Don’t these people have anything better to do with their time than pick on a teenager?
Police will provide a huge security detail for Indian tennis star Sania Mirza during a world tennis tournament in Calcutta next week.
The heavy security follows rumours that a radical Islamic group threatened to stop her playing in the tournament unless she changed her on-court dress.
Awesome. Let’s harass one of the few decent athletes India has, it’s a fantastic way to thank her for reaching the fourth round of the US Open.
The radical Islamic group in question is the Jamiat-e-Islami, they claim they haven’t threatened her at all.
“These are rumours, we have not threatened to stop Sania or anybody else from playing,” he said.
“Though it is true that the kind of dress Sania wears offends us – we don’t expect a Muslim girl to wear such skimpy clothes in public.”
Look. If you want to be offended by something Sania wears while playing tennis, go after what’s REALLY outrageous– those horrid black socks she likes. Priorities, people!
Understandably, Sania’s safety is important to the authorities who are taking all threats very seriously.
“We cannot take a chance with the security of someone like Sania,” Calcutta’s additional police commissioner Gautam Chakrabarty said.
“We have deployed the best of our women police, nearly a hundred of them, to guard her both on and off the court and we have made special arrangements to frisk all spectators attending the tournament,” he said.
What does sweeeet Sania have to say about all this nonsense?
Sania Mirza has refused to be drawn into the controversy, merely asking forgiveness “for whatever I have to do on court as an 18-year-old.”
She didn’t write something irreverent about the Prophet Muhammad. She didn’t molest a mullah. She doesn’t have strange hair and a penchant for criticizing Islam. Don’t get it twizzy– she is not the enemy.
There’s something about Sania that kicks alive the animal in me.
That’s all I had to say.
Apparently the women are backing her.
From Madhubala to Waheeda Rehman, From Mumtaz to Zeenat Amaan, From Mandakini to Nigar Khan…
(notice the rhyme)
There have been lotsa mouzzi chics who didn’t exactly follow the mouzzi way of life, but no one ever threw a fatwa against them. So, why’s shweet Shaania being given a hard time? If even a strand of her beautiful hair is harmed, I’m gonna hurt someone real bad.
This is sheer stupidity.
As Atlasdrugged puts the things, probably there is something in Sania that irks the Mullahs. I think they are disturbed by the assumption that one of their 70 hoors (beautifull women promised in heaven)is springing in front of them and they just go crazy. She had no effect on the Jamaati women.
Well done Sania to shake the fundamentalism, backwardness and limitations on and off the field.
yeah, her black socks are really out there. someone should tell her to get rid of them.
There are many people like anna, who only waiting to write this sort of absurd things. First of all its not jamaat-e-islami that said whiich he quoted, but an unknown outlet called jamaat ulema dug by, again people like anna. these outfit operate from their letterhead only with themseves appropriating as Maulanas. Funnily nobody heard of them untill people like anna go poking them for “hey isn’t it unislamic what sania is wearing?” yes its unislamic and we don’t approve it from muslim girls….wow this nasty mullah has issued fatwa agaisnt poor sania. How backward the muslim are, how he feel offended, why do these pervert watch her. How sania is doing the right thing and all the Indian muslims……. yes all muslims are against poor sania. so on so forth whip the muslim put a name here and there about rushdie blah blah the picture is complete. Good job anna.
Good job anna.
hallelujah!!! good job anna! i mean, it is hard to find evidence pointing to a lack of liberalism amongst followers of the religion of peace!
btw, nice pic.
ms provides the killer quote the Tamil Muslim Womens association
.
I reckon these are the quotes of cool as me Muslim women that should be put up as headlines – much more positive and true than just highlighting what a bunch of hypocrite old men say – because the sisters need our support!
Mullas and radical muslims should go to pakistan and banglandesh.
Reason Nehru and other wisemen agreed to division is to get rid of these types.
India is for people who appreciate freedom tolerance and openess. People who want to practice Arab culture should move to Pakistan and Bangladesh. People need to stand up to these types and then them “where” they should go.
