By Sandra Marroquin —
Shamsa Azra Zahid bristled against the pressures from Muslim men to coverup their dalliances recently.
“As Muslim women, we are heavily taught that our worth lies in how we are perceived, and that one little mistake, one mishap, can destroy us forever,” the fashion brand businesswoman says. “But Muslim men can do the very things that we are warned against. They can lie, they can cheat. They can have a past of clubbing, and sleeping around and smoking, and drinking, and have secret wives, secret families. Yet their reputation remains intact.
“What does that tell us? It tells us that this idea of our reputation is not about morality, it’s about control.“
Shamsa — who says she impeccably follows all Muslim restrictions on women — received the ire of the online Muslim community when “I tried to expose a dawah (Muslim outreach) bro for sliding into my DMs” and “the Muslim community tried to rip me apart and destroy my reputation.”
With 200K followers on TikTok, Shamsa , of Derby, England, collaborates with Muslim fashion label called Sistrs The Label.
“I spent my whole life being what they said a good Muslim woman should be,” she rants. “I never partied, I never smoked, I never drank, I never took my hijab off, I never touched a man outside of marriage, I never had a rebellious phase, I never listened to music, I never whatever. I was the definition of what they say a good Muslim woman should be.”
But when she called out a famous fellows Muslim making moves on her, she got a backlash for embarrassing the man.
Ali Dawah, one of the most famous “dawah” influencers online, went into full damage control mode, as he did a year ago when his buddy Mohammed Hijab got exposed for taking advantage of a Muslim girl through the so-called misyar marriage — kind of like having a mistress.
Ali Dawah was trying to silence her. His concern was not for women but for protecting his fellow men, Shamsa says.
“Unfortunately for him (Ali Dawah), he came for the wrong woman this time,” Shamsa says. “I have grown some balls since last year. Nice. And I’m not gonna be silenced again.
“You begin these obsessive campaigns in an attempt to silence her,” Shamsa eviscerates. “You will send waves of hate to her, you will mock her appearance, her lips, her eyelashes, her hijab, encouraging your followers to therefore do the same. Anything just to shut her down. But what you’re seeing now, Ali, is women are not backing down.”
Meanwhile, the critics of Islam who outreach to Muslims predicted the video would bring much needed light to the unequal treatment of women and men in Islam.
