The ‘Separate’ People!
Henna Khan
31 July 08


Separate Schools, Separate Sports Centres, Separate Community Centres, Separate Chat Centres, Separate Restaurants, Café’s…Where does it stop? Specially for the Muslim community which is already suffering at large from the drawbacks of segregation from the rest of the communities living around whilst living in a country where Islam is not the 1st Religion.

Some time ago I had to register myself and my husband at a general Gymnasium which caters for all the local communities because this one is more convenient and closer to our house. I did have a worry at the back of my mind that it may be inconvenient, muslims, non-muslims, men and women mixed etc. specially after listening to some comments like ’ Well why can’t you go to the one in the town centre which has a ‘separate’ section for us now.’ As for my husband, he wasn’t interested in any gymn, thinking that he was already quite fit!Typical men! Self and health comes at the end.

However as we started, I noticed that there are always phases when there are mostly women or children around, times when swimming pool is empty like very early morning or at the times on weekends when mothers bring their children for lessons. I was more than pleased each time to see that everyone was so respectful and polite, staff members as well as other gymn colleagues. Men would never come forward to chat and would rather be very busy exercising and rushing between various machines as most people are squeezing the session between working hours. Am sure the scarf/hijab helps as well- as a red signal There were exercising machines at various corners in isolation and later my personal trainer introduced me to a room which was used very rarely for stretching and other exercises when I mentioned my preference for such a place where there would be least exposure.

You can also request for a same gender Personal Trainer and no one minds that. Just that you may have to work around certain specific times and to wait for a specific appointment but I don’t think such are any high prices for this expediency we get to enjoy the facilities available whilst still keeping our limitations and at the same time being able to socialize with all the local communities.

As for the Swimming pool we could choose times when it was empty like very early morning or when mostly children and women are around. Me and my husband could usually go together in the early morning ones. You can now buy special fully covered swimming costumes specially designed for Muslim women called ‘burkeenees’ (from Burqa)  as opposed to ‘bikinees’ and when worn with swimming cap and goggles, even if a man appears somewhere, you look no more than an astronaut fully covered from head to toe immersed in water(although busy as they are at swimming-I have not seen a man peeping around at the pool so far)Besides, in this pool because it’s shallow water, there are no life guards waiting around. When I went for deep diving with children, we had a session with female life guards only.

To summarize, we found lots of opportunities to mix with the people from local communities without much trouble. The ladies from other Faiths and Cultures in the dressing room get to know the way we dress up with extra coverings, scarves, hijabs etc. are interested to know about the importance we give to covering up, our family lives, general life styles and other matters which you can never get at isolated or separate venues. Walking on the road during Ramadan we imagine that everyone around knows that we are Muslims & fasting and that they should be respectful to this fact but we’ll be surprised to know that even today there are many people around who don’t even know that this is the month of Ramadan and what comprises of fasting.

I think we miss out a lot when we keep ourselves limited to our own spheres and venues. We must do that as well but must spare some time wherever possible, with the other communities where we live & work because this gap keeps adding to the ignorance & misconceptions on each other’s part. I fully agree that we have our religious boundaries which we must abide by in all circumstances but once we go and explore the places and systems, they are not as bad as we imagine and we can still socialize whilst keeping our limitations. There are always ways to work around. They are ordinary people like us trying to utilize the facilities with little or no knowledge about our preferences. Once we start to know each other, most of them try to come to terms. Odds are everywhere but in minority and not so effective if we try and stick to our requirements and keep looking for peaceful solutions.

Very few Muslim women of age 50 + attend for exercises. You can mostly find Sikh women. This is another specific feature of our community that men and women after certain age exclude themselves from all such activities. This is an important cause of high statistics of Heart disease and Diabetes in our groups.

Finally, I know a couple of nice family friends who have moved out of Britain to Muslim countries giving the reason that they do not wish that their children should grow up in a non-muslim/secular society. I don’t think such steps will help the Muslims or Islam today.