Here’s a silly alarmist tirade because I’m settling in to Hamsherland with a laptop I borrowed from someone I didn’t know was a Luddite. Expect light blogging until I’m able to install the 582 updates I need to make this cogitator productive. From The NY POST:

WHEN non-Muslims think of Islamic fashion, they usually imagine stark black dresses and plain white head scarves, or even burqas – uniform outfits that afford little room for originality.

But Saubia Arbab, like many of the city’s young Muslims, defies stereotype, making the look her own with a unique blend of old and new.

Arbab, the daughter of immigrants from Pakistan, went to an orthodox Muslim high school in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, and now majors in social work at New York University. The 21-year-old must balance the world of tradition, religion and family with the fashion-oriented world of American pop culture.

Because of this, Arbab faces criticism from both sides: from non-Muslims, who don’t understand or fear her hijab (head scarf), to Muslims who believe she strays from tradition by, say, carrying a trendy bag. But Arbab said she agreed to talk to The Post in the hope it would help people understand her culture.

“My friends were worried for a number of different reasons,” she says. “They thought this was going to make Islam look silly. There’s a fear in the Muslim community that the world is out to get us.”

But, Arbab adds, “not shying away from the larger culture is the best way to inform people.” And “my family has always encouraged me to be open and do things like this.”

In fact, Arbab’s combination of clothing styles often invites discussion. “Totally! I mean, a girl sitting next to me in class might say, ‘Hey, I really like that bag, or those shoes,’ or whatever, and then we’ll start talking about the hijab. Yeah, the fashion definitely serves as an icebreaker.”

She even considers her unique mix of old and new to be a form of dawah (an Arabic term designating an invitation toward understanding Islam). “Dressing like this is in a very real sense dawah,” she explained, “it opens up dialogue, it humanizes.”

“We’re normal,” she says of American Muslims. “We’re just human beings. We like nice things.

We’re New Yorkers. We love love New York. I love New York. We’re part of the crowd, but I still have my distinct values.”

Those values include understanding the line between being in vogue and being disrespectful.

“You have to respect the hijab,” Arbab says. “It’s not just a fashion statement. I don’t wear it to look good. But at the same time, I’m not afraid to look good myself. I try to make it fit with everything else I’m wearing.”

There are other ground rules, of course. Muslim women are not allowed to show their hair, their legs or their arms in public. While some find these directives unnecessarily oppressive, Arbab disagrees.

“I’m sure a lot of people look at me and laugh,” she says, “but maybe less than other women. Other women can’t walk down the street without being ogled by men. Being a woman in general is so difficult. So in that way the hijab carries you. It gives you a sense of security.”

There’s a lot here so I bold faced the parts that should have made the reporter ask more probing questions. But of especial concern should be the Muslim concept of Dawah, which the reporter is duped into believing is a call for the “understanding” of Islam. The “understanding” Islamic theology want from non-believers is to understand that they’d better convert if they want to keep their head and shoulders intact!

Also, call me an Islamphobe but having a woman who thinks the Hijab is some sort of feminist defense against men checking out her hair becoming a social worker and making the determination as to what constitutes abuse in a household makes me nervous.