Religious scholars from different Islamic sects have unanimously announced that the custom of dowry in vogue in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh was un-Islamic. Speaking in a seminar held by the Social Reforms Society, Ahmaduddin Owaisi said that this system was synonymous with corruption and was, therefore, invalid.

The ulema have passed a resolution that says that the marriage ceremonies in which dowry is given and accepted and the entire expenses of the dinner or lunch hosted in honour of the baratis are borne by the bride’s side would be totally boycotted.

Aleem Khan Falaki said that the Sharia can permit the dinner hosted for the barati if it is borne by the groom’s family but in the countries in the South Asia, it was the other way round, putting the maximum burden of the marriage on the parents of the bride. They have to spend a large sum to marry their daughters off. It is promoting the notion that daughters are a liability. It is unacceptable.

Highlighting the gravity of the issue, he further said that due to the lavish expenses for the pomp and show in marriages, parents of the brides landed in deep financial crisis and it also gave birth to a number of social problems like talaq, dowry killings, suicide by the bride etc.

According to the Sharia, the brides have a right to inheritance and they are entitled to get the ‘mohr’ at the time of nikah. But in the South Asian countries, the Muslims give importance to dowry and ignore the rights of the bride.

The custom of dowry has violated the law of inheritance in Islam. Because of the dowry custom, parents spend a large chunk of their wealth on marriages. As a result, sons and daughters are deprived of the legal rights of inheritance. He said that the expenses of baraat and dowry came under the definition of bribery and it was done for pomp and show and was against the teachings of the Quran as the Quran says that it is the man who spends on women but thanks to the custom of dowry, women have become men as they spend in order to buy men. It is a social blackmail and tantamounts to male prostitution because the price of the groom is decided on the qualities, income and family background. The same happens to the girl if she is less educated or a widow or divorced. So, dowry is haram”, he said.

The ulema unanimously agreed to the resolution. Maulana Muhammad bin Yamin said that the custom of dowry had become the cancer of the society and so only denouncing it or issuing advises would not suffice but constant campaigning  and boycott was needed. Quoting the holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) he said, “Make the process of marriage so easy that adultery becomes difficult. But unfortunately, people have made marriages so difficult that adultery has become easy.”

Maulana Fazlur Rehman of Pakistan’s Jamat Ahl-e-Hadith said that that the holy Prophet (PBUH)  had instructed us to prefer the girl’s piety and righteousness instead of her wealth, beauty and family status to prevent mischief(fitna).

A Shia scholar Sheikh Hidayat said that people accepting dowry cited the example of the holy Prophet (PBUH) saying that he gave his daughter ‘gifts’. He said that it was a big lie. All the articles of essential domestic use were bought with the money paid by Hadhrat Ali as ‘mohr’.

Jamia Nizamia’s Maulana Abdul Qadir Tahir Qadri said that accepting dowry and eating from the money of the bride’s parents was actually as good as seeking alms, and that begging was haram in Islam.

Religious scholar Arshad Bashir Madani supported the resolution and said that the custom was affecting our society badly. It was promoting people’s urge to increase their income by hook or crook. Many of the rites and customs observed during the marriages had nothing to do with Islam. He said that the government of India had formulated strict laws to root out the custom but people violated the laws. “How can you expect people to obey the law of the land when they do not pay heed to the instructions of the Prophet (PBUH), he quipped.

URL: http://www.newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamIslamicSociety_1.aspx?ArticleID=5181

Strangers walk up, point to her hijab – the headscarf some Muslim women wear – and tell her she’s in America now, has rights and can’t be forced to wear the covering.

She thanks them. Then she tells them that she’s American-born, Kentucky-raised and understands her rights quite well since she’s an attorney.

And she assures them she wears the hijab out of choice, not coercion.

“It’s the last thing I put on before I cross the threshold of my home,” says Allouch, who is president of the Cincinnati chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

“Once it’s on my head, it’s a symbol of my commitment to my faith – my own individual commitment, not what someone else told me it should be. When I walk out that door, I choose to represent being an American-born, Muslim woman.”

But the headscarf that is seen by Allouch as a personal symbol of faith has become a matter of controversy, even penalty, for some Muslim women.

The Iranian women’s soccer team was banned from Olympic qualifying rounds last month because players wear a head covering. A California woman is suing retailer Abercrombie & Fitch after being fired for wearing a hijab – which, she points out, she also wore at her job interview.