Good point, but none of those Muslim women ever gained as much international attention as Sania has achieved. And this seems to really irk those Muslim misogynists. It is scary how it doesn’t take much to reveal the underlying hate these mullahs have for any streak of independant thinking by a Muslim woman. It is truly sad if Sania now has to play with an armed guard protecting her.
Thanks for making me laugh mg – if India is only for people who appreaciate freedom tolerance and openess there has to be a much bigger clear out than just the old mullahs – I mean we can send them to those famous Arab countries of Pakistan and Bangladesh but where are we going to send all those other fascists and bigots who dont belong to that religion?
Feel bad for her really. Her choices are a) ignore the mullahs & protect herself which is what she’s doing now (although i doubt this is a good long term solution) or b) fight back at the mullahs, but that, in my opinion would be a move that could ruin her career if she gets into that msess….if she wants to play as an indian that is.
on the other hand, she could, i suppose, become an american citizen like most other tennis players, and actually have a decent career as a tennis player.
Are they socks? They look like ankle guards from here. But maybe not.
Maybe the socks are kind of like Bjorn Borg’s beard … a symbol of luck ?
I think this has been blown out of proportion, really. The fatwa is almost like a self-fulfilling prophecy. I think there is zero public support among Muslims (in India) for this kind of ludicrous ideas. As someone has pointed out, there have been Muslim women in Bollywood who wore far more glamorous attires than Sania. The current political climate and the attention of the world media have added to the whole thing.
sidekick: she could, i suppose, become an american citizen like most other tennis players, and actually have a decent career as a tennis player
Like who? Except Eastern European players during the cold war era, I haven’t seen anyone do that, have you? Living or being based in the US is not the same thing as becoming citizens.
I disagree that this is blown out of proportion, nanda, especially when a physical threat has been made, however baseless it may seem. i suppose i was thinking along the lines of seles..the parallel i’m drawing is physical harm, being from a country that is not as strong as the US in protecting the interests of its citizens.
Vikram is right, those are not black socks. Sania wears ankle protectors on both legs ever since she recovered from her ankle injury in early march 05.
I guess they dont make those protectors in any other color but black.
Yes, very likely to be ankle supports like these . I run a lot and wear ankle supports, it is hard to find white ones in retail. However, she is a star player it should be easy for her to have white ones custom made for her. BTW it could be that mullahs find exposed ankles sexy (anklesicous) so instead of running the risk of some lust driven mullah jumping on her she is covering them up with black…
I need ankle supports too (very scrawny, pathetic ankles and wrists – also need wrist cuffs).
finding exposed ankles sexy….. reminds me of the scene from meenakumari-rajkumar film “Pakeezah”.. where the hero falls in love with the courtesan after a glimpse of her ankles as she climbs on to a berth in a train…..
and then delivers a line which ( roughly) translates as ” your feet are most delicate, never set them on the ground”
In old hindi/urdu films the Mujra/Kothe-waali always goes orgasmic when her ankles are touched by the hero. I don’t know if this was Islamic lore or just another bollywood metaphor for sexual activity (birds kissing, flowers touching, bushes pulsating etc..)
Maybe they are foot fetishists
Shit, there is even a desi link here:
tauba tauba!
Quit it with that stuff.
The former don’t make much sense without the latter for context. I do think it would be a good policy to frequently try and find links to “the opposition”—groups fighting the problem of the hour—to give them some linkage and exposure. I totally appreciated reading about the The ‘Tamil Nadul Muslim Women’s Jamaat.
Kudos to Sania for, at least publicly, keeping her calm and doing her best not to antagonize the clerics–ridiculing them would likely backfire amongst more conservative muslims, especially if they’re currently on the fence.
She is attracticve! I’m not into tennis. I’d only read her name in newspaper,web headlines and ignored it untill this brouhaha. I dont recall seeing her picture or may be i did but i didnt pay any attention. My mistake But thanks to the attention drawn to this issue by the mullahs i a non muslim am paying close attention to her legs and looking for outline of her sport bra in the pics. HeHeHe Mullahs got what they wished for. I hope she does a debonair spread…
she is 18…people should not be making an 18 year old girl discuss being a sex symbol. she’s 18 years old and good at tennis, thats all come again
Fatwa…. she should change her religion. Then lets see what these ignorant ppl will do.
