108 - Zara Kay and Nick Forbes - Faithless Hijabi

Faithless Hijabi website:
https://www.faithlesshijabi.org/

Faithless Hijabi on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/FaithlessHijabi

Support the work of Faithless Hijabi:
https://www.faithlesshijabi.org/support-us/

Follow Zara on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/zarakayk

References:

Zara’s offending Facebook post featuring a photoshop of two men kissing in front of the Kaaba in Mecca:
https://www.facebook.com/zara.kayk/posts/3550692608358194

Zara and Nick’s Medium piece on their work and Mariam Oyiza, a Nigerian ex-Muslim who now fights for women’s rights, ‘On being a Faithless Hijabi’:
https://medium.com/@nickforbes_74938/on-being-a-faithless-hijabi-fa73f8827901

Mariam’s website:
https://letsaii.com/mariam-aliyu/

Iona’s Two for Tea conversation with Sadia Hameed:
https://soundcloud.com/twoforteapodcast/94-sadia-hameed-separatist-communities-in-the-uk-public-limited-version

Timestamps:

2:04 Zara’s ethnic background and her upbringing in Tanzania as part of the closed minority Khoja Shia community.

4:47 A tea-based interruption and interlude; Iona lays down the tea-law.

5:19 Zara continues discussing her upbringing.

6:36 The links between the Khoja community and Shiism in Iraq and Iran.

7:22 Zara’s languages and education.

8:19 Zara on the social life of the community growing up: religious and ethnic segregation and family networks. The Khoja community as a “parallel community.”

11:08 Zara discusses breaking away from the community and moving abroad; her desire to pursue higher education. Her feeling of liberation in Malaysia: a place where you could be a Muslim and not wear a hijab and meet people of other ethnicities and religions.

13:38 Zara on meeting a “flamboyant” gay man for the first time and Islamic homophobia. Her first argument with her brother was about his homophobia.

15:03 Zara on the “culture shocks” of coming out of the community bubble and her family’s relative liberalism. Moving to Australia.

17:58 Zara’s recent return to Tanzania on family business: weird experiences, harassment, and detention and questioning by police for 72 hours about her opinions and posts (including a photoshop of two men kissing in front of the Kaaba in Mecca) on social media. Nick’s role: he and others formed a group to make noise about Zara’s disappearance.

31:26 Zara’s difficulty getting out of Tanzania and back to Australia after her detention. The Australian government’s reluctance to help.

36:08 The bigger picture in Tanzania: police and political corruption, brutality, and repression of activists.

39:38 Nick talks about his conservative Christian background, leaving his faith, becoming woke, becoming un-woke after Charlie Hebdo, and becoming involved in ex-Muslim issues. and Faithless Hijabi: what it is and how he got involved.

41:39 How Nick got involved with Faithless Hijabi. What Faithless Hijabi is and what it does: supporting ex-Muslims with mental health issues.

43:38 Zara describes the origins, evolution, and work of Faithless Hijabi. The plight of ex-Muslims and the issues they face.

51:19 Nick tells the story of Mariam, a Nigerian woman who was helped by Faithless Hijabi after she left her conservative Sunni community.

52:08 Faithless Hijabi’s therapist vetting process. Risks and trust issues with seeking therapy as an ex-Muslim/apostate.

56:19 The left’s failure to support ex-Muslims and apostates. ABC’s cutting of an interview with Zara because she spoke about being an ex-Muslim activist.

57:18 Zara talks about what people can do to best support ex-Muslims: we need free and open and nuanced debate between people of all backgrounds about sensitive issues like the hijab rather than caving to claims of offence or prevaricating with cultural relativism.