmed told Al Arabiya News.

One of these billboards will eventually be headed your way.

CAIR Gets Walmart Manager Fired For Facebook Comment

So Walmart assistant manager Terry Earsing posted a photo (that he allegedly did not take) on his Facebook page of what appears to be several niqab-clad Muslim women shopping in the Hamburg, NY store with the following:

"Halloween came early this year ... do they really have to f**kin dress like that ... your [sic] in my country ... get that f**kin s*** off!!!!!!"

Not surprisingly, Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) stepped in demanding discipline, and the man was fired.

CAIR published a statement on its website that includes the following:

"We urge Walmart to send the message that all customers, regardless of religion or national origin, must be safe from harassment and intimidation by employees," says CAIR-NY Board President Ryan Mahoney.

Full statement here.

I'd like to know how those particular women were being harassed or intimidated when you can't even tell who they are, and there is no indication that they were harassed or intimidated on store property, although if that were the case the firing would have been justified.  And it's not like he was advocating violence or deportation of Muslims.  I have seen far worse comments (which have actually made me cringe) on anti-Muslim Facebook pages.

I feel the same way about women in the West wearing niqabs. Hijab it all you like, but niqabs and burqas (and hijabs) are not an Islamic duty, though many in the Muslim community would have us believe it is.

Whether you think what he wrote was tacky or not, we have the right to be critical, although those rights are quickly being eroded thanks to organizations like CAIR, and Earsing certainly did not deserve to lose his job over that.

Bottom line, keep your opinions off social media, or write anonymously, and say bye-bye to freedom of speech.

Niqab-Clad Aussie Muslim Teen Files Complaint Over Refusal Of Service

There is no reason why a Muslim teenage girl, born and living in Australia, should be wearing a full face-veil (niqab). But Hafsah Negussie has chosen to do so and is now claiming that she was traumatized and that her rights were violated when a BP gas station attendant locked her up in the gas station and refused her service. This happened back in December, the girl is only now filing a complaint. BP has (foolishly) apologized  for the lack of service, but denies that she was locked up. I know who I would believe.

A Muslim teenager in Australia’s second-largest state of Queensland is complaining of being denied service and locked at a service station because of her face-veil (niqab).

“It's so horrific,” teenager Hafsah Negussie told Courier Mail on Monday, April 29.

"I'm Australian, I was born and raised here, I know my rights.”

The case goes back to December last year when Negussie, who dons Islamic face-veil, tried to pay for her goods at a Brisbane service station after a worker refused to serve her.

She also complained that the doors were locked by the attendant when she attempted to leave.

The incident was reported to police but no official report was filed until the Muslim teenager came forward again in April.

A company spokesman for BP service stations said the business required customers to remove helmets, hoodies or large hats before approaching the counter.

He, however, said that the policy did not extend to religious headwear, admitting that the attendant involved had misunderstood business requirements.

"This was regrettable and we wish to apologize most sincerely for this lapse,” he said.

"We are also reminding all our service station staff of our company's approach to religious headgear.”

The rest of the story here.

Saudi Arabia's Anti Domestic Abuse Ad Campaign

"Some things can’t be covered – fighting women’s abuse together."

Is this why the niqab and burka are so popular in Muslim countries?    They would like us to believe that there is little domestic abuse in Islam, but this just isn't so. At least Saudi Arabia is finally acknowledging the problem with an anti-domestic violence ad campaign.

The slogan simply reads: “Some things can’t be covered – fighting women’s abuse together.”

The campaign is backed by the King Khalid Charitable Foundation and aims to “provide legal protection for women and children from abuse in Saudi Arabia.”

In literature for the advert, it admits “the phenomenon of battered women in Saudi Arabia is much greater than apparent”, and encourages Saudis to report cases of violence at locations around the Kingdom including Madinah, Najran, Makkah and Riyadh.

They should add court-mandated domestic violence therapy for the perpetrators, like they do in the US.  And ban niqabs while they're at it.

Tunisian Husband Forced Wife To Wear Niqab, She Kills Their Baby

How tragic is this.

A Tunisian woman stabbed her two-month old daughter to death to punish her husband for forcing her to wear the niqab, or full-face Islamic veil, Arabic newspaper Al Jomhouria reported Wednesday.

The family lives in M'hamdia, in the Ben Arous governorate.

The woman confessed the murder to police, explaining why she did it. 

You have to wonder would this have happened prior to the Arab Spring? It seems that the inherent chauvinism of the Muslim faith has emboldened many of the men in what once were secular countries. They now feel they have the right to control their women, with Islamic law to back them up.  Wherever Islam rules, women's rights take a huge nosedive.

