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Indonesia: “Niqab Squad” promotes archery, horseback riding, says niqab “doesn’t mean we become weak Muslim women”

Mar 26, 2020 9:00 am By Christine Douglass-Williams

“A movement of Indonesian women” called the “Niqab Squad” is promoting the niqab “as a way to get closer to heaven and avoid sexual harassment. Others fear it reflects growing extremism.”

The “Niqab Squad” is acting in obedience to the Quran; such obedience isn’t “extremism,” it’s a commitment to normative Islam.

(Quran 24:31) And tell the believing women to reduce of their vision and guard their private parts and not expose their adornment except that which appears thereof and to wrap [a portion of] their headcovers over their chests and not expose their adornment except to their husbands, their fathers, their husbands’ fathers, their sons, their husbands’ sons, their brothers, their brothers’ sons, their sisters’ sons, their women, that which their right hands possess, or those male attendants having no physical desire, or children who are not yet aware of the private aspects of women. And let them not stamp their feet to make known what they conceal of their adornment. And turn to Allah in repentance, all of you, O believers, that you might succeed.

If a woman does not cover, she is fair game to be assaulted:

(Quran 33:59) O Prophet, tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to bring down over themselves of their outer garments. That is more suitable that they will be known and not be abused.

One of the group’s representatives, Idhanur, declares:

“Even though we are wearing a niqab like this, it doesn’t mean that we become weak Muslim women,” Ms. Idhanur said after dismounting. “We can become strong Muslim women by participating in archery and horseback riding.”

The “Niqab Squad” is part of the revivalist Tablighi Jamaat movement, which aims to compel Muslims to practice Islam as it was practiced in the days of Muhammad. The group is increasingly influential in Indonesia, as well as in neighboring Malaysia, where it held a 16,000-strong gathering that became known as “ground zero” for coronavirus in the region. The Tablighi Jamaat movement was also responsible for a gathering of 9,000 in Indonesia itself that was halted; attendees were quarantined last week.

“The ‘Niqab Squad’ Wants Women to Be Seen Differently,” by Richard Paddock, The New York Times, March 23, 2020:

TEMBORO, Indonesia — Only the rider’s eyes were visible from behind her black face veil. With a bow in her left hand and an arrow in her right, she cantered her horse toward a target, aimed quickly and let fly. The arrow struck home with a resounding pop.

The rider, Idhanur, who like many Indonesians uses one name, is a 31-year-old teacher at an Islamic school in East Java who says that firing arrows from horseback while wearing her conservative veil, or niqab, improves her chances of going to heaven.

Ms. Idhanur is part of a growing, peaceful movement of Muslim women who believe they can receive rewards from God through Islamic activities like wearing a niqab and practicing sports that the Prophet Muhammad is thought to have enjoyed.

Many also say it offers protection from prying eyes and harassment by men in a country where unwanted sexual advances are common.

Ms. Idhanur, who teaches at Al Fatah Islamic Boarding School of Temboro, part of the revivalist Tablighi Jamaat movement, has an answer for Indonesians who fear that conservative Islamic dress is a troubling step toward extremism and the marginalization of women.

“Even though we are wearing a niqab like this, it doesn’t mean that we become weak Muslim women,” Ms. Idhanur said after dismounting. “We can become strong Muslim women by participating in archery and horseback riding.”

Indonesia, a democracy that has the world’s largest Muslim population, is officially secular and has long been known for tolerance. But in the 22 years since the dictator Suharto was ousted, the country has turned increasingly toward a more conservative Islam.

Conservative clerics, such as Indonesia’s vice president, Ma’ruf Amin, have gained a more prominent role in public life. And local governments have enacted more than 600 measures imposing elements of Shariah, or Islamic law, including requiring women to wear hijabs — a catchall for head scarves — to hide their hair…..

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Filed Under: Indonesia, Sharia, women's rights in Islam Tagged With: "niqab squad", Tablighi Jamaat


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Comments

  1. Michael Copeland says

    Mar 26, 2020 at 9:19 am

    “Any woman without a headscarf is asking to be raped” –
    Shahid Mehdi, Copenhagen

  2. Boromir's Horn says

    Mar 26, 2020 at 9:22 am

    I thought the horse was supposed to wear the blinders

    • elee says

      Mar 26, 2020 at 12:14 pm

      +1, well said BH!

  3. Hank Mansfield says

    Mar 26, 2020 at 9:27 am

    I’ve known women who loved to sun themselves on a beach near where I grew up, unclasping their bikini top so as to avoid tanlines.
    They didn’t avoid sexual harassment, they met it head on.
    If an immature guy wanted to act a fool, they’d have a handful of sand to toss in his eyes and a swift knee to the groin right behind it.