The cases, along with recent news specials about Saudi Arabian women driving – which is forbidden – have intensified interest in the beliefs and practices of Muslim women.

And shown, many of them would say, that non-Muslims not only have a poor understanding of what goes on a Muslim woman’s head, but what goes on inside it.

The hijab is an obvious example. Westerners often view it as an accessory, as easily left off as an earring.

Muslims see it is an act of personal obedience, following verses in the Quran that exhort both men and women to modesty.

Rather than being an object of oppression, the hijab is viewed as “liberating” by women like Allouch.

Instead of leaving their identity to fashion designers and retailers, Muslim women make choices about how their body will be viewed and how they will physically express who they are, she says.

“Some people see the hijab as a requirement on women,” she says. “I see it as just the reverse. I get to control it. I get to decide what people’s perception of me is.”

Only in a handful of countries, including Saudi Arabia and Iran, are women required to wear the hijab. American Muslim women decide the matter for themselves.

Many are particularly irritated by the thought that males dictate that decision, or any other.

“Of all the things that frustrate us, one is the thought that other people need to speak on our behalf when we’re very capable of speaking for ourselves,” says Allouch, who practices law in Kentucky and Ohio.

To the perception they need to be freed from oppression, some wonder if the statement isn’t more fitting for females pressured to wear revealing clothing or to aspire to unachievable standards of beauty.

In contrast, Allouch says the hijab isn’t part of her wardrobe, it is part of herself.

Growing up, she sometimes saw it as a complexity. Now she sees it as clarifying.

“It’s another benefit of wearing the hijab,” she says. “Not only is it about me showing who I am, but it also gives me insight into who other people are. It shows me the truth of people.”

KUALA LUMPUR – Following the success of the young imam show, a new Malaysia TV show will be testing young Muslim women's religious knowledge, skills and personality to choose the best women preachers.

"If American Idol can help their contestants develop as singers, our show aims to help Muslim women develop as Islamic preachers," Zulkarnaen Mokhtar, brand manager at the private television station which produces the show, told Reuters on Saturday, June 18.

Coming in 13 episodes, the new program titled "Solehah," an Arabic word meaning "pious female,” would start airing next October.

Participants would include young women who are aged between 20 and 30.

Testing their talents, young Muslim women would be engaged in a contest to feature charismatic young Muslim women judged by clerics on their religious knowledge as well as their oratory skills and personality.

Moreover, the women would be judged by their ability mainly to "da'wah," an Arabic word literally meaning to spread Islam, and deliver religious lectures to an audience of Muslims to get them to be better Muslims.

The show comes on the heels of the hit Islamic themed show "Imam Muda," or Young Imam, which second season is currently shown on a rival TV station and seeks the best Imam or male Muslim leader.

The show has gained huge popularity in Southeast Asia where Islam is the most widely practiced religion, with more than 240 million followers.

Malays, mostly Muslims, make up nearly 60 percent of Malaysia’s 28 million population.

Ethnic Chinese and Indians – most of them Buddhists, Hindus and Christians – make up about 35 percent.

The rest are indigenous people and Eurasians.

The country offers the image of a model Muslim country, heading towards the status of developed nation with huge buildings, beautiful cities and a fast track economy.

Change Mindset

Stressing the importance of Muslim women rule in preaching the message of Islam, the program aims at changing the mindset of the males’ dominance in the preaching field.

"Solehah aims to be a show that provides religious education informally while acknowledging the role of women in the development of Islam," television station said earlier in a statement cited by Reuters.

Islam allows both men and women to preach religion to the society, though the field remains dominated by males in most Muslim countries.

The first day of two days of auditions for Solehah, held in the capital city on Saturday, drew a group of women clad in colorful headscarves, some accompanied by their mothers.

The young women were tested by a selection panel on skills including reciting the Quran.

They were also asked to deliver impromptu three-minute religious lectures on the responsibility of Muslims to help victims of natural disasters.

One of the contestants, Amie Sofia Ahmad, 25, an Egypt-trained Quranic studies graduate said some conservative Muslims frown upon Muslim women appearing and promoting themselves so openly on television.

"But we live in a modern world and television can be an important medium to spread the religion so why should we continue to remain in the background?" she said.

