Egypt’s first veiled superheroine in a webcomic, Qahera is a Cairo-based, hijabi character who is the mainstay of a comic series by the same name. Created by Deena Mohamed, she not only fights bad guys but also deals with Islamophobia / Courtesy Deena Mohamed
Egypt’s first veiled superheroine in a webcomic, Qahera is a Cairo-based, hijabi character who is the mainstay of a comic series by the same name. Created by Deena Mohamed, she not only fights bad guys but also deals with Islamophobia / Courtesy Deena Mohamed
Egypt’s first veiled superheroine in a webcomic, Qahera is a Cairo-based, hijabi character who is the mainstay of a comic series by the same name. Created by Deena Mohamed, she not only fights bad guys but also deals with Islamophobia / Courtesy Deena Mohamed
Egypt’s first veiled superheroine in a webcomic, Qahera is a Cairo-based, hijabi character who is the mainstay of a comic series by the same name. Created by Deena Mohamed, she not only fights bad guy

Holding out for a heroine: how Muslim women real and imaginary are finding new ways to challenge hostile voices


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The tipping point has come when it comes to sexual harassment – at least, that's what women across the world hope. The #MeToo movement that highlighted the deep-rooted problems in Hollywood was championed by A-list celebrities, women deemed beautiful and placed on a pedestal. Some say this is the reason that the campaign finally gained traction. While there's something to be said about how the suffering of white, establishment female celebrities was what was needed for things to finally start changing, there can be no regrets that people are starting to take note at last.

But what it also needs are ordinary heroines, so that billions of women around the world know this form of oppression and abuse must stop. We need to see them, hear their stories and believe they can get justice. And we need to believe it so we can proceed with energy through this revolution. That heroine has arrived in the form of a 23-year-old Egyptian, Rania Fahmy.

In August last year, Ms Fahmy was captured on camera retaliating against a man who sexually assaulted her. She was angry. Very angry. She was as angry as any woman who has ever been assaulted in this way. She refused to let him escape and hit him repeatedly with her handbag. The footage from a nearby shop, which captured him groping her and the ensuing chase as she ran after him and battered him with her bag, went viral.

Not only does her immediate response to him elicit admiration at her bravado and her own brand of self-empowered street justice, it's really what happened afterwards that makes us jump up and cheer. She reported him to police and last month, her attacker was convicted of sexual assault and sentenced to three years in jail. What is sadly an incredibly common and ordinary daily event for women, not just in Egypt but worldwide, turned into something quite different. At the moment Ms Fahmy took a stand and urged all women and girls to adhere to their rights and file complaints against sexual harassers, she became a superheroine walking in our midst. Our righteous anger at so much injustice against women and the disgusting and constant abuse was given an outlet and a sense of justice being restored. It also gave us hope. It was a moment that allowed us to step back and say, even though this is how it has always been, it doesn't need to be like that anymore. Things can change. Things must change. Things will change.

The superhero paradigm is one in which Muslim women in particular have been exploring and throwing off traditional constraints to find new ways of expression and of challenging hostile voices. Once you take out the parameters of ordinary life, anything is possible. So it's no surprise that Muslim women are adopting this new form to explore the potential of breaking new ground. The most famous of these is Kamala Khan, the recent reinvention of Ms Marvel as a Pakistani-American Muslim teenager. The comic book starring her persona shot to No 1 on The New York Times bestseller list, not only because she struggles with the daily angsts we all face, but also because she explores what a Muslim woman could be and the lived daily reality of those experiences. She was created by two Muslim women, Sana Amanat and G Willow Wilson, who said they wanted her to "send out a message of positivity and love".

Meanwhile Pakistan's Burka Avenger, a cartoon superheroine created by Aaron Haroon Rashid, is a teacher by day and fights villains by night. The setting is reminiscent of the Taliban badlands, where girls' education is forbidden. Instead, she instils the value of education in her female pupils and teaches them to attack villains with their books. By night, she dons a long black cape and black burqa-like mask. In this outfit, we see her as a heroine, able to counter the traditional strictures facing women and tackle deep-rooted injustice.

