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Reem Al-Haddad is 23 years outdated, an information scientist, photographer and a Muslim lady carrying a hijab in a phenomenal deep shade of teal.
Throughout the World Cup, she and her brother stood in Souq Waqif, the favored market in Doha, with an indication that mentioned: “Ask us something about Qatar.”
The questions got here thick and quick — in individual after which on social media. There have been so many who she received her associates concerned, each on-line and in individual, to reply them too.
“The place do I purchase a costume, an abaya, for my spouse?”
“Is it true that every one Qataris have oil of their backyards?”
“Why do males carrying thobes (white robes) at all times look indignant? Are they unhappy due to their wives?”
“What’s with the polygamy?”
“What do you concentrate on alcohol? Would you prefer to strive it?”
“Why do some ladies put on face coverings and a few don’t?”
“Have been you paid to do that?”
Reem tried to reply all of them (and no, she wasn’t paid to do it). And if she didn’t know, she tried to direct individuals to others who may know extra. Her responses are explanations — many beginning “in Islam…” or “in Qatar…” — relatively than providing opinion or judgment.
“I really feel so many individuals are inquisitive about many issues however they suppose we received’t reply or it will likely be unusual to immediately method us,” she says softly. “So having a banner actually helps individuals to really feel this individual is welcoming.
“We instructed them it’s a alternative (to put on hijab). A lot of them suppose we’re pressured to put on it and we’re oppressed. We instructed them that we put on it as a result of we really feel modest carrying it and it makes us really feel extra protected and extra female.
“I really feel prefer it’s so necessary (to reply these sorts of questions) as a result of all individuals hear is from events who haven’t lived right here. It’s necessary to listen to from the native individuals — not essentially Qataris however individuals who reside right here.”
Mehreen Fazal, a British Muslim lady from Wolverhampton who moved to Qatar along with her husband and kids two years in the past, agrees.
“I believe it’s extremely necessary (to listen to from individuals who reside right here),” she says. “Native voices have to be emphasised and we want a more true image of the fact on the bottom. I believe it’s an important alternative that we’ve got for the world to see what Qatar is admittedly about.
“It’s essential to amplify ladies’s voices and to have ladies’s views on sport and different points to assist change the narrative or present that girls play a significant position.”
Reem was 11 when Qatar received the 2022 World Cup bid in 2010; sufficiently old to know “Qatar had received one thing massive” however not fairly positive what it meant. Over the subsequent 12 years she grew to become more and more conscious that the nation had the “purpose of rising” in time to host the match.
“Earlier than the World Cup, we didn’t hear so many detrimental issues,” she provides. “It was high-quality. However then, simply earlier than the World Cup began, we began listening to a lot of issues. It was a sudden factor, we by no means noticed it coming. It was unusual. We had conflicting emotions about it as a result of we actually felt like everybody was towards us. It’s a foul feeling.
“So many individuals didn’t come. A few of them might not be capable to come however some might need heard a lot dangerous data from the media or they have been scared as a result of they felt that’s not the proper place to go. I hope that perspective adjustments.”
That is one thing I too wrestled with earlier than I went to Qatar to cowl the World Cup for The Athletic, having been instructed what I’d anticipate as a white lady working in a Muslim nation with male guardianship guidelines that imply ladies want permission to marry or journey, for instance. It didn’t sound like a barrel of snickers, to be trustworthy. “Cowl up, do as you’re instructed and also you’ll be high-quality” appeared to be the final message.
However how would I get a way of what it was like if I didn’t go? And the way might I attempt to take heed to different ladies’s views if I did?
We speak about how Japan’s equaliser towards Spain appeared prefer it had clearly gone out of play within the stadium however then VAR deemed it had not when seen from above.
“You see how completely different angles of view can have completely different meanings?” says Reem. “I simply by no means anticipated the attitude to be so excessive.”
Making an attempt to talk to Qatari ladies was not simple. It’s a small place, with solely round 380,000 Qatari residents in a inhabitants approaching three million individuals. Clearly not each lady is as open to dialog as Reem and Meereen, who’ve taken half in a year-long storytelling challenge referred to as GOALS.