Prizes for the winners were not decided yet.

The prize for the Imam Muda men's program are a job as an imam, or mosque leader, a car, a cash prize of 30,000 ringgit ($9,922), and a four-year scholarship to Al-Madinah University in Saudi Arabia.

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That’s the extremist side of Islam that drives Islamophobia in the United States, including Congressional hearings on American Muslims that House Republicans are planning for next year.

But there’s another side of Islam as well, represented by an extraordinary Somali Muslim woman named Dr. Hawa Abdi who has confronted the armed militias. Amazingly, she forced them to back down — and even submit a written apology. Glamour magazine, which named Dr. Hawa a “woman of the year,” got it exactly right when it called her “equal parts Mother Teresa and Rambo.”

Dr. Hawa, a 63-year-old ob-gyn who earned a law degree on the side, is visiting the United States to raise money for her health work back home. A member of Somalia’s elite, she founded a one-room clinic in 1983, but then the Somalian government collapsed, famine struck, and aid groups fled. So today Dr. Hawa is running a 400-bed hospital.

Over the years, the hospital became the core of something even grander. Thousands and thousands of people displaced by civil war came to shelter on Dr. Hawa’s 1,300 acres of farmland around the hospital. Today her home and hospital have been overtaken by a vast camp that she says numbers about 90,000 displaced people.

Dr. Hawa supplies these 90,000 people with drinking water and struggles to find ways to feed them. She worries that handouts breed dependency (and in any case, United Nations agencies can’t safely reach her now to distribute food), so she is training formerly nomadic herding families to farm and even to fish in the sea.

She’s also pushing education. An American freelance journalist, Eliza Griswold, visited Dr. Hawa’s encampment in 2007 and 2008 and was stunned that an unarmed woman had managed to create a secure, functioning oasis surrounded by a chaotic land of hunger and warlords. Ms. Griswold helped Dr. Hawa start a school for 850 children, mostly girls. It’s only a tiny fraction of the children in the camp, but it’s a start. (Ms. Griswold also wrote movingly about Dr. Hawa in her book “The Tenth Parallel: Dispatches from the Fault Line Between Christianity and Islam.”)

In addition, Dr. Hawa runs literacy and health classes for women, as well as programs to discourage female genital mutilation. And she operates a tiny jail — for men who beat their wives.

“We are trying an experiment,” she told me. “We women in Somalia are trying to be leaders in our community.”

So Dr. Hawa had her hands full already — and then in May a hard-line militia, Hizb al-Islam, or Party of Islam, decided that a woman shouldn’t run anything substantial. The militia ordered her to hand over operations, and she refused — and pointedly added: “I may be a woman, but I’m a doctor. What have you done for society?”

The Party of Islam then attacked with 750 soldiers and seized the hospital. The world’s Somalis reacted with outrage, and the militia backed down and ordered Dr. Hawa to run the hospital, but under its direction.

She refused. For a week there were daily negotiations, but Dr. Hawa refused to budge. She demanded that the militia not only withdraw entirely but also submit a written apology.

“I was begging her, ‘Just give in,’ ” recalled Deqo Mohamed, her daughter, a doctor in Atlanta who spoke regularly to her mother by telephone. “She was saying, ‘No! I will die with dignity.’ ”

It didn’t come to that. The Party of Islam tired of being denounced by Somalis at home and around the world, so it slinked off and handed over an apology — but also left behind a wrecked hospital. The operating theater still isn’t functional, and that’s why Dr. Hawa is here, appealing for money (especially from ethnic Somalis). She has worked out an arrangement with Vital Voices, a group that helps to empower female leaders, to channel tax-deductible contributions to her hospital.

What a woman! And what a Muslim! It’s because of people like her that sweeping denunciations of Islam, or the “Muslim hearings” planned in Congress, rile me — and seem profoundly misguided.

The greatest religious battles are often not between faiths, but within faiths. The widest gulfs are often not those that divide one religion from the next, but those between extremists and progressives within a single faith. And in this religious season, there’s something that we can all learn from the courage, compassion and tolerance of Dr. Hawa Abdi.

I’m one of those to whom the new law in France would apply. I’m one of the ones being discussed by politicians, human rights groups and the media.

I’m one of those whom many feel the need to liberate.

I’m one of those you may think is oppressed.

