By Jasmina Kidd
Today we had our first online Zoom conference to mark World Hijab Day. With over 60 participants attending live from Ireland, Germany, Brussels, Switzerland, Pakistan and Japan, this has been a milestone for us.
The event was opened by the Lord Mayor of Dublin Hazel Chu who spoke about the importance of integration and how the visibility of Muslim women in the public sphere is an example of how important it is to foster integration.
Lorraine O’Connor, the chairperson of MSOE shared her experiences and journey with hijab. She also shared the journey MSOE has with campaigning towards integration and their role and influence of how the integration of Muslim women in Ireland has developed during the last 10 years.
Maria Syed, one of our youth volunteers spoke about her experience as a young woman wearing hijab.
Dr. James Carr shared research from his upcoming publication for the European Journal of Islamophobia Research (EIR) where he shared that although there has been progress made in eliminating islamophobia, his data highlights it is still very much here and that our voices and presence in the political space will further determine the influence of Muslims over islamophobia in the future.
Susan Midgad shared her perspectives of the place of Hijab in Islam, providing a theological and cultural backdrop for our listeners. The event ended with announcing the winners of our world hijab day art completion. We had nearly 50 entries and it is amazing to see the artwork of our children and how they see the hijab.
We wish to thank the Lord Mayor for opening, our speakers for their contributions and insights, our attendees for your attention and valued questions and our participants for your amazing artwork.
A massive and heartfelt thank you to our organisers who worked tirelessly to put this event together.
https://youtu.be/A4NaZvMcsvI