Teams of ladies dressed all in black, both promenading down the Corniche, on the metro or in a restaurant, have been unfailingly well mannered however didn’t need to converse, nor did I need to intrude.
Numerous brief chats, nevertheless, happened in women-only areas, akin to a nail salon and when washing palms in girls’ bathrooms.
The phrase “the World Cup is wonderful” was used ceaselessly whereas ladies with costly footwear and purses took selfies within the mirrors. Many had attended video games with their youngsters and loved the expertise.
They needed to know extra about what I had considered the match, and if I had loved my time in Qatar. These questions have been tinged with an anxiousness about how Qatar was being perceived world wide, and a frustration when instructed some individuals have been nonetheless, at greatest, conflicted about the entire thing.
The ladies who clear these bathrooms didn’t need to converse past saying the place they have been from — Bangladesh, Pakistan or the Philippines, often — and infrequently appeared scared if requested “How are you?”
If male migrant employees have been silenced throughout the match, these ladies are invisible.
What does a Qatari suppose, then, of the followers who dressed up in conventional Arab garments, some within the colors of the international locations they help?
Is that embracing a unique tradition, or mocking it?
“It’s so enjoyable seeing them,” says Reem. “My brother goes to them and helps them repair their fashion. Seeing individuals curious to find out about our tradition… they actually need to to study it and that’s a superb factor.”
How does it really feel to look at a soccer match in a hijab?
“I’ve felt so comfy, so welcomed, so a part of all of it,” says Mehreen, who by no means felt in a position to attend a match when she lived in Wolverhampton. “It’s been eye-opening. It’s higher than I believed it could be.
“Within the UK, I’d solely see matches on the tv or what my associates would say about it — this magical place the place everybody goes! However I didn’t get that chance. However right here, I’ve understood what that magic actually means.”
I realise I take that as a right. I had the identical feeling when speaking to Iranian women early in the tournament; these taking immense dangers to look at a soccer match and do one thing they can’t do at residence.
And there’s me whinging about having to enter media areas utilizing a separate line so a feminine safety guard might physique scan me, or being ushered about continually and instructed how you can cross the street, or appeared previous or ignored occasionally.
I used to be not significantly involved about my bodily security — it is a nation with a really low crime fee and other people depart their properties and automobiles unlocked on a regular basis — and I did really feel very protected, even strolling about late at night time. Definitely lots safer than in London, anyway.
Reem shot some photographs of Ian Wright, who was in Qatar working as a pundit, on the seaside final week. She set every little thing up, went to take some photographs in a unique location after which returned to seek out every little thing the place she had left it.
“Ian’s agent was like, ‘These are your issues? You simply left them right here, for a couple of hour?’,” she says. “Sure! That’s the perfect factor right here.”
The crowds have been very completely different to Euro 2020, for instance, too. No booze inside stadiums was a contributory issue, after all, however the make-up of followers was way more numerous too, with a lot of ladies and babes in arms and fewer youthful males.
The identical can’t be mentioned for the press field, nevertheless. Tv screens and radio stations are filled with feminine expertise however the written facet appears to be getting worse, if something. FIFA didn’t reply to repeated requests for the share of accredited written journalists who’re feminine or non-binary, however the eye check tells me it could have been in single figures.
For the ladies who did come, we have been largely requested:
“The place are you from?”
“Are you having fun with the World Cup?”
“Are you married?”
(If the reply to the final query was “sure”, the dialog tended to finish very swiftly and politely.)
I solely felt uncomfortable as soon as, once I provided my hand to a Qatari man to whom I used to be launched. He took a step again, mentioned “no, no” after which defined in his faith it was not thought applicable to shake a girl’s hand if we weren’t married.
I mentioned I used to be sorry if I had offended him and requested what greeting he would have most popular. Somewhat bow of the top and inserting my hand alone chest could be higher, he mentioned.
He didn’t ask what I’d have most popular.
(Prime picture: Reem Al-Haddad)
Reem: https://www.goal-click.com/football-photography-stories/finding-a-new-community
Mehreen: https://www.goal-click.com/football-photography-stories/my-football-journey-as-a-british-asian-woman
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