Any religion that forces people on how to dress is a fascist religion. Unfortunately religions like islam and sikhism force people to dress in ways that are in conflict with modernism.
Sikhism does not force anyone to dress a certain way
“In conflict with modernism” ? I see – modernism dictates a homogeneity of dress, everybody should dress like a European? Sheesh.
Regarding your comments ‘those horrid black socks she likes’ — sorry to say that you’re wrong — those are ankle braces for her ankle injury that she wore just in case.
I’ve a feeling that our press will kill her career — please please leave her alone!!
The “foot” link seems to be an old one, and as far as I am aware there’s nothing particularly “Islamic” about it: one linguistic analysis of “Oedipus” (and picked up on in Freud’s Interpretaion of Dreams) is “swollen foot”…
I’ve a feeling that our press will kill her career — please please leave her alo
That’s a really interesting idea, actually. In the arts press is sort of necessary. Without an audience, the art doesn’t happen. But in athletics, there’s no reason one can’t have no press and still excel. The score is what counts. Of course the audience funds the facilities and also endorsements that fund training, but they aren’t strictly necessary.
cd + rk:
chill.
cd- you’re wrong. conflating the sikh male choice to wear a turban (i think that’s what you are getting at?) and the sometimes draconian clothing requirements for muslim women…just…no.
rk- i was being funny. also, your fear that we are “killing” her career” is just bizarre.
Well, for all the attention SHE wants, this is something she will have to pay for – threat to security.
And well, for the culturally challanged ones – forget muslims, even the Hindu fundamentalists would have had problems with her dress.
I am not complaining, but she looks horrible anyway.
You sound like a fascist yourself dude – take a cold shower.
You know why nobody says anything about Anju Bobby George’s sports attire?
Because it’s appropriate for the sport. Hint, hint.
Although the attire in a lot of female sports, e.g. tennis and beach volleyball, has definitely been tarted up for ratings.
Manish: I think you make a good point; recall that in her later playing years Navratilova started playing in shorts, which are just as practical from the game’s point of view…
” You know why nobody says anything about Anju Bobby George’s sports attire?”
I thought even the world class, iconic runner, Hassiba Boulmerka from Algeria ran into serious problem with clergy.
http://people.africadatabase.org/en/profile/10860.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hassiba_Boulmerka
there is a great article on sania in the latest india today. i think she is a great 18 year old talent who should have all the freedom she wants, and wears.
Note that a Shiite body has criticized the fatwa re: Sania’s dress:
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1488424,00070002.htm
Distraction? I’m sorry – those aren’t even great tennis legs! Anna Kournikova, either of the Venus sisters (ah, what an appropriate name), even Michael Chang – those are/were great legs. Sania is a cutie when she lets her hair down and dons those dorky black frames (1,2,3), but her legs? Merely average. I can’t say I find them distracting at all, but then I’m not a mullah.
Here is an interesting discussion about a recent incident of Islamic dress codes being imposed via Photoshop ! A bizarre story to say the least. Perhaps this is a new special effects industry in the making… a “drop in hijab filter” for all Islamic tv, where a hijab can be digitally composited in real time on women not meeting the Islamic dress code. Lucasfilm’s Industrial Light & Magic may be landing a new contract…
photo doctored for Islamic correctness
After going through all the comments, the common denominator of the readers is hatred, yes hatred for Muslims runs so deep I could not imagine. I assume all these hatred is coming from american based NRI, when in India perticularly the rural india where I come from there is little to be seen. I was given to understand that knowledge gives the power of understanding between different relegion, which is not being seen here.
God bless you all
whatever, man. this girl can play tennis and for once, here’s someone who can tell the journos to stick it up their a**! Read this: awesome! http://in.rediff.com/sports/2005/sep/17sania.htm
Read this have some understanding. I hope anna and his ilk will take some time thinking before ranting. I still belive that this medium can be used for understanding rather than bringing out the prejeduce.
and i hope YOU know that ANNA has ovaries. “his”?
“I hope anna and his ilk will take some time thinking before ranting”
zak probably thinks “anna” = Big brother ( as in Tamil)
zak had me there for a minute! 😉 I also thought what SP says. thank god!