Breaking news from Reuters: Woman converts to Islam
posted at 4:35 pm on April 26, 2007 by Allahpundit
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That’s the headline, or at least most of it. The actual headline is “‘Are you nuts?’ A woman converts to Islam,” with the article naturally going on to suggest that she’s anything but, thank you very much. There’s no apparent news hook whatsoever: the closest they come is the fact that she’s one of only 50 or so women in the Netherlands who wear the full niqab face veil, but she’s been wearing it since 2005 and converted fully 13 years ago. Aside from a reference early on to the number of Muslims living in the Netherlands, there’s no larger context to the piece — no data, no quotes from supporters or critics of the niqab, nada. After the first few paragraphs, the author simply drops out entirely and it becomes one long quotation from the woman herself.
I figured it must be a sidebar piece to some longer feature article about the niqab, but I can’t find anything else on the wires that mentions her name. Although this quote is probably worthy of a separate piece in and of itself. Remember, ladies, when the boys pay you unwanted attention, it’s your problem:
Wearing the hijab felt like a form of liberation. Every day I had had to walk past some builders and they would whistle at me. Then the morning I walked past in my hijab they didn’t.
Anyway, just felt obliged to pass on this very important news.
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I stopped getting whistled at years ago. It is not liberating, it is down right depressing! Whistle, please!
bopbottle on April 26, 2007 at 4:39 PM
Reuters and other appeasers are all the same.
They feed the crocodile hoping it will eat them last…
unamused on April 26, 2007 at 4:39 PM
She’s probably a double bagger.
roninacreage on April 26, 2007 at 4:43 PM
I have to say I am a bit confused why this story is an issue?
Warner Todd Huston on April 26, 2007 at 4:46 PM
My favorite parts. She’s not the only one. There are handfulls of such in almost each (Western) European country. Most always, married to Muslim men. I’ve never heard/seen the conversions the other way around – maybe I’m misinformed or missed them…
Entelechy on April 26, 2007 at 4:48 PM
Wacko cults have been recruiting misguided followers for millennia. This is no different.
infidel4life on April 26, 2007 at 4:49 PM
will she behead me if i insult her religion?
lorien1973 on April 26, 2007 at 4:50 PM
Because it reads like some sort of bizarre press release. There’s nothing at all newsworthy to it. They wanted to write an article supportive of Islam and so they did. No actual events required.
Allahpundit on April 26, 2007 at 4:52 PM
Wearing the hijab felt like a form of liberation. Every day I had had to walk past some builders and they would whistle at me. Then the morning I walked past in my hijab they didn’t.
Thems fightin words. Thats just plain Un-American!
sonnyspats1 on April 26, 2007 at 4:54 PM
I was reading the story, and waiting for some kind of major development, or reference to some major story. When I got to the end, I kind of just stared at the page for a moment.
amerpundit on April 26, 2007 at 4:55 PM
Allah, do you get whistled at in the Village and Chelsea? If so, I’ll bet you wouldn’t if you wore a head-to-toe robe covering you up completely. Then, I’m totally sure Reuters would write a piece about you.
Attila (Pillage Idiot) on April 26, 2007 at 5:00 PM
Almost as important as the story about the transexual sports writer coming out of the closet….
Ann on April 26, 2007 at 5:08 PM
You assume AP ever goes outside. :P
lorien1973 on April 26, 2007 at 5:09 PM
Amazing.
You cover a woman completely in loose clothing and healthy heterosexual male construction workers don’t notice her.
News.
.
The Machine on April 26, 2007 at 5:13 PM
Think how free she could be if only she gave up all of her freedoms… wait a minute.
This is fake isn’t it. Orwell came up with this as a prank, right? He always gets me with these, you’d think I’d recognize that double-speak by now.
gekkobear on April 26, 2007 at 5:13 PM
Am I the only one who laughed my ass of at that? She probably never got whistled at.. got the hijab for an excuse.
Free Constitution on April 26, 2007 at 5:15 PM
Well, there is five minutes of reading I could have spent elsewhere.
Look at me! I wear a hijab! I’m FREE!
Are you nuts? Turn head and cough….
Kini on April 26, 2007 at 5:18 PM
Oh, now she doesn’t have to shave under her arms pits anymore.
Kini on April 26, 2007 at 5:19 PM
If they wanted to write a positive story about Islam, they should have come up with one under the headline:
Good News: Female Genital Mutilation Relatively Under Control
Enrique on April 26, 2007 at 5:20 PM
Back atcha buddy
http://gotwavs.com/php/sounds/?id=gog&media=WAVS&type=Movies&movie=Anchorman_The_Legend_Of_Ron_Burgundy"e=yourattention.txt&file=yourattention.wav
Stay tuned for today’s other top stories after the break:
- Babies were born today
- People went to work
- After work some people went grocery shopping
- Emails were read
RightWinged on April 26, 2007 at 5:21 PM
Enrique, you’ve been adopted :)
Entelechy on April 26, 2007 at 5:28 PM
My guess is they are more common than you think, at least I’ll wager there are a good number of muslim to secular “conversions” for lack of a better term being that Europe is pretty secular, but you probably won’t see press for it because it doesn’t fit the media narrative, or its possible they keep quiet because they don’t wanna risk being harrassed or worse by the local radicals.
