SHOWING THE ZAINABI KIRDAR

Merve Kavakci is a Turkish born Muslima who was stripped of her nationality because she dared to wear hijab in the Turkish parliament. She is a mother of two, very learned in Islamic knowledge, and holder of multiple degrees in computer science and politics. She belongs to the emerging wave of those Muslims in Turkey that want to reclaim their Muslim identity, their right to fully practice their religion, and to advance education, social welfare, and opportunities of the modern age to people. An example of the right to practice religion is to put on hijab or veil in public institutions. In Turkey, veil is banned in public offices and state institutions. The ban has its origins in Turkish state’s wish to become modern and to get along with the European nations. In 1999, Merve ran in the parliamentary elections and was elected from Istanbul.

The second of May, 1999 was her first day in the Turkish parliament. Her hijab was on her head as she entered the parliament building. She probably had some idea of what mayhem is awaiting her. She nonetheless carried herself with confidence and determination. Her posture reflected her conviction and pride in who she was – a muhajiba, a mujahida. But a few minutes later, before the oath-taking ceremony could begin, one after another, all her fellow Muslim parliamentarians stood up from their seats. And in a collective display of their ignorance (‘jihalat’) and prejudice (‘taassub’), they started banging, clapping, and snorting at her in frenzy, pressuring her to either take off her hijab or leave the building.

Merve did not remove her hijab. She endured all the humiliation while sitting in her chair. Later she was expelled from the parliament. She was humiliated, she was mentally tortured, but she was not defeated. Instead it was she who defeated those hundreds of parliamentarians in that building and their supporters in rest of Turkey in front of the whole world. With her eloquent speeches and writings, from that day on, she has been exposing the hypocrisy (‘munafiqat’) and tyranny (‘jabar’) of the Turkish state in different world forums, including the European Court of Human Rights, and electronic and print media.

Reading about her in this month of Muharram, about her strong conviction in her Islamic identity, in what she believes in, and her struggle for her rights, for the greater cause of her people felt so reminiscent of the character that Zainab binte Ali displayed some thirteen hundred years ago. Merve was humiliated, her hijab came under attack, but she remained steadfast in the face of all this like Zainab and like Zainab’s mother, Fatima, did. Through her character and eloquent speeches, Merve has exposed the subtle forms of tyrannies of our modern world, tyrannies that takes the cover of so called 'modernism' and 'secularism' in the case of the Turkish state. Merve has exposed the hypocrisy of 'western liberalism' that champions individual liberties and freedom of speech but can't tolerate hijab. Hijab, a simple piece of cloth, yet combined with Merve’s conviction, it is powerful enough to shake the foundations of oppression (‘zulm’).

No oppressor can tolerate such ‘Zainabi Kirdar’. Neither could Yazid of yesterday nor can yazidiat of today, whether it is the overt oppression of Saddam Hussein on Bintul Huda or the more subtle, totalizing logic of western liberalism against Merve Kavakci. But, these oppressors can’t win. They can’t suppress these voices of resistance. They never have been able to do that, they never can.

Merve Kavakci's website: http://www.mervekavakci.net/ (see a small audio clip of the frenzy created by the Turkish parliamentarians against Merve Kavakci on the main page. The clip opens automatically).

(January 31, 2007)