Girls
basketball team won't play in front of men Around her, other high
school girls dressed in similar flowing robes shoot a few casual baskets while
they wait for practice to begin. There are no men in the gym - no male coaches,
no boys from school, no dads or brothers in the
bleachers. So when the coach
arrives and the real training starts, they can peel off their Islamic dress,
exposing their sweat pants and short-sleeved T-shirts
underneath. "We'd run if we
noticed a man peeking in the window," Hamoud, 16, explains. "We're not allowed
to be seen by guys without (Islamic dress). We've all learned to accept
that." But the girls can't
accept that they have only been allowed to compete against girls basketball
teams from other Muslims schools. There are only four in the Since last year
they've been beseeching Coach Farida Abusafa, a 26-year-old English teacher who
also coaches sports, to ask public schools and non-Muslim private schools if
their girls teams would be willing to compete against girls from the The problem is that
the schools would have to agree to bar men and boys above the age of puberty
from watching the games. "It's not like it's a
sin to play a public school," Abusafa said. "The problem is the males coming to
the game." The dilemma
underscores the balancing act many Muslims perform as they toggle between
American and Middle Eastern culture. Many of the these young girls straddle the
divide with ease, yapping on their cell phones at the mall one minute, observing
the school's strict gender segregation the next. But the girls are also mindful
of the challenges they face. "It's something you
have to decide you want to do," said Shaylin Najeeullah, 16, a member of the
varsity basketball team. "You can stay true to what you believe in or you can
conform to everybody else and get lost." The "I don't want to have
to impose our religious requirements on anyone else," Siddiqi
said. The "They would have to
contact whatever schools they want to play and work it out through the athletic
directors," Sauser said. Rich Piatchek,
athletic director at Andrew High School in Tinley Park, Ill., said he wouldn't
outright rule against a chance for his girls teams to play against Universal,
but acknowledged that setting up games that excluded men might prove
difficult. "That could be an
issue," Piatchek said. "I can't imagine that the parents aren't going to want to
come and watch their children play. Most schools would probably have the same
problem." Christine Bochnak, the
varsity girls basketball coach at "The diversity would
be good," Bochnak said. "I think it's always good when there's exposure to other
cultures and ideas. It's a life lesson and that's what we're supposed to be
teaching when we're coaching basketball - teaching about
life." Conceivably, the
Muslim girls could play in headscarves, sweat pants and long sleeves. But the
bulky attire might make playing difficult, they
said. "It would probably be
hot," said Shetha Hamoud, 12, Duaa's sister, a lanky, doe-eyed girl who plays on
the junior varsity team. Playing in the long gown, called a jilbab, would be
worse, Duaa Hamoud said. "It would be like
trying to play in a dress," she said. Not all the girls'
parents require them to wear Islamic dress when they aren't in school. But
Universal requires girls to wear the jilbab on school grounds when they start
the sixth grade. Girls and boys learn in separate classrooms and eat lunch
during different periods. Girls don't sit in the
bleachers to watch boys' games unless they have a brother playing, and then
school authorities encourage a parent to be present. It's understood that dads
and brothers won't watch their daughters and sisters
play. "You just describe it
when you get home and hope that's sufficient to tell him what happened during
the game," Najeeullah said. The girls say they
don't mind the dress code. "It was made
obligatory by God ... to guard our chastity and our modesty," Hamoud said. They
automatically pull on scarves and sweatpants or pop the jilbab over their gym
clothes whenever they leave the court for water or bathroom
breaks. Abusafa said she has
been considering approaching public schools and other private schools for some
time, but so far she has hesitated. She believes the contests would help improve
the girls' games, but she's worried that too much competition might shatter
their confidence. While girls at public schools typically practice six times a
week, the girls at Universal hit the court only twice every seven days because
they share gym time with the boys. Scheduling presents
another problem. The boys' games start first, throwing off the season for the
girls' teams. They start their games several weeks later than the non-Muslim
girls teams, Abusafa said. She has considered asking the other schools to play
exhibition games, but IHSA rules stipulate that those games would count toward
the season total, so most schools would likely turn her
down. Abusafa has also
contemplated the possibility of inviting the schools to play at Universal - even
footing the transportation and referee costs - to avoid forcing those schools to
comply with segregation rules. Bochnak, for one, said she would consider that
possibility. "I wouldn't have a
problem with it," she said. The girls at Universal
say they won't be upset if the other schools turn them
down. "If other schools have
a problem with this, it's okay," Duaa Hamoud said. But they look forward
to the possibility. "We just get sick of
playing the same schools," said Rana Othman, 14, a ninth-grader in braces who
plays on the junior varsity team. "It would be more challenging to play the
public schools." *************************************************************************** {Invite (mankind, O Muhammad ) to the Way of your Lord (i.e. Islam) with wisdom (i.e. with the Divine Inspiration and the Qur'an) and fair preaching, and argue with them in a way that is better. Truly, your Lord knows best who has gone astray from His Path, and He is the Best Aware of those who are guided.} (Holy Quran-16:125) {And who is better in speech than he who [says: "My Lord is Allah (believes in His Oneness)," and then stands straight (acts upon His Order), and] invites (men) to Allah's (Islamic Monotheism), and does righteous deeds, and says: "I am one of the Muslims."} (Holy Quran-41:33) The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "By Allah, if Allah guides one person by you, it is better for you than the best types of camels." [al-Bukhaaree, Muslim] The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) also said, "Whoever calls to guidance will have a reward similar to the reward of the one who follows him, without the reward of either of them being lessened at all." [Muslim, Ahmad, Aboo Daawood, an-Nasaa'ee, at-Tirmidhee, Ibn Maajah] -------------------------------------------------------------------------- All views expressed herein belong to the individuals concerned and do not in any way reflect the official views of IslamCity unless sanctioned or approved otherwise. If your mailbox clogged with mails from IslamCity, you may wish to get a daily digest of emails by logging-on to http://www.yahoogroups.com to change your mail delivery settings or email the moderators at [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the title "change to daily digest".
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