USA TODAY International Edition
Burkini controversy puzzles Muslim women
Like most Jersey girls, Sara and Sondos Elnakib loved to go to the Shore. As observant Muslims, they covered up as much as possible, improvising with yoga pants and long- sleeve shirts.
It was never ideal, so the advent of the burkini — generally covering all but face, hands and feet — was welcome as it provided modesty in a comfortable garment made of swimsuit material.
“A lot of people think the burkini is a symbol of religiosity, but it isn’t,” said Sara Elnakib, daughter of a Paterson, N. J., imam. “I just want to go out to the beach and have fun.”
North Jersey is home to one of the largest Muslim populations in the United States, and the controversy over the Islamic swimwear that has roiled Europe has left many here mystified. According to the Pew Research Center, 3% of adults in New Jersey are Muslim.
At a “pop- up shop” in Clifton on Sunday, the Elnakib sisters showcased the line of burkinis they designed — with names like The Hepburn, after the elegant actress Audrey Hepburn — to appeal to a decidedly Westernized customer.
“Being American, we have a strong sense of religious freedom,” Sara Elnakib said. “I don’t think it’s the same in France.”
The burkini — an amalgam of the words bikini and burqa, a full- body covering — has become the flash point for tensions between Islam and secular society in Europe.
Last week, a high court in France issued a ruling that probably will overturn burkini bans in 30 towns — mostly on the French Riviera — but offi- cials continue to enforce the prohibition. They have argued that the swimsuits represent radical Islam, and some feminists have said they are symbols of oppression.
France also has banned other Islamic garb, such as head scarves, in schools.
Aheda Zanetti, the Lebanese-Australian woman credited with inventing the burkini in 2004, told The New York Times last week that the swimwear was never meant to be a political statement, but rather just a way for women to swim comfortably.
Muslim women interviewed in North Jersey said the “radical” characterization was ridiculous; they are just trying to dress modestly, as do other groups, such as Orthodox Jews and Roman Catholic nuns. They said the coverings were freeing, not repressive.
“If people can walk around with thongs and string bikinis and express themselves, why can’t others do so by covering up?” said Badria Mohamed of Clifton, who teaches water aerobics at Fit Female gym.
“There is an audacity now about dictating what women have to wear, and it’s something that we collectively have to stop and it’s not fair,” said Amanny Khattab of Wayne, principal of the Noble Leadership Academy, an Islamic school in Passaic.