BLOG: My Hijab Is My Brand

Six years ago journalist Lauren Booth went to Palestine taking with her, by her own admission, a big bag full of patronising attitudes.

She thought the Arabs a scary lot, and felt really sorry for women in the hijab, niqab and burqa. She thought they were unhappy.

But today Booth, who is also a broadcaster and a human rights activist, is actively fighting the Palestinian cause while donning the hijab.

"I went to Palestine thinking women in hijab needed rescuing from their terrible faith, husband, oppression. I didn't mean to be patronising but that's what we're brought up with in the West."

However, her experience in Palestine proved otherwise. Repeated gestures of generosity and kindness shown towards her by the Palestinians, despite their deplorable living conditions, dispelled the myth she had subscribed to for so long - that Palestine is the most violent region in the world.

"It came as a huge shock to me," she tells Bernama in an exclusive interview during a visit to Malaysia, recently. "Beneath their hijab, niqab and burqa, there are things I didn't expect to find - warmth, wit and humor, and independence."

Five more years working with Muslim communities in the Middle East has led her to become a staunch supporter to the Palestinian cause.

She was in Malaysia as a guest speaker for Viva Palestina Malaysia, a local offshoot of the UK-based Viva Palestina, an international non-governmental organisation working for the speedy creation of a free Palestinian state.

Booth converted to Islam in September 2010 and declared her conversion a month later.

The 43-year-old Briton attributes her conversion to the spiritual experience she had while visiting the shrine of Fatima al-Masumeh in the city of Qom, Iran.

"I wasn't actively seeking to convert to Islam at all. The spiritual experience I had is completely unexplainable and left this wonderful feeling of support, happiness and calmness inside me," she said in an interview with Iranian news channel Press TV, where she currently works with.

MEDIA REACTION TO CONVERSION

Booth says her conversion did not really come as a shock to many. She had been vocal about Palestinian issues for a number of years while displaying a clearly growing affinity to Muslim friends. However, she says with a smile, there may have been some in the media "pretending that they are shocked".

She believes there is a campaign by certain parts of the British press to discredit her as soon as she announced her conversion to Islam.

Being the sister-in-law to former British prime minister Tony Blair may have also made her easy fodder for media criticism.

"It's interesting how quickly the British press sought to denigrate everything that I'd done (upon conversion to Islam). It shows us how much of schism there is and a fear of the unknown exist in the Western society.

"An educated woman, a mother, a person in the media for 20 years can be written off as soon as she says the syahadah and wears the hijab in public, as either having had a nervous breakdown, a midlife crisis or in desperate need of something," she says.

Booth says secularism is so strong in the Western society that the acceptance of a God in reality is too much to take in.

Unfortunately, Booth says, certain parts of the press "did such a good job" that many Britons would never read what she wrote without pity, disgust or scepticism.

MIXED REACTION FROM FRIENDS, FAMILY

Her friends, meanwhile, have been kinder.

"But I think some of them are disappointed to lose a drinking buddy. They're not quite sure how to socialise over tea because we've lost that skill in the Western world," she says jokingly.

She received a mixed bag of reaction from her family.

While she did not comment much on her father's reaction to her conversion, citing that he does not have much contact with any of his six daughters, UK media reports have been quite telling. Her father, former actor Tony Booth, had responded very negatively to her conversion, claiming Booth " does not have a spiritual bone in her body" and doubting her sincerity in converting.

In contrast, her mother was overcome with tears when she heard her daughter had "experienced peace."

In spite of all the aspersions within the family, she described her family as being understanding of her decision. Her youngest sister prepared halal turkey for Christmas.

Her two daughters, meanwhile, had always seen Islam as a very positive thing.

"When I told them I had become Muslim, they said they had three questions: would I give up alcohol, cigarettes, and showing off my cleavage? When I said yes to all three, they declared: Yay! We love Islam," she laughed.

One wonders though how did she react to the slanders, negative comments, and criticism? Booth says there is not much to do other than to accept them and move on - with an added layer of wisdom.

HIJAB IS A BRAND

Dressed in a blue hijab, a belted blouse and loose pants, Booth revealed the bittersweet story of her conversion with a smile on her face, an accessory she felt was important for every hijab-wearing women.

"People think hijab-wearing Muslim women are unhappy with their lives because when you see them in the (London) underground, they always seem to have their "war face" on. It's the face they put on to brace whatever discrimination they fear they might encounter.

"But in the West, your hijab is your brand. If you are unhappy in public people may think that you're being beaten by your husband and your father hates you. So, smile," she says.

Many hijab-wearing Muslim women in London have come up to Booth after watching her conversion story on YouTube.

The girls, as young as 12, tell her of the daily difficulties they face because of their head covering.

"They tell me the boys see them as a terrorist and the girls see them as stupid, but seeing me looking so confident in the hijab has made them feel good about themselves," tells Booth.

The girls' confessions have inspired Booth to look for ideas for an all-female "hijab flashmob".

"I want to join talented young women and find imaginative and amusing ways to tell non-Muslims that we don't want to just be tolerated; we're here, we're living in civil society, accept us and let's be part of this community together."

She welcomes ideas via e-mail at lauren.toirac@gmail.com.

The basic atmosphere in the UK has been that of tolerance, she says. But as a Muslim woman, Booth says she doesn't want to be just tolerated.

"You tolerate a headache. You tolerate a bad smell. I don't want to be somebody's headache and bad smell. So what we need is actually acceptance and equality."