The Pub and the Hijab

Islam, I firmly believe, is a religion of moderation, and is a self proclaimed ‘middle ground’ religion. People have taken this to mean that it falls in between Christianity's’ focus on spirituality and the love of God, and Judaism's respect for dogma and law. I take the view that it also applies to our everyday lives, that a person must take equal care of her spiritual, physical, emotional, and social needs, and that there often is some interplay and give and take in ones life to achieve this balance. When living in the predominantly Muslim Middle East this was really easy, I faced no conflicts, not only could I avoid the ‘major sins’ it was also the social norm that the makroohaat (things which are not sinful but are hated by God) were avoided anyway. Take sitting in a pub as an example, in Islam this is technically a makrooh because effectively you are putting yourself in a situation where you may be tempted by alcohol, a mahroom (banned). In the Middle East, networking and socialising do not normally take place in pubs or bars, therefore your work or social life will not suffer by avoiding these places. This is not the case in the UK, where work dos, and alot of networking goes on after hours in the pub.

I moved back here about 8 years ago, having spent 22 years in the conservative Middle East. During my postgraduate studies I managed to predominantly avoid the pub scene, I did not feel it was a big deal to go the pub or be around alcohol, half my family are English, and we often as a family would go for a pub lunch. This was fine as I was with family, but when I went to university and donned the headscarf, I felt that it may be inappropriate for me to go, so I didn’t. However, I did feel very alienated from my fellow academics, and from the inner workings of the academic scene. I was very fortunate in the year after my PhD in that I met a group of wonderful Muslim women in surrey. One lady, a Syrian, ran Quran circles for Arab women in her home every Friday. For those of you not in the know, a Quran circle is one where we would take turns reading a page from the Quran and then the circle leader (the Syrian lady in this case) would discuss the background and meaning of those verses. The Syrian lady was very knowledgeable, and she was very conservative, more so than I am, but this one day one of the other women asked her what she thought of Muslims going to the pub for a work do, Her answer rang true she said something to the effect that since attending work dos was a part of work and the social cohesion of work colleagues there is benefit in going, and that as long as one did not make it a habit, there is no harm in going.

I took this on board when I started my post in London, and joined my colleagues in the pub, where seminar speakers were taken after they had presented their lecture. I definitely felt the benefits of this compromise on my part, I felt more a part of my department and not such an alien. I even managed to network and obtain invites to present seminars at various universities in the UK.

I also feel that since I now enjoy more camaraderie with my colleagues I can be more open about my faith. I am less shy about excusing myself to pray for example, and I no longer feel that I cannot chat about my life. They chat about there’s, about living with partners, and drinking, while I chat about being annoyed that say I didnt get up for suhor (the pre dawn meal in Ramadan). Aspects of our lives that are alien to the other, but its nice that we can just be ourselves to a larger degree than I had thought we could.

The hard part is not making a habit of it, I try and not go all the time, without appearing anti-social. I often wonder whether my love of life (dunya) and material acquisitions is taking over. Maybe I am seeing positives in the makrooh to justify my dunya ambitions? To this effect I make more of an effort than I did in my Middle East days with my faith. I go to the Mosque, and actively seek out Muslim friends, to help ground me and keep me on the correct path. I pray to God to guide me, and to help me in keeping true to my faith and my work for the afterlife.

InshAllah I am doing ok.