Posted on 06/08/2017 7:49:41 AM PDT by EinNYC
Muslim student athletes at one U.S. high school no longer have to be slowed down by worries that their headscarves might fall off.
Deering High School in Portland, Maine, is providing sport hijabs with the goal of making Muslim girls comfortable - and boosting their participation in sports. The lightweight scarves stay put and are less bulky than other hijabs, garments that cover the hair and are worn by many Muslim women to express their faith.
"We're more confident on the field," said junior lacrosse player Fadumo Adan. "This one doesn't fall off. No matter what I do, it won't fall off."
Tennis co-captains Liva Pierce and Anaise Manikunda raised more than $800 online to buy the sporty hijabs for their Muslim teammates after the school's athletic director learned of the product. They solicited private donations to avoid criticism for using taxpayer funds on religious apparel, and ended up with enough to outfit all teams, including lacrosse, soccer, volleyball, softball, field hockey and track.
The high school is believed to be the first in the United States to provide hijabs for Muslim athletes, as opposed to students providing their own headscarves, said Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
The move is part of a trend around the world of more Muslim women finding ways to play sports while wearing hijabs. Some Muslim countries, like Saudi Arabia, impose severe limitations on women engaging in sports, while cultural sensitivities and family opposition can also pose hurdles.
The International Basketball Federation and the international soccer organization FIFA lifted bans on head coverings in recent years, and Ibtihaj Muhammad became the first American to compete at the Olympics while wearing a hijab when she won a bronze medal in fencing at the 2016 Rio Games.
Muslim students at Deering said they were grateful for the support at a time when President Trump has pushed to ban travel from several Muslim countries.
Israa Enan, a senior who was born in Iraq, said she stayed off the school's tennis team because her parents had concerns about the uniform and lack of hijab.
"I wished I was one of these girls who wear the hijabs and play with it, but it's OK," Enan said. "I'm too late now." She said she's "happy for the other girls who have the opportunity now to wear the hijab and be more comfortable doing the things they like to do."
Maine - the nation's whitest state - is becoming more culturally and racially diverse with immigration. There are about 10,000 African newcomers, mostly from Somalia and Sudan in Maine's two largest cities, while others have come from the Middle East.
The tennis co-captains are not Muslim, but Pierce said there was a "duh!" moment when she discussed the idea with Melanie Craig, the school's athletic director.
"This makes so much sense. If there's something that we can do to make our teammates feel more comfortable, then why not just do it?" Pierce said.
Her Muslim teammates appreciated the effort.
"There are some people who actually care, respect and love others, and they are actually accepting of others, which makes me really happy," said sophomore tennis team member Tabarek Kadhim, who moved to Maine four years ago from Jordan.
"Our kids know that, when they come in through our doora, they're safe, thery're honored and we honor individuality. And this was one way we coudl do it," Craig told CBS Portland affiliate WGME-TV.
Nike announced last month that it'll begin marketing a sport hijab next year, bringing the product into the mainstream. But Craig didn't wait, finding a sport hijab manufactured by Asiya, a company that raised more than $39,000 in November to expand beyond selling locally in Minnesota.
Asiya is preparing to move manufacturing to New York to keep up with demand, said Fatimah Hussein, a Somalia native who coaches basketball and co-founded the business. The apparel company is named for Asiya bint Muzahim, a key figure in Islamic history known for standing up to injustice.
The market has potential: There are more than 610,000 Muslim women under 20 across the United States, according to the Pew Research Center.
"We're hopeful that this does encourage more Muslim female athletes to participate," said Craig. "I do believe it has held some of them back. It takes courage for them to stand out here and honor who they are and their diversity."
Next is the genital mutilations in the nurse’s office.
You know, it’s really too bad that the jerkoffs that welcome this crap to our country will be long dead by the time the muzzies take over and subjugate their grandchildren. Unfortunately, they’ll stick their descendants with the problem. Thanks, morons.
Are girls and women in Muslim culture, even allowed to participate in sports in the first place???
Serious question. The way that Muslim society controls all aspects of female behavior, it surprises me that having girls sports teams would pass muster with their local Imam.
And then, if they aren’t supposed to be involved in sports in the first place, aren’t they committing blasphemy against Allah and Mohammed and their faith????
Maine = America’s Sweden
We had a HS runner who wore one in 2013.
Perhaps the Left is excited about this because the head-rag can help diguise the sex of all those confused muslim men who want to compete in women’s sports because he/she/it feeeeels like a woman.
VERY GOOD POINT..all the GAY snowflakes should embrace this thing then.
https://islamqa.info/en/115676
Whoever adheres to these guidelines, her participation in sport will be permissible, but whoever goes against them, playing sport is haraam in her case. These guidelines include the following:
1.
Engaging in sport should be far removed from the eyes of men, whether they are trainers, teachers, students, administrators or spectators. In order to fulfil this condition, it is not permissible to take pictures of women’s sport, so that they will not fall into the hands of men who will look at them, which would be contrary to the condition which makes it permissible for women to engage in that sport.
Hence what is most preferable, best, most prudent and most concealing for women is for them to engage in sport and exercise at home, not in clubs, gyms and schools, even if there is no mixing in those places, because there is no guarantee that a woman will not be photographed by one of those devils that look out for such opportunities, which would lead to bad consequences. If there is mixing in those places, then it is obvious that it is not allowed, as we have explained above.
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3.
There should be no gambling or betting on the sport.
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6.
There should be no playing of music during practice or games.
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Need to start driving this muzzie cancer from our midst.
We’re Westerners...we like our women spirited. Take your third-world crap with you when you leave.
I guess what they meant was "Separation of Christianity and State."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asiya - claimed to be the woman who adopted moses.
“Maine is a libtard state.”
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Wrong! Portland, Maine, in the first congressional district, is a libtard city, but most of Maine, especially the second congressional district, which covers 80% of the state and was carried by Trump (for one electoral vote) is far more conservative. I’ve heard people elsewhere in Maine call Portland and southern Maine “north Massachusetts.”
Our previous dem governor gave plenty of freebies to “refugees,” which attracted a lot of Somali and other muzzie refugees. Most of them settled in Lewiston and Portland.
We have Paul LePage as our governor, the most conservative governor in America, Constitutional Carry, Open Carry, and the private sale of firearms? Have any of those in New York State?
By the way, doesn’t NYC celebrate the muslim holidays?
“Maine = America’s Sweden.”
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No, it isn’t. Every state has pockets of moonbats, even Texas, Maine, and most other states.
See post # 16.
It’s more about the government than the people. Even Sweden has a lot of patriots.
Since when were girls allowed to participate in sports. Do they get stoned at school or when they get home?
If not for the cancer known as NYC (excluding Staten Island), Nassau County, Lower Westchester County, a few cancerous pockets in the Hudson Valley, and Ithaca, New York State is about as conservative as Maine.
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