Updated 15 January 2014

A poem depicting the French Muslim woman as a symbol of true freedom - the strength and will to uphold one's hijab in the face of oppression and discrimination

Covered with care,
Every contour and hair,
She is modesty, poise, intellect
Love for God manifest

A lone burning flame
Lit by the oil of resilient faith
Undiminished by blank stares,
Crude slurs and scathing glares

Undimmed by prejudice and isolation
Job exclusion, social discrimination
All the pain of French disdain
Masquerading as liberty and laicité
 
She is French by nationality
French by birth and residency
Citizen of a secular democracy
Yet stripped of her basic rights and liberties
 
Rights to state education,
University accreditation,
Job equality, career progression
Right to integrate without assimilation

All because she desires
Value, dignity, identity defined
By the quality of her character, soul and mind
Rather than cosmetics, curves and hemlines

Across the Channel, through the fog
Penetrating even the London drear and smog
Her enduring glow unsettles me
Sparking self-doubt, perplexity

Legally, I am uninhibited, free
To practice my faith openly, publicly 
I’m protected, cosseted, by a culture of tolerance,
Diversity, liberty, even acceptance

And yet, I choose wilfully to conform,
Bare and beautify by the norm
Undercutting, undermining, my faith and my identity
For fashion, career, delusions of social credibility

I always believed she was bound and I was free
Yet if true liberty is strength, tenacity,
Courage to actualise principles and identity
Then who is chained, trapped, weak
And who is strong and free?

By Fatema Valji - UK