One of the most common questions that the media, and maybe even non-Muslim in everyday life, have for women who wear hijab is “how do you do [insert whatever said activity here] in hijab?” It is probably also a question that Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir gets often, since she is a star high school basketball player in Massachusetts. It’s a question that you would expect to be answered fairly, quickly, and straightforwardly.
Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir. Image via AP/Sports Illustrated.
However, Bilquis’ hijab was the focus for a recent Sports Illustrated profile. The title of the piece “Enlightening the Clothes-Minded” was at least a warning about what was to come. The whole piece serves to “otherize” Bilqis and hijabis in general, rather than simply being a general sports article covering a high school basketball star. In the second sentence of the article, we’re made to wonder how “…Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir is able to exploit the limited daylight she gets and average 42 points a game.” I wondered if Selena Roberts was making a reference to the recent slew of articles warning that hijab prevents women from getting enough sunlight. That said, I wonder why it was necessary to mention it at all. How does Roberts know that Abdul-Qaadir gets limited daylight? Is the daylight she gets more limited than that of her teammates?
A group of girls at a Muslim middle school in Baltimore playing basketball. Image via Time.
From, then Roberts focuses on how Abdul-Qaadir could score 3,000 points over her four year high school career in hijab. Roberts could’ve pulled aside any hijabi on the street for the answer and simply wrote an article on Abdul-Qaadir’s awesome basketball skills. Unfortunately, she didn’t. Seriously, it is not that hard to play basketball in hijab. It’s amazing to Roberts that Abdul-Qaadir could break Rebecca Lobo’s record in a full sleeve shirt with a headscarf wrapped around her head. Bilqis mentions that she wears Under Armour gear on the court to help her move better, that she had to wear hijab once she reached puberty, and that she does get the occasion stupid comment like “terrorist” while playing basketball.
These points could’ve been covered in a paragraph at the most, but Roberts drags them out for the entire article. Even the last sentence is focused on hijab rather than Bilqis: “That’s Bilqis, in the hijab. It’s the blur you see on her head fake to the basket. How does she do it? That’s how.” So hijab makes Bilquis a blur?
The most annoying part of the entire piece though is when Bilqis is asked a completely unrelated question about an Israeli tennis player who was denied a visa to a tournament in Dubai. “It didn’t go unnoticed to Bilqis last month when Shahar Peer, a Jewish tennis player from Israel, was denied a visa at the last minute for a WTA tournament in Dubai. In an instant that city, which is so Westernized it can seem like a gilded Disney of the desert, took a major step backward by entwining religion and sports.” While a lot of people, including Bilqis, may feel for Shahar Peer, it has absolutely nothing to do with whether people accept Bilqis as a top athlete. Just because Bilqis is a Muslimah doesn’t mean that she has to speak about an unrelated incident that happened to a Jewish tennis player across the globe.
Additionally, the comment on Dubai itself was perplexing and disjointed. Besides the fact that it was irrelevant, it was racist as well, associating Westernization with acceptance and enlightenment while once again associating an Arab society with being backward. Not to mention that many nations, including a lot of Western ones, have entwined politics and sports in the past.
As Abdul-Qaadir moves on to college basketball, I hope that her basketball skills and not her religion or her dress are the focus of sports articles written on her. While articles like these seem like compliments at first glance, they ultimately serve to once more otherize hijabis.
Tags: basketball, Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir, hijab, Sports
Thanks for posting this… The tennis player comment really is out of place… I never really thought about the “otherising” with these sorts of articles, but now I will notice and think about it.
She’s actually planning to come to my University, iA. :) I’m really happy about this.
The article also stuck out as the only instance in the entire magazine were a female athlete was given more than a couple sentences. Besides Bilqis, I think there were 3 other high school/college female athletes given cursory mention near the front, in a list of young athletes, but that’s it.
Apparently, doing something “weird” like wearing a hijab is the only way for woman to make it into an SI issue that’s not the swimsuit issue.
Re the daylight thing – I think this may just be a basketball term which refers to having a clear space in which to shoot the ball to the basket. The full sentence says “In the face of triple teams, with defenders all but linking their arms like paper dolls, Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir is able to exploit the limited daylight she gets and average 42 points a game.” Bilqis is a point guard and they tend to be on the smaller side (for basketballers), which would mean that when she has three defenders on her (probably taller than her) she would have less of an opportunity to “see daylight”, ie have a clear view of the basket. If that makes sense.
@ Melissa: Is this a term that most basketballers/sports readers would understand? If not, the explanation isn’t intuitive enough to cover it for me.
I think so Fatemeh. I haven’t seen a basketball game in years (I used to go with my dad & sister when I was a kid) but it rang a bell with me. I did a quick Google search & came up with these links which use the phrase in a basketball context: http://books.google.com.au/books?id=9hpr2i0iHNEC&pg=PA116&lpg=PA116&dq=%22see+daylight%22+basketball&source=bl&ots=JUDKIgoZG9&sig=6Rq2UxHMkHW4DNSHIPHtYN4mDtY&hl=en&ei=rlW4SYWpOYG0sAOktZQs&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=3&ct=result, http://blogs.timesunion.com/whitaker/?p=97
Though from reading those it might just mean seeing a gap between defending players, not necessarily the basket.
I think the “blur” line wasn’t saying that the hijab makes her a blur, but that her fast head-fake makes the hijab a blur. That is a really awkwardly phrased sentence, though.
Mkay. Thanks, Melissa! :)
Thanks Melissa! I didn’t know that. That would make sense. :)
I believe the SI story is one that will shed light on Muslimahs in sports. The fact that Bilqis was featured in the magazine is a huge honor and the fact that she is Muslim makes it better. And the fact that she is Muslim will be mentioned in future articles, if not for any other reason because what she wears is unconventional. I would like to see more Muslim media outlets interviewing her, maybe then a different slant on Islam will be given. However, focusing on something that can be perceived as negative by some diminishes Bilqis’ accomplishments.
I think the article sheds light and hope for other hijabis that are looking to play sports and feel like they can’t.
The article’s focus on being Muslim is a way that Islam is being introduced to a wide range of readers. And will hopefully invite people to learn about Islam.
We should be happy that a Muslimah has been recognized for her abilities, especially at a time when Muslims are being criticized so harshly.
Tahira, I get your point and I think it is legitimate. Muslims do get a lot of negative coverage. However, can’t there be positive coverage of Muslims in general and Muslim women without focusing on our “Muslimness” or how we dress? If that article had focused on her incredible basketball skills and maybe just mentioned that she’s also a Muslim woman instead of just focusing mostly on her wearing hijab, couldn’t that have achieved the same thing your asking for? I’m wondering how long does Islam have to be “introduced” to Americans and also if articles like the one in SI really serve that purpose.
[...] to Sally Armstrong’s mission for Afghan women, reprimand Sports Illustrated for their coverage of talented basketballer Bilquis Abdul-Qaadir, give the short-n-sweet review of American East, and link and link and link. [...]
Why would we not want to focus on her ‘Muslimness’… being a Muslim is the most important thing is some people’s lives.
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