I’m one of those many of you detest the sight of…

I’m one of those whom you may believe is uneducated; one of the ones
you may think has no voice.

But I do. So let me speak.

I am not Arab, Asian or even African. I am Australian. No, not ‘first generation’, ‘second generation’, or an immigrant. On my mother’s side, I’m of French-Canadian descent, and on my father’s side; British. I grew up as a Christian, and attended church occasionally. I was in the school swim team, and district
netball team. I holidayed with my family in the summer on the Gold Coast, and I’m educated. I have a university degree.

When I was 18 years of age I was introduced to Islam. I studied it,  and accepted it a year and a half later. By the time I reached 20, I was wearing the headscarf, and after I married I donned the niqaab. 

Because of my husband? No.

My husband did not want me to wear it, although his mother and sister do, and out of respect for his wishes I didn’t do so for two years. But I wanted to, and eventually did, and knowing it to be in line with our religion, my husband knew he had no authority to prevent me, and he now greatly admires my strength.

Then, I wore it because of my father? No. He’s a catholic. 
Because of my brother? Nope, haven’t got one.

My uncle? He’s an atheist.

Then because of my son? My eldest is only 8 years old. Then why??

Because I want to, that’s why.

And seeing as though my niqaab does not hurt anyone, that should be sufficient reason for all of you liberals of a liberal society; I should be able to finish my discussion right here. But although it may be so for any other style of dress, it isn’t enough when it comes to niqaab for some reason. You want more. So I will continue. 

What makes me want to then? Two things: Faith and experience.

Faith? Yeah, faith. Faith in my Creator , faith in His decisions, faith in Islam. A deep faith. Many wander at the faith of Muslims, at their conviction and their commitment. It’s a faith, that if you are not Muslim, is hard to explain or describe. The scripture of Islam, the Qur’an has scientific miracles in it, such that have captivated scientists globally, leading many to accept Islam. Moreover, the Qur’an has not been changed in over a thousand years, since it was revealed; not one letter moved from its place. I dare say there isn’t a religious scripture like it, and this lends a clue as to the
root of such faith.

In the Qur’an, Allah Ta'ala tells us to cover ourselves, ‘so as to be known, but not molested’. So our covering is a protection; a liberation.

Protection? you ask. Liberation? From what?

This is where I move on to my second reason for veiling. Like I said, I grew up in a Western secular society, in true Western secular style. I dressed secular, lived secular, and enjoyed all the ‘liberties’ of such a society. Did I feel liberated, free? Suffice to say, we were taught we were, so I never thought to think otherwise. It wasn’t until I became Muslim, and started covering , that I really felt
liberated, and realised , before that I wasn’t. 

Yet, time and time again we hear it said that we Muslim women are forced to veil, are oppressed; treated by our men folk as nothing more than ‘objects.’ And that niqaab, burqa, hijab; whatever term you use, is a form of ‘imprisonment’.

But what about the imprisonment of anxiety and depression?

What about the imprisonment of anorexia and bulimia?

What about the imprisonment of frequent rigorous exercise routines?

What about the imprisonment of always feeling the need to look like the super-model on the cover of Cosmo, or the pop-singer in the music video?

What about the slavery to fashion?

What about the entrapment of jealousy??

How many women waste their hard-earned money, destroy their physical and mental health, expose their bodies to vulnerability, abuse and extortion in order to…… in order to what??

In order to gain approval and praise. Who’s approval and praise?
Men’s.

And yes, it seems even other women too. So it seems non-Muslim women
are not only slaves to men, but slaves to society as a whole.

Before you scream your disagreement, which many of you may do as a knee-jerk reaction to being told you’re also oppressed , stop and think. Look around you, contemplate society today, and its values, its aspirations, its goals, its direction, its past-times, its hobbies….

What good has it done for women to doff more and more clothing?
 
What good has it done for images of uncovered made-up women to be plastered on every billboard and magazine, on the TV, in the movies, and on the net?

Has it really brought any good for women?

The women in the images may aptly feel good about themselves for a while, but what does it mean for every other women?

Women who look upon these images usually become anxious, jealous, unsure and critical of themselves, or all of these things. Many men who view them will become aroused, or even unhappy, less satisfied with the partners they already have. What can, and does this lead to?

