Bahraini Beauty, Roqaya Al-Gassra…
WINS HER HEAT in full Hijab!!!!
I know it’s just a meaningless preliminary victory, but not only will that moment have a strong effect on Bahraini, Arab, and Muslim men and women alike, but will and has served to open up a dialogic space in that region and here as well.
I’ll tell you why I love watching Olympic events with Arabs participants in public places. It gives me a chance to add some complexity to the general public’s limited and simple understanding of the socio-political and cultural situation in the Middle East. Case in point, Bahraini’s own Al-Gassra competing in and winning her heat (even beating a Jamaican runner-ok, ok, I know it’s just a semifinal, but, just as Jillian suggested in one of her posts, such a visual and moment will no doubt inspire other Bahraini women and muhajabat for years, even decades to come). I was watching the heat with an upper-class working woman, the kind who tucks her Ralph Lauren Collection button blouse into her suit pants who made the comment:”I can’t believe she HAS to compete in that.”
Although I don’t know whether or not Al-Gassra voluntarily elected to the veil or whether it was conditional for her participation, this moment gave me the space to explain that Saudi Arabia is the only country that requires women to wear the hijab. She ooo-ed and aww-ed at this newfound knowledge.
After discussing the diversity of clothing and modesty restrictions, both legal and de facto, I took the woman on another sharp turn as we meandered through the “little known Arab trivia” course:
“Well you know, not all Arab women compete in the veil. Syria’s Ghada Shouaa wore a standard track and field uniform when she competed and won the gold medal in the Heptapalon in 1996.”This one took her over the edge, she was fascinated beyond words.
