Altijd wanneer ik even te lang op MemriTV ga kijken word ik beroerd, en duurt het heel lang voordat ik er weer van bekom. Ik zou willen dat dit deel van de wereld niet bestond.
Ditmaal kwam ik een amusant gesprek tegen, met een droevige ondertoon natuurlijk, maar het geeft hoop.
http://www.memritv.org/Transcript.asp?P1=1155
Interviewer: Why is there sex in all of your stories and works? In four or five works there is a lot of sex...
Zaynab Hifni: I don't know why whenever we go near a taboo - the taboo of sex, of religion, or of politics - we always highlight it emphatically.
Interviewer: Because it's a taboo...
Zaynab Hifni: Because it's taboo. Ultimately, if you read... Let's go back to our ancient heritage. For example, Wallada, daughter of [the Caliph] Al-Mustakfi, said: "I am fit for high positions, and am going my way with pride, and bestow my kiss on he who craves it." If a poetess said these things today, I think they would stone her.
[...]
Why has sex become such a sensitive issue with us? Sex is in our meals, in our food, and in our drink. Why shouldn't we use it to achieve a noble cause? Why not? It is a part of our lives.
Interviewer: So you think sex should not be a prohibited subject.
Zaynab Hifni: Of course not.
Interviewer: Do you think it should be a common thing that people discuss freely?
Zaynab Hifni: Rest assured that... Let me go back to our religious heritage, or rather, our religious law. 'Aisha would sit with the men, and the Prophet Muhammad would say: You can learn half of the religion from her.
Interviewer: That hadith is unreliable.
Zaynab Hifni: An unreliable hadith?! I believe in that hadith, because it appeared in the collection of Al-Bukhari or of Al-Muslim, I think.
Interviewer: If it had, it would not be considered an unreliable.
Zaynab Hifni: I think it appeared in one of the two.
Interviewer: OK, but this is an unreliable hadith that did not appear in either source.
Zaynab Hifni: Let me tell you something. Our problem is that
everything in favour of women we consider an unreliable hadith, whereas any hadith that favors men - like the one that says, "Women are lacking brains and faith" - is considered a 100 percent reliable hadith. Why? Because it is harms women. This doesn't make sense.
The Prophet's companions learned from 'Aisha how she treated the Prophet, down to the most explicit sexual details. The same was true with regard to Umm Salama. Why do we place constraints? Such constraints did not exist in the days of the Prophet and in the days of the Prophet's companions.
Interviewer: Do you think that what 'Aisha taught the Prophet's companions about the Prophet's relations with his wives is similar to the use you make of sex in your stories?
Zaynab Hifni: I'm not comparing myself to 'Aisha. I'm saying the degree of freedom that existed... There was no taboo about sex like we have, unfortunately, in our society.
Interviewer: So you think sex should be taught at school, for instance?
Zaynab Hifni: Why not?
Interviewer: I mean, sex education?
Zaynab Hifni: Of course.
Interviewer: From what age?
Zaynab Hifni: It could start at the age of 12, in junior high school. Why not? I am sorry to say that when I wrote my collection of short stories, Women at the Equator, a friend said to me: "I'm not familiar with the things you wrote."
[...]
Interviewer: You've been living in London for several years. Why do you live abroad?
Zaynab Hifni: For personal reasons.
Interviewer: Did you leave Saudi Arabia because problem with its society?
Zaynab Hifni: I have a problem of... How can I put it... I'm going to cry. Do you mind if I cry?
Interviewer: Feel free. The truth is we wouldn't want, in front of everyone...