As for why, they probably wanted to throw in a positive Islam story, Allah’s probably right. This generic story can be used in multiple ways, is she European?, then they can drum the racial profile issue. They can use it to sell the niqab as not all bad, playing up multiculturalism or tamping down issues of women being poorly treated in Islamic culture. It can just be a story putting friendly light on Islam as well.
Bad Candy on April 26, 2007 at 5:28 PM
I doubt she ever shaved her pits. If wearing a hijab is half as liberating as going without a bra, maybe it would be worth considering. Never having to shave the old legs again would be a plus. Well, for that matter, showering might be optional. Panties could be given up. I am beginning to see something worth considering here. I have never been that crazy about wearing a lot of clothes.
bopbottle on April 26, 2007 at 5:28 PM
I see we have a sequel to the above story – call Reuters, it’s becoming an epidemic.
Rick on April 26, 2007 at 5:33 PM
As long as you don’t mind wearing ten pounds of Islam-o-tarp during the summer…
Bad Candy on April 26, 2007 at 5:33 PM
Amen to that. I think people like this, who wear the abayya and face covering in predominantly non-Muslim countries are doing exactly the opposite of what they say they are doing. They are seeking attention. As far as the hair, at least in Saudi, Muslim women shave all body hair, even the arms. The first time I saw a commercial on TV with a woman shaving her arms I was amazed, but it’s true.
Glynn on April 26, 2007 at 5:35 PM
Heh, bopbottle, in the former East bloc, these babushkas would wear those long, dark skirts/dresses, with no underwear on. They’d just stop at the side of the road for prolonged moments…then just move on. Not very hygienic or civilized…
Also, on the not shaving – not to worry – the likelihood that she didn’t before is nearly 100%. France and Belgium are the worst. Peewwwww. I wonder if they’ve come up with not-shaving-offsets yet…though, they think we’re crazy to do it.
Entelechy on April 26, 2007 at 5:37 PM
BREAKING NEWS! Hindu woman refuses to eat meat! In other global news:
The Japanese really, really dig baseball!
Russian Man Says “vodka is good!”
Today the weather on Guam was very mild!
…and this just in…
Chinese man wonders why there are so many…Chinese!
robblefarian on April 26, 2007 at 5:39 PM
In years past I worked with a brilliant Iranian lady mathematician, who lives here. She went to visit there and said that they’d wear all that garb to get to a place, then immediately discard it, only to sit around in their mini-skirts, doing what women with too much time/money do, then put the garb on again, on top of the Western clothes, walk/drive home, where they’d be themselves again. Same stories are told of Iranians who go there today.
Entelechy on April 26, 2007 at 5:43 PM
I’d love to have someone point out the “beautiful” in Islam. I have yet to see it in practice, or in the Qur’an. It’s most likely buried under some of those hijabs.
Gregor on April 26, 2007 at 5:46 PM
Damn that uncovered meat!!
Rick on April 26, 2007 at 6:00 PM
Hilarious.
It’s so surreal to read a feel-good story about a converted Muslim woman in the Netherlands, and hear no mention of Aayan Hirsi Ali or Theo Van Gogh. I was waiting for this:
“When asked about Theo Van Gogh–the Dutch filmmaker who was murdered for making a documentary critical of the treatment of women in Islamic societies–the bubbly and spirited Rabi’a shrugged, ‘Islam is a beautiful religion but it is not always so easy. You have to kill infidels a lot and stab death threats to their chests.’”
ThanksMo on April 26, 2007 at 6:02 PM
It took her years to learn how to tie a scarf?
How blonde is that?!
MrC_5150 on April 26, 2007 at 6:05 PM
I would hazard a guess that the important part is that she lives in the Netherlands. It’s the only country in Europe (as far as I know) that’s loudly anti-Islam.
I love that her Muslim husband was against the idea.
Tanya on April 26, 2007 at 6:11 PM
Did shaky ol’ Dr. Abu retire?
Bad Candy on April 26, 2007 at 6:18 PM
Awww…Just read that back to myself, and I’m going to hell for that.
Bad Candy on April 26, 2007 at 6:19 PM
“I love that her Muslim husband was against the idea.
Tanya on April 26, 2007 at 6:11 PM”
Well thats because he knows now that he has to open up a can of whoop ass on her, or he will look bad with the Imams.
americaslaststand on April 26, 2007 at 6:19 PM
I suppose hiding behind a hijab may be liberating insofar as makes you more anonymous. But I wonder if her mettle won’t be better tested down the road if she ever chooses to stop wearing the hijab, as Tanya’s sarcasm suggests.
Kevin on April 26, 2007 at 6:23 PM
Rumor has it, tomorrow they are going to publish the companion piece about a woman who left Islam, feels liberated from oppressively detailed rules and likes getting whistled at when she walks by construction sites.
NOT!!!
