'As soon as the fresh air touched my hair I began to cry'

[133724]

For years Fadia Faqir clashed with her father over her refusal to wear a veil. Now, at 51, she looks back on their final confrontation and a moving reconciliation

...


My father imposed the veil on me three times and I took it off three times. The following is the story of how I took off the veil for that final time.

Although I have lived in Britain for the past 23 years I was born and brought up in Amman, Jordan. My parents were conservative Muslims, but my mother was more liberal than my father. Although he believed in education he wanted all his children - there were nine of us - to be good pious Muslims, upright and chaste, especially his daughters. We wanted to be as he wished us to be, but most of us failed to measure up and had to come to terms with that sense of failure and guilt.

http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/family/story/0,,2196486,00.html

[flying_wahini]

1. that was a very touching article

thanks for posting.

[annabanana]

2. That's a nice story..

It's to her credit that she never gave up, and to his that he could open his eyes to his children.

[China_cat]

3. She does not seem to realize just how lucky she is not

to have ended up a statistic of honor killing by her father or one of her brothers. I think that says more about her father's love for her than anything else. If he had considered his religion more important than her, she would not be around to write that.