Source: Ansamed

A Canadian "Salafi Feminist" Explains All

So this Canadian Muslima, Zainab Bint Younus, claims she's a "Salafi Feminist." What an oxymoron.

She doesn't just wear the hijab, she wears the drastic niqab (only eyes showing), so Younus wrote the following (for the website Muslima) to set the record straight on what constitutes being a Salafi Feminist.

Back Story…
Salafi: A Salafi (Arabic: سلفي‎) is a Muslim who emphasises the Salaf ("predecessors" or "ancestors"), the earliest Muslims, as model examples of Islamic practice. (Wikipedia)

Salafi (Media Definition): Muslim men who wear short thawbs and have big beards, Muslim women who wear hijab/ abayah/ niqaab; Muslims who despise the West, have dreams of world domination and The Khilaafah (TM), and are determined to practice Islam openly. *Shudder*

Salafi (North America): A bunch of guys with short thawbs, long beards, and way too much time on their hands, which they spend writing PDFs declaring everyone else to be Off The Manhaj (TM).

Feminist: An advocate for social, political, legal, and economic rights for women equal to those of men. (Dictionary.com)

Feminist (Popular Opinion): Hairy, man-hating women determined to prove themselves superior to men and take over all male jobs.

Feminist (Muslim Popular Opinion): Hairy, man-hating women who are going to destroy the natural order of this world by claiming to be equal to men. Muslim Feminist/ Feminism: A form of feminism concerned with the role of women in Islam. It aims for the full equality of all Muslims, regardless of gender, in public and private life. (Wikipedia)

Muslim Feminist (Muslim Popular Opinion): Man-hating, self-hating women who try to use Islam as an excuse to destroy the Muslim Ummah from within; those who attempt to destroy the natural order of this world by claiming to be equal to men, or at least slightly more equal than many Muslims prefer to believe. Alternatively, Muslim women who have been brainwashed by the West into thinking that the role of a wife and mother isn't enough for her, and is now just a pitiable tool of the Decadent West (TM) who must be warned against, because there is absolutely no hope for her, especially when she starts trying to quote ayaat and ahadeeth to justify her clearly warped and corrupted views.

The Salafi Feminist: Someone who just likes to see everyone get their knickers in a knot when they see the words 'Salafi' and 'feminist' put together, and love to say things like, "in salafi-feminism you have combined two of the most disastrous movements in modern history!" (True story.)

Okay, so maybe I'm deliberately being a tease. It's hard to resist, though, seeing as how everyone wants to shove me and my views into an annoyingly narrow box, because unless you fit into a pre-constructed box, you don't count! Anyway. I am a niqaabi who hates those "Da'wah pictures" which say women are either pretty covered-up lollipops or trashed unwrapped candies being bombarded with flies. I am a happy wife and mother, and I loathe those people who try to tell me that I should only be happy in my role as a wife and mother. I believe in pursuing knowledge, Islamic and otherwise (and in fields other than gynecology or teaching kindergarten), and would really like to flip the bird at those twits still debating "women's education in Islam." I frown upon mingling between the sexes and pre-marital relationships, but I will never belittle another woman's value and worth as a human being based upon her sexual history or rumours about her reputation. I rage against the injustices of Western governments, but I refuse to turn a blind eye to the tragedies that Muslims inflict upon each other. Drone strikes, illegal wars, and the occupation of Palestine are right up there with domestic violence, sexual abuse, and racism within Muslim communities. I believe that men and women both have control over their actions and desires, and that a woman looking at a male speaker is not going to send her into a frenzy of lust, or that any man is incapable of keeping it in his pants when he sees a woman whose body is not covered from head to toe in black. I respect the scholars of Islam and will defend them to anyone who tries badmouthing them, but that doesn't mean I'll stay silent when some of their words are harmful to the Muslim women of this Ummah. I believe that homosexuality is a great and terrible sin, but I also believe that shirk is worse. No one should allow their sins to stop them from reaching out to Allah, the Merciful, the Forgiving, the One True God. I uphold that modesty and chastity is for both men and women; that women should wear hijab, men should lower their gaze, and that both parties assist each other in making their societies purer in every way. I believe that "The believing men and believing women are allies of one another. They enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong, and establish prayer and give zakah and obey Allah and His Messenger. Those - Allah will have mercy upon them. Indeed, Allah is Exalted in Might and Wise." (Qur'an 9: 71)

She'd like to think of herself as a feminist, but I think they'd disagree.

Evolution Of Islamic Covering Up- Burqa Joke Of The day

Okay, so this really isn't funny, but it's spot on. It will never be enough.