Cheating, dumping, chastisement, and even harassment of other women, and even children by, men who cannot find a legitimate outlet for their constant arousal. And yes, I can hear some of you; ‘then the men must control themselves!’ Frankly speaking that argument is well spent, not to mention futile, as most men are, inherently, only able to react to that, the same way a hungry lion would react if thrown a juicy piece of steak, and told not to eat it….

Do the uncovered women captured in these images and industries, or parading around, realise or even care how many young girls are starving, purging and stressing themselves trying to mirror their image? No.

It seems they even take perverse pleasure in it. One barely-dressed singer even boldly and crudely sung recently, ‘Don’t you wish your girlfriend was hot like me?’

What?!

What is this women and her ilk saying??

What are they implying??

What are they doing to their sisters in humanity??!

So many poor girls, eroding themselves physically and mentally as they watch with jealousy and anxiety their partners ogle singers like this. Have the same thing occur to these women, these ‘idols’; have their partners swoon over another similarly attired, and witness their reaction! And when their daughters are molested by men they themselves, or women like them, have aroused, will they reflect?

Will they act?

Will society act?

Yeah, we see it reacting: ban the burqa!

It just amazes me how many women especially, despise my choice of dress. Yet, would they rather their husband’s secretary to be dressed like me or otherwise?

Would they rather the waitress serving the table at their anniversary dinner, be dressed like me or otherwise?

Is it me and my sisters who are turning their husband’s head, or attracting their boyfriends??

Is it me and my sisters who have led their daughters to anorexia, or their sons to pornography?

Is it me and my sisters whose bodies and faces solicit their husband’s/boyfriend’s attention on every corner? Is it me and my sisters who have aroused that man to rape or harass their sisters?

Whose mode of ‘dress’ is truly oppressive and harmful to women??

So now I’ve spoken, and although I am one, I speak on behalf of hundreds. I’ve explained to you that the majority of us have chosen this mode of dress, especially in the West. I have told you that we love it, we want it, and I’ve exemplified for you the inherent good in it. I’ve discussed here the issue of niqaab based on the suggestion that it is oppressive, or harmful to society, as this is the main reason stated by the French for the ban. When it comes to other issues of security and communication, then please see 

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/11/veiled-threats/

for an excellent refutation of these arguments.

So to those of you who really are so concerned about ‘liberating’ me, then you will listen to what I have said, and let me and my sisters be.

I AM an American woman who was born in the midst of America's "Heartland." I grew up, just like any other girl, being fixated with the glamour of life in "the big city." Eventually, I moved to Florida and on to South Beach of Miami, a hotspot for those seeking the "glamorous life." Naturally, I did what most average Western girls do. I focused on my appearance and appeal, basing my self-worth on how much attention I got from others. I worked out religiously and became a personal trainer, acquired an upscale waterfront residence, became a regular "exhibiting" beach-goer and was able to attain a "living-in-style" kind of life.

Years went by, only to realize that my scale of self-fulfillment and happiness slid down the more I progressed in my "feminine appeal." I was a slave to fashion. I was a hostage to my looks.

As the gap continued to progressively widen between my self-fulfillment and lifestyle, I sought refuge in escapes from alcohol and parties to meditation, activism, and alternative religions, only to have the little gap widen to what seemed like a valley. I eventually realized it all was merely a pain killer rather than an effective remedy.

By now it was September 11, 2001. As I witnessed the ensuing barrage on Islam, Islamic values and culture, and the infamous declaration of the "new crusade," I started to notice something called Islam. Up until that point, all I had associated with Islam was women covered in "tents," wife beaters, harems, and a world of terrorism.

As a feminist libertarian, and an activist who was pursuing a better world for all, my path crossed with that of another activist who was already at the lead of indiscriminately furthering causes of reform and justice for all. I joined in the ongoing campaigns of my new mentor which included, at the time, election reform and civil rights, among others. Now my new activism was fundamentally different. Instead of "selectively" advocating justice only to some, I learned that ideals such as justice, freedom, and respect are meant to be and are essentially universal, and that own good and common good are not in conflict. For the first time, I knew what "all people are created equal" really means. But most importantly, I learned that it only takes faith to see the world as one and to see the unity in creation.

One day I came across a book that is negatively stereotyped in the West–The Holy Qur'an. I was first attracted by the style and approach of the Qur'an, and then intrigued by its outlook on existence, life, creation, and the relationship between Creator and creation. I found the Qur'an to be a very insightful address to heart and soul without the need for an interpreter or pastor.

