St. Louis, Missouri, USA
Editors: Haji. Mohamed & Hajira Rashida Ziauddin
In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent and the Most Merciful
EDITORIAL:
With all due respect to different national and ethnic groups of the Global Ummah, we want to make it clear at the outset that we respect their right to decide which cultural practice they would like to maintain and which they would like to discard. We acknowledge and realize that it is a part of their own unique, cultural stamp & identity. As long as the cultural practice is done voluntarily by ADULTS, we have no major problems.
HOWEVER WE DO HAVE PROBLEMS IF OUR MUSLIM ADULT IS FORCED OR COERCED INTO IT AND IF IT INVOLVES CHILDREN WHO ARE ALSO FORCED, COERCED AND PHYSICALLY PUNISHED FOR RESISTING SUCH A UNHEALTHY PRACTICE IN THE NAME OF CULTURE.
Isn't it mind-boggling to note from below articles, above cultural practice essentially forces a female to take actions of excessive overeating and thereby reduce her own lifespan by falling a victim to increased risk health risks such as high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, joint problems, respiratory problems, cancer, metabolic syndrome and psychosocial effects. Further per researchers from Rand Corporation the negative impact of Obesity is worse than smoking, drinking or poverty.
For those Mauritanians who accuse us with interfering in their cultural practices and customs, we respectfully plead "NOT GUILTY".
We ask: What are the obligations and rights of a fellow member of the Global Ummah ? Does our common bond END with our common belief "La Illaha Illallah Muhammadur Rasullullah" (There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the Prophet of God)? Do fellow members of the Global Ummah have the right to express their care and concern for other members of the Global Ummah ? Is it is crime to make suggestions to reduce HARM REDUCTION of our Mauritanian sisters including female children some of whom are forced to become obese ? Some of them forced to consume their own vomit if their bodies reject all excessive food and beverage. Each girl's daily intake could easily reach 14,000 to 16,000 calories. Further, female children are forced to undergo a torture (ZAYAR) using two sticks inserted each side of a toe.
(www.zippybites.com)When a child refuses to drink or eat, the "fattener" squeezes the sticks together causing great pain or beats the girl with a cane. To add insult to injury, all the sacrifices made by the female to get accepted by her husband/society may not sustain long enough with a FORTY PERCENT DIVORCE RATE.
Hello, what is going on in above situation ? Should the Global Ummah turn a blind eye to the suffering of our sisters and children in Mauritania ? Or is it a fact that in reality, the concept of Ummah is PERPETUALLY FREEZED AT A SPIRITUAL LEVEL (Muslims getting together for prayers on Fridays and during Eid occasions) and the Ummah is unable to transcend itself in its day to day application of genuine Islamic values of universal love and caring for each other in matters of social and community living.
It is stated in the Holy Quran: 23:52:
"And verily this Ummah of yours IS A SINGLE UMMAH and I am your Lord and Cherisher: Therefore Fear Me (and no other)."
Prophet Mohamed (SAW) said:
On the positive side, one great cultural attribute that exists in Mauritania that is rarely found in rest of the Muslim world relates to significantly reduced negative perception against divorced women by prospective husbands. One could argue that they are the role models for rest of the Muslim world. Most of us know the social pressures a divorced woman particularly in the Muslim world faces. What steps are Muslims taking to ease the pain and hardship a divorced female experiences in her pursuit to get a second chance in the world of marital relationships.
In this E-Zine, we will start off first highlighting the above positive attribute and then follow up on an area of improvement in terms of the continued cultural practice of FAT FARMS. As a objective reminder of what we mean by harm, we have also highlighted the harmful effects of obesity.
Last but not the least, we want to acknowledge that Mauritanian music seems to us to be awesome and we included of video of such music.
Mauritanians Race to Win the Hand of the Divorced
December 28th, 2010
www.peacenewspaper.net
Unlike the situation of women in the Arab world, Mauritanians rejoice for the divorced woman and they even race in order to win her hand!
Deutsche Welle mentioned that Mauritanian poets compete in writing poetry about the beauty of divorced women in Mauritania, even each one of them manifest his will to get married with her out of courtesy sometimes.
In addition Mauritanian men have no objection to marry divorced women, moreover, some of them prefer to get married to a divorced women rather than a virgin woman.
This phenomenon increased the rate of divorce in
Some researchers believe that this phenomenon is widespread due several factors: among these factors, the existence of some ceremonial rituals by which the divorced woman is received, and the men engage to compensate her through a phenomenon known as “E’ Tehrash” in which unmarried men show their interest in the divorced woman and pay a visit to her as soon as she comes back home. In addition, men who divorced their women do not find a rejection on the part of other women, even if they know that they are addicted to divorce. Moreover, there is no “post-dowry” in
The Mauritanian woman refuses firmly polygamy especially those who belong to the Arab majority while it is a norm among the Afro-minority. “And this is what imprison the Arab man in the hell of the house” as confess a man for Deutsche Welle, “ which pushes him to go out through the door of divorce or leads him to have secret marriages which end up in their turn in divorce.” As a result all the doors are open to divorce in the Mauritanian society.