This would be much more fitting, since it's the men who have minimal self control.

Acid Attack On Brit Woman By Niqab-Clad Person

A woman in London had acid thrown in her face by someone wearing a niqab (full face veil) on December 30, 2012 as she was walking home after a late night shift at Victoria's Secret.

This is 20-year-old Naomi Oni's story:

“I’d been working a late shift and was talking to my boyfriend about what we were going to do for New Year when I saw this Muslim woman wearing a niqab covering her face. I thought it was a bit strange at that time of night, but she didn’t say anything and I kept on walking.

“Then I felt a splash on my face. It burned and I screamed out. I started running and screaming, holding my face, all the way home. I didn’t look back.

“I got home and I was screaming and banging on the door. I was hysterical. Luckily my godmother, who is a pharmacist, was at home with my mum and she helped me and kept dipping my face in water and trying to calm me down until the police and ambulance got there. I was in shock. Saying: ‘Who would do that? Who would do that?’ How could anyone do this?”

Naomi's face and body, including her arms and legs, were badly burned, and is now partially blind in one eye.

The attack has devastated the young woman who is sole caretaker of her mother with whom she lives.

“I look in the mirror and it just isn’t me. I’ll never look the same again. I’ve always been outgoing and confident in my job and in my personal life, used to getting attention for the way I dress or my hair, but now I don’t want anyone looking at me.

“I don’t want people to see me in public. I don’t want to get the Tube or the bus. If I have to go to the hospital I take a taxi. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to go back to my job. I was planning to go to college in September to study media and fashion, but I don’t even know if I’ll be able to do that."

Naomi will need many more surgeries but more than likely be scarred for life.

Because the person was wearing a niqab, there are no clues and no arrests. This is why full face veils should be banned in every civilized Western land: there is no way to identify who was under that veil.

Read the whole story here.

Why Niqabs Should Be Banned- Philly Girl Abducted By Niqab-Clad Woman, Mother Wears One Too

I don't mean to sound callous, but although I feel bad for the little girl who was abducted by a niqab-clad woman in Philadelphia, I have no sympathy whatsoever for her family. The mother, Latifah Abdur-Rashid, an obvious convert to Islam, herself wears a niqab. Really? If you want to show the world how pious you are, isn't an hijab enough?

Thankfully, the little girl was later found by good samaritan Nelson Mandela Myers shivering in a Philly playground 20 hours after she was abducted, but how this played out is exactly why niqabs should be banned.

It wasn't until a good six hours after the young child had been abducted that people even realized something was amiss.  A pregnant woman in a niqab calling herself "Tiffany" arrived at Cullen Bryant Elementary School shortly after Latifah dropped her daughter off. "Tiffany", claiming to be the child's mother, walked out with the girl after she told school officials she wanted to take her to breakfast. An Amber Alert followed, 12 hours after the kid was taken.

The kidnapping was caught on surveillance video. Odd that the school would let a woman calling herself "Tiffany" take her so-called "daughter", when the mother's name is Latifah, but I can only imagine they didn't want to cause any trouble for a group of people who take issue with pretty much everything to do with their religion. At least the ones who feel compelled to wear niqabs.

Niqab mama told NBC10 news:

"My daycare called me," said Abdur-Rashid. "(They) pick my child up, her and my son, and walked them to the daycare from the school around 3 o'clock. They asked me if Nailla had an early dismissal today. And, of course I said, 'no, she didn't.' She asked me about a woman named Tiffany and I immediately thought about my brother's friend. I called her and she was like, 'no, I'm in school. I didn't take [her].'"

Abdur-Rashid says there was confusion when she came to the school asking questions.

"I come straight to the school and they're all discombobulated. The substitute teacher, they're trying to get him on the phone. He finally gets here and he's like, 'her mom picked her up from school early. She said she was taking her to breakfast. I asked her to sign out but she said she already signed out at the office.'"

Confusion? You think, Latifah? It could have been a male under that Niqab, abducting your child. She goes on to say:

"In the surveillance camera that the school has that I watched, she's dressed in traditional over-garment and Niqab." "She has her face covered and only her eyes showing. She's wearing gloves. She's wearing all black. She has something white on her arm and she has a long black umbrella. The surveillance camera shows them walking through the hallway to get to the door. The next camera picks up and she's putting her umbrella up. Then they disappear."

Of course the school messed up. They should have checked her i.d. to make sure it was the mother, but no-one wants to cause waves these days.

Niqabs have no place in the Western world, especially by someone who doesn't even have an excuse, since Latifah is American. If you want things like this to happen continue to wear them, but you will garner no sympathy from me.