Dusty on April 26, 2007 at 6:37 PM
Wonder if there were headlines in papers when various German women became Nazi’s too…
NRA4Freedom on April 26, 2007 at 6:38 PM
Islam has apparently hired one hell of a good PR agent.
I don’t know how the guy does it – you’d think decapitating people and knocking down buildings would be a sure-fire way to lose points in the polls.
Yet somehow stories like this keep popping up. Somehow the djimmis are taking over the world, one puff piece at a time.
It’s impressive. Whoever this master spinmeister is, he makes Karl Rove look like a piker.
Don Imus and Alec Baldwin should hire the guy.
Professor Blather on April 26, 2007 at 6:42 PM
The reason you never hear of Muslim women that convert to Christianity is because they are running from the beheaders.
TBinSTL on April 26, 2007 at 6:56 PM
This is the best Routers routers can come up with for news?? No wonder they are losers
bones47 on April 26, 2007 at 7:04 PM
I knew I have seen the convert before
Ripclawe on April 26, 2007 at 7:13 PM
I was thinking something more along the lines of “Crackhead. Do you think I would’ve married a hot blonde and earned the lifelong disdain of my family, if I’d known I’d still have to look at that thing?”
I highly doubt he would’ve married a blonde Dutch cutie if he was highly religious.
Tanya on April 26, 2007 at 7:26 PM
But that, I definitely agree with.
Tanya on April 26, 2007 at 7:29 PM
Good catch. So evidently she’s the media’s go-to Dutch convert when they need some good copy for a story about how it’s hard out there for a European Muslim.
Are we supposed to find it spunky and endearing that she’s goofing on her fellow citizens’ justifiable edginess about Muslims in their midst (given events in the Netherlands in the recent past)?
ThanksMo on April 26, 2007 at 7:50 PM
Don’t you mean “double hijab-er.”
sweetlipsbutterhoney on April 26, 2007 at 8:19 PM
Isn’t the enthymeme of this story that any woman would be a fool to become a Muslim by choice?
Tantor on April 26, 2007 at 8:24 PM
Attention construction workers:
You can whistle at me as much as you’d like.
At 36 I’ll take what atta girls I can get.
lol
annoyinglittletwerp on April 26, 2007 at 9:44 PM
I guarantee that there are far more Muslim to Christian conversions than to secular. I know quite a few “undercover” missionaries who operate in Muslim countries, and they do have successes. But your point remains very true, that will never get media attention, and for two very different reasons. The first being that the convert knows they are under threat of death for defying Islam, so they are perfectly happy keeping it on the hush until they are somewhere relatively free and safe. The second is, as you say, it doesn’t fit the agenda, so it doesn’t exist in the MSM world.
Freelancer on April 26, 2007 at 9:54 PM
This is really not a new story. I remember reading about this and seeing the photos of the “heroine” in this absolutely suffocating hijab/niquab and feeling literally sick to my stomach.
Here is WaPo’s story from March 20006 about the celebrity convert. Be sure to click on the photo. Open your windows first for a little fresh air.
Here is an account from Arab News from the same time as the WaPo piece
On the streets of Breda, covered by her veil, Frank stands out as an anomaly — a curiosity to some, a freak to others…A few weeks ago, her middle son, 7-year-old Ismail, pleaded with her, “Why don’t you take it off? The children are laughing at you at school.”…“I won’t take it off,” she insisted. “For me, it’s like driving a car without a seat belt.”
Yeah. It’s really liberating. Kinda like a suicide run.
Buy Danish on April 26, 2007 at 10:09 PM
Woops. Make that 2006 I pray to God we’re still not discussing how liberating it is to hide behind a hijab is in 20006.
Buy Danish on April 26, 2007 at 10:12 PM
I see that Ripclawe ^^^is familiar with this story too.
So now the question is, who is recyling this old story as “news” and why?
Or maybe Reuters is really, really behind and is just catching up?
Maybe they’ll tell us about the progress that’s being made in Iraq sometime around December 2008, just in time to get pick out outfits for Hillary or Obama’s Inaugural Ball.
Buy Danish on April 26, 2007 at 10:24 PM
So does she get beat often?
Tim Burton on April 26, 2007 at 10:44 PM
Certainly true in the mideast Freelancer, but I wonder if Muslim to Christian converts are higher than people just going secular in Europe.
Bad Candy on April 26, 2007 at 11:56 PM
Thousands of people get saved through Jesus Christ everyday. Why isn’t THAT newsworthy? Women have also married convicted serial killers on death row.
Mojave Mark on April 27, 2007 at 1:05 AM
Wouldn’t poking her own eyes out be even more liberating?
Then she wouldn’t have to notice anyone noticing her.
And shoving knitting needles into her ears would liberate her from the possibility of wolf whistles.
And chopping off her own feet would free her from the need to have to walk in front of infidels.
She may be on to something all Muslims should consider-
Body Reduction Liberation.
Whittled down to a mouth and an anus, they would be as free as any being could be.
One spoon and one sqaure of toilet tissue- freedom!
(I think there’s probably even a verse in the Koran that calls for it.)
profitsbeard on April 27, 2007 at 1:57 AM
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