Fitness

[Muslim Boarders]

(Cross posted at Hu)

We were up at Tahoe this past weekend, blessedly free of an Internet connection - though that didn't prevent four laptops from being brought up anyway.

Two of the group are hardcore boarders who spent Friday and Saturday whizzing down the slopes. One of them, GQ, could not understand why the rest of us bothered coming up to Tahoe at all if we weren't going to hit the mountains. He's a recovering workaholic so can possibly be excused for not realizing how relaxing a snowy weekend spent in front of a fireplace with good friends and plenty of fresh-baked cookies can be.

I mentioned at some point that I was an intermediate skier by the age of 12 but that we moved to Pureland the next year and I never skied again. I did try boarding one afternoon under Basil's tutelege just weeks before my first hospitalization, but honestly I find the whole idea of bulkily bundling up in the freezing cold and trudging about in heavy boots and equipment all for a few minutes of downhill exhilaration not worth my time and energy.

GQ's look of incomprehension at this explanation combined with a friend's frustrated search for an active wife got me thinking about physical fitness, or the lack thereof, amongst many Muzzie women. Our friend has met a number of prospective brides but finds himself in the unenviable position that many Muzzie singletons do - of wading through extremes in the hopes that moderates exist.

The girls are either so heavily into a literalist deen (religion) that it precludes the balanced lifestyle he seeks or so liberal that the term "practicing" would be a huge stretch in describing them. He finds that his love of the gym and snow sports is shared by a few of the liberals, but almost not at all by the conservatives, leading him to exclaim, "Don't Muslim women do anything?!"

In his contention # 67 Abdal Hakim Murad states - "Christian women: celibacy. Muslim women: cellulite. Thus have two prophets been forgotten." Men are at least equally guilty of both, but there is truth to the statement regardless.

When I was growing up, the women never did any heavy lifting beyond putting the chicken in the oven. At Tahoe they'd wait at the lodge while the men conquered the mountains. The girls would get dragged onto the bunny slopes but in our teens most settled into lethargy. Sedentary lifestyles coupled with fattening ethnic food would later bloom into health problems in our 20s and 30s.

School sports in Pureland were limited to net- or volleyball a couple of times a week. Academics were always more important than athletics, which were viewed as possible distractions from the path of success carved out by our parents. Girls who were "too active" ran the risk of tearing their hymens - or so elders concerned at their marital prospects said. Girls who spent too much time outdoors playing were also considered high risk to become "fallen women" whether by public perception or actual practice.

We girls were more concerned with the potential ugly darkening of our skin in the sun than with excelling at sports anyway. I didn't step out into the sun for the next six years, if I could help it - until my return to Freeland for college, where tanned skin was considered attractive.

In the wake of this weekend, where none of the three women boarded (and to be fair, neither did two of the four men), I started thinking about the "Victorian Islam" that discourages girls from valuing fitness or being physically strong, while still encouraging them to be attractive in the eyes of others as prospective brides.

I've always looked at my lack of physical activity as an individual phenomenon but when I take stock of my Muzzie girlfriends, only two are active on a regular basis, incorporating running, yoga, and swimming into their daily routines. The rest of us want to be thin but not to break a sweat achieving it. Dieting is far more popular than the gym.

On a wider scale, public girls' schools were prevented from building gyms in December by the Saudi Ministry of Education because some “religious men have a great influence on our education and the ministry listens only to those with certain views about women and their role and place in society.” Saudi Arabia and several other Muslim nations still have no female Olympic competitors. (The Muslim Women's Games, held every four years in Iran, do provide an alternative platform for some Muslim women athletes however.)

Muslim women have historically competed in the Olympic Games both in and out of the hijab and have experienced varying degrees of acceptance from their homelands. In 1992, Hassiba Boulmerka became the first Algerian ever to win the 1500 meters. Fundamentalists denounced her victory for "running with naked legs in front of thousands of men" and she was forced into exile because of death threats from extremists. Sania Mirza, an Indian Muslim tennis player, has also recently been denounced by some mullahs for competing in short skirts. Iranian women, on the other hand, chose to compete in the hijab at the Olympic Games in Atlanta in canoe/kayak and shooting and were supported at home.

Marmaduke Pickthall in his 1927 essay, "Social degradation of women- a crime and a libel against Islam" points out that purdah (the seclusion of women to the four walls of their home) has nothing to do with Islam and was never adopted by the majority of Muslims women for practical reasons. "So long as it was applied only to the women of great houses, who had plenty of room for exercise within their palaces and had varied interests in life" it was not cruel. But its adoption across classes, in South Asia for example, meant that it became manifestly objectionable and a positive evil from the point of view of the Shariah (sacred law), which enjoins kindness and fair treatment to women.

I recently read an article stating that because Egyptians have few public parks and homes are shrinking under population pressures, women and girls are facing increased health problems. In Pureland, we face a similar situation. This pressure to observe purdah creates women with bad health and stagnant intellectual attitudes and prevents them from being productive inside and outside of the home.

As the Muslim Hedonist asks, can "any of us—female or male—[...] accept women as embodied and spiritually equal beings?"

Can we teach girls to value the strength of their bodies and not just to appear thin but to be truly fit? To separate "unladylike" from "muscular, fit, and active" in the minds of parents and society? To convince people who think cooking or cleaning is enough activity for girls of another view? Can we create community acceptance in places where women's presence outside their homes is an invitation to slander? Can we make activities accessible to all since not every woman has the option to go to an all-women's gym (or to join a gym at all) or has a private garden?

Most importantly, can we really support girls to be strong and not suddenly pull our support when it comes to meeting the societal standards of a languid pale-faced thin beauty, idle neighborhood gossip, marriage proposals/wedding preparations, or fulfilling daughterly/wifely "duties"?

The female Muslim Boarders, the Lady Caliphs, Noor-ul-Iman and Universal School basketball teams and a Somali refugee volleyball team working with Nike are all addressing the cultural and religious concepts of modesty while encouraging girls to be active and competitive. We need many more girls like them, as well as open-minded community members who are willing to begin the dialogue and find creative solutions.

On a personal level, I find my commitment to incorporating fitness and a balanced diet into my routine to be very challenging. While I enjoy long walks, I am working against three decades of detesting formal sports and sweating. With the addition of Devic's, I have numb spots and balance issues, and overheating can lead to faintness and weakness in the limbs.

Not to mention that if I had the money to spend on gyms and sports (which I don't), I'd rather spend it at the spa getting a Javanese Lulur Body treatment. But I know that I have to embody healthy body ideals if I ever want to make it real for myself and my children.

There is much to be said for the scholar-athlete and her re-emergence amongst Muslim women. Spiritual, mental, and physical excellence are inherently linked and, as Basil once said, "it would appear that Islam provides a framework and mindset to recognize meaning and appreciate Him in every type of circumstance" - whether one is appreciating God-given dexterity while snowboarding on a beautiful mountain or enhancing the mind-body-soul connection which is so vital to fueling all of our worldy and spiritual endeavors.

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Great related posts:

Sunni Sister explores "body image, body insecurity, and factors beyond the 'fundamentalists' and 'Back Homeians' that keep Muslim women / girls from exercising" in Get Ready, Get Fit, Go!

Akram's Razor has two posts related to women's physical fitness: 1, 2.

And Sister Scorpion shares the changes in her body and attitude since starting to excercise in Fitness Stuff.