Note: Latifah's last name is also spelled Abdul-Rashif.




H/T Creeping Shariah

Egyptian All-Female Niqab TV Channel Debuts During Ramadan

That all-female, niqab-clad satellite TV channel Marya is about to make its debut on July 20, the first day of Ramadan. The station's general manager Safaa al-Refaie has said that everyone at the station will be required to wear the full face veil, including guests, and if a guest chooses not to wear the niqab they will have their faces blurred out during airing.

The programming will deal with Muslim women's issues in marriage and religion.

“Our message will be directed at Muslim women, to teach them the Sunna (legacy) of the Prophet Mohammed."

The channel was created as a backlash after years of hijab-wearing women being banned from the airwaves by ex-president Hosni Mubarak. Refaie wants

“to regain the dignity of women in niqab who have been persecuted and were subject to dismissal from work over the past decades."

Some people, like media whiz Yasser Abdul Aziz doesn't believe it will last long under its present incarnation, and others like Negad al-Boraie (rights activist) praised the station as being a

“legitimate exercise of the freedom of opinion and expression."

He went on to state that what people say is far more important than what people wear, and that it isn't "discrimination" to ban unveiled women from the shows.

“Protecting freedom of expression and opinion requires making room for both women in niqab who launch their own channel, and those who believe in other ideas."

I want to know what's the point of fully covered on-air talent?  If you don't want to show women's faces then launch a radio station.

France Refuses Entry To 3 Saudi Woman Over Face Veil

Three niqab-clad Saudi women were fined and sent back to Doha after they refused to show their faces to French immigration officials at Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport. Very commendable. Don't mess with immigration officials, especially in a country that has banned face veils.

There are immigration checks in place for a reason, and if you don't comply- tough. If they don't lift those veils, how are officials to determine that the person on that passport is the same person underneath that niqab? At least France doesn't  have the equivalent to CAIR (Council on American Islamic Relations) over there, so it probably won't be in for a lawsuit.

The first EU country to ban the full face veil, France has had around 300 women who have flouted the law since its implementation in 2011.

France does, every once in a while, do things right.

Egyptian 'Veiled Women Only' TV Channel Causes A Stir

Egypt is getting a satellite TV channel that will be run "exclusively" by women.  Sheikha Safaa, the station's general manager, says  men will have no say in the choice of content or 'editorial policies'.

Wow, you might think, what other country has a female run television station? How terribly forward thinking of them, except that these women will wear not just the Islamic veil, they will take it one step further into religious fanaticism by wearing the niqab- the veil that totally de-personalizes  a woman by revealing only her eyes. Only until you discover who actually owns the channel does it actually make any sense.  Sheikh Abu Islam Ahmad Abd Allah is an ultra religious Salafist (Islamist) who decided to call his channel Marya after Mariyah al-Qibtiyyah. An odd choice of name since Mariyah was apparently a concubine, and a Christian Copt to boot. She was given to Mohammad as a gift and was the mother of his child, Ibrahim.  Since it's his channel, the Sheikh will act as a consultant.  Apparently, he has “media and scholastic expertise.”

According to Safaa, one of the main reasons for creating the channel was to counteract the marginalization of veiled women.

“The work in operations of the channel will be handled by the sisters in charge of management, especially as women are the best one to talk about their needs,” she said, adding that the channel  “aims at lifting injustice” on veiled women who suffer from marginalization.

There are those who are not too happy about it, though.

In an interview with Masrawy, veteran Egyptian TV host Tarek Habib denounced the idea of a TV channel only for veiled women, saying the niqab, has repeatedly been used in crimes.

He said it was essential to know the identity and the gender of who goes on air and speaks to millions of viewers.

Egyptian actress Athar Al Hakim, meanwhile, was also quoted by women’s magazine Majalatouki as criticizing the channel.

“I have the right to know who is talking to me on the television screen,” she said.

“The issue of niqab is a national security one and it is unacceptable in Egyptian society despite the religious diversity.”

On May 17 the channel’s owner clashed with Egyptian writer Nabil Sharf Eddine during a discussion on Dream TV.

Sharf Eddine described the Sheikh’s Marya TV as “a channel of the accursed Satan.”

The Sheikh hit back by describing him as “uncivilized."

Personally, I think it's stupid that women feel the need to wear the niqab, and one has to wonder how much sponsorship they will get for such a niche channel. Then again, the Middle East, including Egypt is becoming progressively more religiously conservative. But I suppose they have the right to do whatever they want, and people offended by it needn't switch that station on, I know I wouldn't. However, it does become a problem if the government starts to force all television stations to follow suit.

Will this set a precedent? Who knows, I hope not for their sake.