Earlier this week Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Alicia Keys tweeted a photo of a woman dressed in a niqab, a face covering worn by some Muslim women as part of the Islamic female modesty standards known broadly as hijab.
“Our strength is in our differences. Our power is in our diversity. We are so beautiful. All of us. When we see each other we see ourselves,” Keys captioned the tweet.
But after receiving much backlash, the singer deleted the photo. Notable among Keys’ critics was outspoken Muslim writer and reformer, Shireen Qudosi. In a series of tweets, Qudosi pointed out the irony of Keys’ “liberating” language, given what the niqab symbolizes:
@aliciakeys @DiaryOf_Thought If you lived in a niqab-wearing society, and showed that leg, you'd be severly beaten. Signed, a Muslim woman.
— SHIREEN QUDOSI (@ShireenQudosi) March 28, 2017
@aliciakeys @DiaryOf_Thought You do Muslim women ZERO favors when you push a cloth terrorists and fundamentalists have forced women to wear
— SHIREEN QUDOSI (@ShireenQudosi) March 28, 2017
@aliciakeys @DiaryOf_Thought Why fundamentalist Muslims force niqab: our entire worth boils down to our sexuality. You just promoted that!
— SHIREEN QUDOSI (@ShireenQudosi) March 28, 2017
The Taliban, Hezbollah, Hamas, Muslim Brotherhood, Al-Qaeda, ISIS, Al-Shabaab, would all like to thank @aliciakeys for the free PR. ? https://t.co/UJnh0jAmQZ
— SHIREEN QUDOSI (@ShireenQudosi) March 28, 2017
Speaking to Faithwire, Qudosi further explained her objections to Keys’ glamorization of what she believes is a symbol of female “oppression and supremacy.”
“I’m a Muslim woman who holds on to what’s beautiful about my Eastern heritage, while also forging a new American Muslim identity,” Qudosi told Faithwire in an email. “When Alicia Keys romanticizes the niqab under the banner of diversity, she promotes the most savage and barbaric Arab tribalism that sees women as something to be possessed and contained. When I see good-intentioned people call primitivism beautiful, that’s as offensive as someone saying American slave history was ‘beautiful and diverse.'”
Qudosi called Keys’ tweet “horrific,” adding that those who blindly mistake symbols of bondage for “diversity” are engaging in a dangerous moral game.
“America is built on diversity, but not all ideas are equal and deserve sanctuary — especially those that don’t mirror American values,” she continued. “The niqab has no place in American society. It should never be entertained let alone glorified.”
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