Perhaps my favourite of all is a comic strip called Al Qahera. Although the creator says this is not in reference to Cario, there is something resonant about an art form that tackles misogyny in the country where Ms Fahmy's attack took place, which has been working hard to combat instances of sexual harassment, such as those witnessed in Tahrir Square in 2014. Al Qahera is a black-and-white comic where the woman swoops in to tackle misogyny. "I can hear the sound of misogynistic trash," she rails before challenging assaulters and abusers galore.

While the superhero comics might help us see the world in a different way, it is real-life heroines in our midst such as Ms Fahmy who show us change in our world is truly possible.

Shelina Janmohamed is the author of Love in a Headscarf and Generation M: Young Muslims Changing the World

While you're here
WOMAN AND CHILD

Director: Saeed Roustaee

Starring: Parinaz Izadyar, Payman Maadi

Rating: 4/5

How to report a beggar

Abu Dhabi – Call 999 or 8002626 (Aman Service)

Dubai – Call 800243

Sharjah – Call 065632222

Ras Al Khaimah - Call 072053372

Ajman – Call 067401616

Umm Al Quwain – Call 999

Fujairah - Call 092051100 or 092224411

The currency conundrum

Russ Mould, investment director at online trading platform AJ Bell, says almost every major currency has challenges right now. “The US has a huge budget deficit, the euro faces political friction and poor growth, sterling is bogged down by Brexit, China’s renminbi is hit by debt fears while slowing Chinese growth is hurting commodity exporters like Australia and Canada.”

Most countries now actively want a weak currency to make their exports more competitive. “China seems happy to let the renminbi drift lower, the Swiss are still running quantitative easing at full tilt and central bankers everywhere are actively talking down their currencies or offering only limited support," says Mr Mould.

This is a race to the bottom, and everybody wants to be a winner.

Sole survivors
  • Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
  • George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
  • Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
  • Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
UAE v Gibraltar

What: International friendly

When: 7pm kick off

Where: Rugby Park, Dubai Sports City

Admission: Free

Online: The match will be broadcast live on Dubai Exiles’ Facebook page

UAE squad: Lucas Waddington (Dubai Exiles), Gio Fourie (Exiles), Craig Nutt (Abu Dhabi Harlequins), Phil Brady (Harlequins), Daniel Perry (Dubai Hurricanes), Esekaia Dranibota (Harlequins), Matt Mills (Exiles), Jaen Botes (Exiles), Kristian Stinson (Exiles), Murray Reason (Abu Dhabi Saracens), Dave Knight (Hurricanes), Ross Samson (Jebel Ali Dragons), DuRandt Gerber (Exiles), Saki Naisau (Dragons), Andrew Powell (Hurricanes), Emosi Vacanau (Harlequins), Niko Volavola (Dragons), Matt Richards (Dragons), Luke Stevenson (Harlequins), Josh Ives (Dubai Sports City Eagles), Sean Stevens (Saracens), Thinus Steyn (Exiles)

Leap of Faith

Michael J Mazarr

Public Affairs

Dh67
 

Innotech Profile

Date started: 2013

Founder/CEO: Othman Al Mandhari

Based: Muscat, Oman

Sector: Additive manufacturing, 3D printing technologies

Size: 15 full-time employees

Stage: Seed stage and seeking Series A round of financing 

Investors: Oman Technology Fund from 2017 to 2019, exited through an agreement with a new investor to secure new funding that it under negotiation right now. 

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UK-EU trade at a glance

EU fishing vessels guaranteed access to UK waters for 12 years

Co-operation on security initiatives and procurement of defence products

Youth experience scheme to work, study or volunteer in UK and EU countries

Smoother border management with use of e-gates

Cutting red tape on import and export of food

Labour dispute

The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.


- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law 

LILO & STITCH

Starring: Sydney Elizebeth Agudong, Maia Kealoha, Chris Sanders

Director: Dean Fleischer Camp

Rating: 4.5/5

Dubai Bling season three

Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed 

Rating: 1/5