| |
|
Way of the Ninjab
I was really unsure where to put this - in threads about Islamophobia, the veil, in Conversation or what. It'll have to be here I guess. I'm a bit disturbed (but unsurprised) to hear that Islamophobic attacks have increased so hugely. It's good to read of people taking pro-active empowering action. I just hope the training is realistic.
More and more Muslim women are taking up martial arts. Is it because they are under increased attack? Sara Wajid attends a Ninjabi class to find out
Friday June 15, 2007
The Guardian
In a grim part of east London a powerful Somalian teen is giving me a beating while a friend eggs her on - they are both clearly enjoying themselves. As the blows rain down, I curse myself for responding to the advert for this unusual self-defence class at a Newham sports centre. "From the mean streets of London," it had read, "where Islamophobic attacks from chavs, hoodies and pervy so-called Muslim men have become increasingly common ... it's time our sisters stood up and defended their honour! Enter the Ninjabi."
Ninjabi is a play on the word hijabis - women who wear hijab. This six-week self-defence course for Muslim women was set up by a community group, Islamic Circles, in response to a growing demand for women-only classes and has attracted attention throughout the Muslim world. There are plans for follow-up courses, most titled in homage to Bruce Lee: Return of the Ninjabi, Way of the Ninjabi and (more Newham than Hong Kong) Ninjabi vs Minicabi.
Attending the class on a drizzly Saturday afternoon I find 30 young women jumping around energetically - the jilbab-wearers floating like black butterflies as they spar and dodge. The women are a mixture of young, British Asian mothers in M&S tracksuits and students in hijab'n'hoodie combos. One strikingly cool young woman could be the poster girl: her large, kohl-rimmed eyes are accentuated by the jet-black headscarf she's wearing, and the elaborate symbol emblazoned on the back of her matching hoodie is in Arabic script. "May Allah protect me from Satan," it reads.
The instructor, Dee Terret, talks us cheerfully through knee strikes to the groin and how to respond if an attacker grabs your headscarf - essentially, give it up. (She also advises that, on this basis, Velcro is a better bet than safety pins). At the end of the two-hour session we line up, cadet-style, put the moves together in sequence and shout in sync. It feels pretty good.
Similar classes have sprung up around the country in the past few years, in Leicester, Loughborough, Birmingham and Manchester. According to the Muslim Directory, a devout sister in London now has a whole range of fitness classes to choose from, including taekwondo in Bethnal Green, kickboxing in Harrow, "sisters' football" or a joyless-sounding "100% halal" music-free exercise session in Tottenham.
Why this surge of interest in self-defence though - does it reflect a need for young Muslim women to defend themselves from increased attacks? After all, in the three weeks following the 7/7 bombings the Metropolitan Police recorded 269 Islamophobic crimes, compared with 40 in the same period of 2004. Verbal abuse, spitting and pulling women's hijabs off were typical.
According to the Ninjabis, this phenomenon isn't a reaction to Islamophobia at all. They see self-defence classes simply as a normal part of any modern, independent urban woman's armoury. The only relevance their Muslim identity has is that they share a need for a women-only training space and a female instructor sensitive to their clothing restrictions. The fact that the community has the economic clout and initiative to make provision is a testimony to the growing influence and confidence of their generation. In London there are currently 296,606 muslim females and we're a fast-expanding market; 30,000 of those are less than four years old.
Uzma Naseem, a solicitor and mother who has been attending the classes, says: "It's not a question of being a Muslim woman, it's a question of being a woman and of self-protection generally ... It's hard for people to acknowledge that Muslim women need to go out and about in the city and be able to defend themselves. My mum's generation might think, 'Muslim women just go out with their men so they'll be protected.' But my generation is just so much more independent. It's not about being vulnerable women - it's just a good qualification to have." She plans to enrol her four-year-old daughter in martial arts classes as soon as possible.
Aisha Gill, chair of the Newham Asian Women's Project, a centre for domestic violence victims, welcomes the Ninjabis course. "This is an excellent idea because Muslim women are often seen as passive and submissive, as a problem within the Muslim world. Whereas I'm surrounded by young women who wear hijab as a symbol of freedom and with pride. This course would help build their identity and enhance their own safe spaces."
According to Rimla Akhtar, 24-year-old chair of the Muslim Women Sports Foundation (an organisation set up in 2001 to support elite British Muslim women athletes), an increasing number of Islamic societies on university campuses offer women-only self-defence, as do many mosques, but most mainstream leisure facilities have yet to catch up. She ascribes the interest to the growing popularity of self-defence for women, the Qur'anic emphasis on an individual's responsibility to look after the body, and the childhood influence of Jackie Chan films on second- and third-generation British Asians.
A straw poll I took of young British women wearing niqab and hijab in Brick Lane suggests the market for these classes could be huge. Most of the women were interested in taking them up, with only three exceptions. One said, "I don't need classes, I'd just give anyone who tries to give me any nonsense a good wallop - that's the way to deal with that!" A woman in niqab pushing a buggy had already done taekwondo so didn't feel the need. And the third, a 20-year-old student, had seven years of Shotokan karate under her purple belt - her main concern was simply to find a more advanced class. |
|
|