It is ironic that the source of the woman pride is the number of her marriages and divorces, and even it is a sign of her beauty and the interest of men in her.
As a result this fact may lead women to boast about the number of her marriages or may lead them to divorce in order to add a number to their record of ex-husbands.
In an interview for the Deutsche Welle, Sidi Ahmed, a young Mauritanian who works for the ministry of secondary education, confirmed that he started to think seriously of marriage, and has precise criteria of the future partner that he is still looking for and on top of these criteria : she should be divorced regardless how many times, he assures that he is looking for a woman who has experience in life and who could help him carry out his family and work duties , instead of a girl who still needs protection and indulgence and this is “a thing that work and material conditions do not allow” , according to him .
PART II
FAT FARMS
(Fat women are traditionally seen as more desirable)www.news.bbc.co.uk
(Obesity is seen as a sign that a husband cares for his wife) (www.news.bbc.co.uk)
www.guardian.co.ukFORCED TO BE FAT
www.marieclaire.com
Abigail Haworth
(condensed version)
In Mauritania, where big is beautiful and stretch marks are sexy, young girls are brutally force-fed a diet of up to 16,000 calories a day - more than four times that of a male body builder - to prepare them for marriage.
(Zeinebou Mint Mohamed, 26, shows off her stretch marks, a major turn-on for Mauritanian men. Photo Credit: Joost De Raeymaeker)
It sounded like summer camp. "You're going on vacation to the desert to meet other girls and eat sweet food," Tijanniya Mint Tijani's mother told her. Tijanniya was excited. "She said that by the time I returned home, I'd be a beautiful woman."
Ten days later, Tijanniya, 14, a sporty student from the town of
The ideal of feminine beauty in
Until recently, it appeared that force-feeding and the big-is-beautiful ethos were dying out.
Now big women are back in vogue, and the custom of funneling rich food into young girls like geese farmed for foie gras is once again thriving unchecked. Elhacen, a droopy-eyed professional force-feeder, estimates that around Atar, a commercial hub 250 miles from
Elhacen, who makes the equivalent of $155 for each girl she force-feeds over a three-month period, is delighted. "I have a lot more clients again," she notes. Her current "clients" are lying down in the hut in glassy-eyed exhaustion, digesting breakfast. Elhacen mixes crushed dates and peanuts with couscous and oil to make the second of the day's four meals — cloying, egg-size balls of around 300 calories apiece. Each girl eats about 40 per day, along with 12 pints of goat's milk and gruel, making their daily intake 14,000 to 16,000 calories. The recommended consumption for a healthy 12-year-old girl averages 1500 calories; an adult male bodybuilder eats up to 4000.
(Young girls choke down high-calorie gruel under the watchful eye of their cane-wielding "fattener")
(Goadedby her fattener, Tijanniya Mint Tijani, 14, drinks a large bowl of creamy camel's milk)
PART III:
Girls Being Force-fed for Marriage as Fattening Farms Revived
Alex Duval Smith,
The Observer,
28 February 2009
Campaigners in
Photograph: EPA
Mauritanian women wait to vote, but since a coup last year their rights are being eroded and old customs such as fattening for marriage are back.
Aminetou Mint Ely, a women's rights campaigner, said girls as young as five were still being subjected to the tradition of leblouh every year. The practice sees them tortured into swallowing gargantuan amounts of food and liquid - and consuming their vomit if they reject it.
"In
A children's rights lawyer, Fatimata M'baye, echoed Ely's pessimism. "I have never managed to bring a case in defence of a force-fed child. The politicians are scared of questioning their own traditions. Rural marriages usually take place under customary law or are overseen by a marabou (a Muslim preacher). No state official gets involved, so there is no arbiter to check on the age of the bride." Yet, she said,
Leblouh is intimately linked to early marriage and often involves a girl of five, seven or nine being obliged to eat excessively to achieve female roundness and corpulence, so that she can be married off as young as possible. Girls from rural families are taken for leblouh at special "fattening farms" where older women, or the children's aunts or grandmothers, will administer pounded millet, camel's milk and water in quantities that make them ill. A typical daily diet for a six-year-old will include two kilos of pounded millet, mixed with two cups of butter, as well as 20 litres of camel's milk. "The fattening is done during the school holidays or in the rainy season when milk is plentiful," said M'baye. "The girl is sent away from home without understanding why. She suffers but is told that being fat will bring her happiness. Matrons use sticks which they roll on the girl's thighs, to break down tissue and hasten the process."