Eventually I hit a moment of truth: my new-found self-fulfilling activism was nothing more than merely embracing a faith called Islam where I could live in peace as a "functional" Muslim.

I bought a beautiful long gown and head cover resembling the Muslim woman's dress code and I walked down the same streets and neighborhoods where only days earlier I had walked in my shorts, bikini, or "elegant" western business attire. Although the people, the faces, and the shops were all the same, one thing was remarkably distinct–I was not–nor was the peace at being a woman I experienced for the very first time. I felt as if the chains had been broken and I was finally free. I was delighted with the new looks of wonder on people's faces in place of the looks of a hunter watching his prey I had once sought. Suddenly a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I no longer spent all my time consumed with shopping, makeup, getting my hair done, and working out. Finally, I was free.

Of all places, I found my Islam at the heart of what some call "the most scandalous place on earth," which makes it all the more dear and special.

While content with Hijab I became curious about Niqab, seeing an increasing number of Muslim women in it. I asked my Muslim husband, whom I married after I reverted to Islam, whether I should wear Niqab or just settle for the Hijab I was already wearing. My husband simply advised me that he believes Hijab is mandatory in Islam while Niqab is not. At the time, my Hijab consisted of head scarf that covered all my hair except for my face, and a loose long black gown called "Abaya" that covered all my body from neck to toe.

A year-and-a-half passed, and I told my husband I wanted to wear Niqab. My reason, this time, was that I felt it would be more pleasing to Allah, the Creator, increasing my feeling of peace at being more modest. He supported my decision and took me to buy an "Isdaal," a loose black gown that covers from head to toe, and Niqab, which covers all my head and face except for my eyes.

Soon enough, news started breaking about politicians, Vatican clergymen, libertarians, and so-called human rights and freedom activists condemning Hijab at times, and Niqab at others as being oppressive to women, an obstacle to social integration, and more recently, as an Egyptian official called it–"a sign of backwardness."

I find it to be a blatant hypocrisy when Western governments and so-called human rights groups rush to defend woman's rights when some governments impose a certain dress code on women, yet such "freedom fighters" look the other way when women are being deprived of their rights, work, and education just because they choose to exercise their right to wear Niqab or Hijab. Today, women in Hijab or Niqab are being increasingly barred from work and education not only under totalitarian regimes such as in Tunisia, Morocco, and Egypt, but also in Western democracies such as France, Holland, and Britain.

Today I am still a feminist, but a Muslim feminist, who calls on Muslim women to assume their responsibilities in providing all the support they can for their husbands to be good Muslims. To raise their children as upright Muslims so they may be beacons of light for all humanity once again. To enjoin good–any good–and to forbid evil–any evil. To speak righteousness and to speak up against all ills. To fight for our right to wear Niqab or Hijab and to please our Creator whichever way we chose. But just as importantly to carry our experience with Niqab or Hijab to fellow women who may never have had the chance to understand what wearing Niqab or Hijab means to us and why do we, so dearly, embrace it.

Most of the women I know wearing Niqab are Western reverts, some of whom are not even married. Others wear Niqab without full support of either family or surroundings. What we all have in common is that it is the personal choice of each and every one of us, which none of us is willing to surrender.

Willingly or unwillingly, women are bombarded with styles of "dressing-in-little-to-nothing" virtually in every means of communication everywhere in the world. As an ex non-Muslim, I insist on women's right to equally know about Hijab, its virtues, and the peace and happiness it brings to a woman's life as it did to mine. Yesterday, the bikini was the symbol of my liberty, when in actuality it only liberated me from my spirituality and true value as a respectable human being.

I couldn't be happier to shed my bikini in South Beach and the "glamorous" Western lifestyle to live in peace with my Creator and enjoy living among fellow humans as a worthy person. It is why I choose to wear Niqab, and why I will die defending my inalienable right to wear it. Today, Niqab is the new symbol of woman's liberation.

To women who surrender to the ugly stereotype against the Islamic modesty of Hijab, I say: You don't know what you are missing.

Sara Bokker is a former actress/model/fitness instructor and activist. Currently, Sara is Director of Communications at "The March For Justice," a co-founder of "The Global Sisters Network," and producer of the infamous "Shock & Awe Gallery."

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