  4. FYI says

    Mar 26, 2020 at 10:13 am

    “To practise islam as it was practised at the time of muhammed”:or as it is STILL practised today as we see through endless murder,thievery,violence ,rape and conquest in the Dar Al Harb

    And “sports that the ‘prophet’ muhammed is thought to have enjoyed”?What sports?
    Blood sports?

    Skateboarding,polygamous women’s synchronized swimming,islamic Kung-fu,Water-boarding polo,islamic orienteering{“you must face at all times towards mecca”},Beheading Jews{Abu Dawud 4390},Carpet-kissing,muslim aerobics{“1..2..3..kabOOM”}..?

    Definitely not Chess as that is HARAM{Sahih Muslim book 28 no 5612}

  5. Rarely says

    Mar 26, 2020 at 10:28 am

    Tip of the Day: Don’t let her try to shoot an apple off your head.

  6. European pagan says

    Mar 26, 2020 at 12:11 pm

    This photo is like from a horror movie

    • Keys says

      Mar 26, 2020 at 1:13 pm

      Definitely, but it’s no movie. Maybe one of the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse had arrived.

      And where is the Horseless Headsman ? He, or she, used to post here, if I remember correctly.

    • Jayell says

      Mar 27, 2020 at 4:38 am

      Sorry, but that picture almost made me split my sides. It looks just like a Neanderthal attempt at a Sherman tank or a clip from some Monty Python episode. I can just see that in action – one well-aimed arrow through the eye-slit of the black human ‘turret’ and the ‘turret’ falls off the horse. Brilliant engineering! Or maybe the omnipotence of Allah’s invisible armour.will allow the specimen to survive ‘just a flesh-wound’?

  7. tim gallagher says

    Mar 26, 2020 at 5:35 pm

    Not “weak” Muslim women. What bullshit. No, just totally invisible women. Totally oppressed and hidden. It is actually as if they don’t exist as any type of normal, visible human being. Disgusting garments that they are forced to wear, their humanity obliterated.

    • David says

      Mar 28, 2020 at 12:14 pm

      Women are forced to wear this cover all, and then say it empowers them. Muhammad was right. Women are stupid.

  8. gravenimage says

    Mar 26, 2020 at 9:49 pm

    Indonesia: “Niqab Squad” promotes archery, horseback riding, says niqab “doesn’t mean we become weak Muslim women”
    ………………

    What a sick joke.

  9. Lilith Wept says

    Mar 26, 2020 at 11:27 pm

    It’s Islam that says women are weak…..
    they get half the inheritance of a male,
    their testimony is worth half that of a male,
    can be beaten by their husbands ,
    must share their husbands with 3 other wives,
    Their prophet says most of the people in hell will be women ( for being ungrateful to their husbands and for cursing)
    Can be divorced by the husband just saying “ I divorce you “ 3 times,
    can be married to a man even before they menstruate ,
    must obey their husbands and not even leave the house unless given permission…
    .can’t hold a job unless the husband agrees….
    and the Koran compares women to a field, a tilth was , “so go unto unto Your tilth as you will, “
    And must be prepared to give the husband sex anytime any place …”even if on the saddle of a camel!”
    Yep, that’s a “strong muslim woman “ alright!

    • gravenimage says

      Mar 26, 2020 at 11:37 pm

      Spot on, Lilith.

  10. Gene Su says

    Mar 27, 2020 at 11:24 am

    Dear Robert Spencer:
    I have bought your book “Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam and the Crusades.” However, I have always been a little confused on Islam’s treatment of women. On one hand, it looks like Islam has some very sexist and abusive guidelines dealing with women (it is OK to hit women, a testimony of one man is equal to the testimony of four women, etc.). On the other hand, after 9/11, there has been a sharp rise in the number of Muslim women who have participated as suicide bombers in Palestine (Al-Aqsa), Chechnya (Black widows), Nigeria (Boko Haram), Iraq (Al-Qaida), etc. Muslim clerics have said any Muslim women who dies as a combatant will become the most beautiful of the houris (black eyed virgins) in Islamic Paradise. What is the reason for this? Is it because Muslim clerics want to co-opt the feminist movement, making it less of a threat? Is it because soldiers are less likely to frisk women? Is it because they really believe that superstition that a man killed by a woman can’t enter Paradise?

    • David says

      Mar 28, 2020 at 12:22 pm

      Maybe muslim female suicide bombers do it as a means to escape from islam.
      Do the black eyed virgins get them from being punched in the face?

      • gravenimage says

        Mar 29, 2020 at 12:39 am

        Sometimes this is true, David–there have been cases of women being told that they must commit suicide bombings or be stoned or “Honor Killed”.

        In other cases some Muslim women are just as vicious as the men–they may be abused by Muslim men, but still feel superior to the despised Kuffar.

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