Other leblouh practices include a subtle form of torture - zayar - using two sticks inserted each side of a toe. When a child refuses to drink or eat, the matron squeezes the sticks together, causing great pain. A successful fattening process will see a 12-year-old weigh 80kg. "If she vomits she must drink it. By the age of 15 she will look 30," said M'baye.
Historians say the practice dates back to pre-colonial times when all
The resurgence of the practice in rural
But Ely and M'baye insist the fat "ideal" is back. Ely cites the life-threatening weight-gain practices of some grown women. "To remain fat, as adults, they take animal hormones or buy prescription drugs with appetite-enhancing side-effects. A woman died in hospital in
OBESITY:
www.en.wikipedia.org
Obesity is a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have an adverse effect on health, leading to reduced life expectancy and/or increased health problems.
Obesity is a leading preventable cause of death worldwide, with increasing prevalence in adults and children, and authorities view it as one of the most serious public health problems of the 21st century.
Obesity is stigmatized in much of the modern world (particularly in the Western world), though it was widely perceived as a symbol of wealth and fertility at other times in history, and still is in some parts of the world.
PART V
The Health Risks of Obesity Worse Than Smoking, Drinking, or Poverty
Obesity is widely recognized as a health risk. The negative effects of obesity and other known health risks, such as smoking, heavy drinking, and poverty, have been well documented. But until now, no one has compared them. Is one problem worse than another? Or are they all equally risky?
Two RAND researchers, health economist Roland Sturm and psychiatrist Kenneth Wells, examined the comparative effects of obesity, smoking, heavy drinking, and poverty on chronic health conditions and health expenditures. Their finding: Obesity is the most serious problem. It is linked to a big increase in chronic health conditions and significantly higher health expenditures. And it affects more people than smoking, heavy drinking, or poverty.
HEALTH EFFECTS OF OBESITY:
www.stanfordhospital.org
Obesity has a far-ranging negative effect on health. Each year obesity-related conditions cost over 150 billion dollars and cause an estimated 300,000 premature deaths in the
The health effects associated with obesity include, but are not limited to, the following:
HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE:
Additional fat tissue in the body needs oxygen and nutrients in order to live, which requires the blood vessels to circulate more blood to the fat tissue. This increases the workload of the heart because it must pump more blood through additional blood vessels. More circulating blood also means more pressure on the artery walls. Higher pressure on the artery walls increases the blood pressure. In addition, extra weight can raise the heart rate and reduce the body's ability to transport blood through the vessels.
DIABETES:
Obesity is the major cause of type 2 diabetes. This type of diabetes usually begins in adulthood but, is now actually occurring in children. Obesity can cause resistance to insulin, the hormone that regulates blood sugar. When obesity causes insulin resistance, the blood sugar becomes elevated. Even moderate obesity dramatically increases the risk of diabetes.
HEART DISEASE:
Atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) is present 10 times more often in obese people compared to those who are not obese. Coronary artery disease is also more prevalent because fatty deposits build up in arteries that supply the heart. Narrowed arteries and reduced blood flow to the heart can cause chest pain (angina) or a heart attack. Blood clots can also form in narrowed arteries and cause a stroke.
JOINT PROBLEMS INCLUDING OSTEOARTHRITIS:
Obesity can affect the knees and hips because of the stress placed on the joints by extra weight. Joint replacement surgery, while commonly performed on damaged joints, may not be an advisable option for an obese person because the artificial joint has a higher risk of loosening and causing further damage.
SLEEP APNEA AD RESPIRATORY PROBLEMS:
Sleep apnea, which causes people to stop breathing for brief periods, interrupts sleep throughout the night and causes sleepiness during the day. It also causes heavy snoring. Respiratory problems associated with obesity occur when added weight of the chest wall squeezes the lungs and causes restricted breathing. Sleep apnea is also associated with high blood pressure.
CANCER:
In women, being overweight contributes to an increased risk for a variety of cancers including breast, colon, gallbladder, and uterus. Men who are overweight have a higher risk of colon and prostate cancers.
METABOLIC SYNDROME:
The National Cholesterol Education Program has identified metabolic syndrome as a complex risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Metabolic syndrome consists of six major components: abdominal obesity, elevated blood cholesterol, elevated blood pressure, insulin resistance with or without glucose intolerance, elevation of certain blood components that indicate inflammation, and elevation of certain clotting factors in the blood. In the
PSYCHOSOCIAL EFFECTS:
In a culture where often the ideal of physical attractiveness is to be overly thin, people who are overweight or obese frequently suffer disadvantages. Overweight and obese persons are often blamed for their condition and may be considered to be lazy or weak-willed. It is not uncommon for overweight or obese conditions to result in persons having lower incomes or having fewer or no romantic relationships. Disapproval of overweight persons expressed by some individuals may progress to bias, discrimination, and even torment.
THE END
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