Learning to swim: For Muslim women in U.S., it's not easy

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Sheikh told them he would ask the Curran Aquatic Center in Cary whether it could accommodate a group of Muslims who preferred a women-only pool.
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Yes, of course, the leaders of the aquatic center said, and showed him a 15-yard pool that could be rented for $170 an hour.
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Problem was, the small pool overlooked a larger, Olympic-size pool, and Sheikh wondered whether the center could provide blinds to cover the windows and shield the women from onlookers.
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Sure, the center’s leaders said, but it would cost $3,000 for custom-made blinds. Sheikh was ready to drop the idea. But the Muslim community in Raleigh and Cary wouldn’t let him.
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This type of accommodation to the religious requirements of their faith is something Muslims are seeing more. All-Muslim Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops have cropped up across the country. Muslims are entering politics, studying Islam at major American universities, even finding halal, or ritually slaughtered foods, at local stores.
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“I see this as sign of Muslims learning to operate within American civic institutions,” said Omid Safi, a professor of Islamic studies at UNC-Chapel Hill.
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For the Sheikhs, the success of the class is a lesson in cultural adjustment. “It makes sense for business and service providers to accommodate the needs of the community,” Salman Sheikh said. “All it takes is dialogue to make it happen.”
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mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/58836.html

Its nice to hear some good news. 🙂
 
Why not just find a different pool? Some have separate pools with walls between them. It needn’t be religion-specific. Many women who aren’t Muslim like to swim without men looking at them.
 
This story reminds me of Riyadh couple of winters back. That winter, there’s an usual heavy rain fall in Saudi Arabia. Most highways were flooded. Riyadh’s highways are badly designed. All of its under passes are below ground level. When there’s heavy fall rain, it would flood the under pass creating a big pool. Saudis are known to drive like maniac. They simply drove right into the standing water killing a bunch of them. Majority of them couldn’t swim.

Couple years ago, there was a sinking of an Egyptian ferry in the Red Sea killing many passengers. The Muslim women were simply sunk like a rock because they couldn’t swim. Their burqas also got heavy when it hit the water dragging them under.

Islam is killing me. Too much restrictions help killed its members left and right.
 
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Salaam/ Peace
MugenOne said:
…Islam is killing me. Too much restrictions help killed its members left and right.
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huh as if those who know how to swim will never die ?

Islam sets rules for both men & women . Sadly men dominated societies are depriving Muslim women from many facilities/ rights God has given them . So , put blame on men , don’t condemn Islam 🙂
 
Um…you don’t need a pool to learn to swim. There’s little inflatable pools you can buy, fill it up with water, and learn how to swim in them.

Or, they can pay for the big pool restrictions. Either way, it’ll cost money.

I know of some nuts, though, that demand free stuff simply because they’re “special”. I guess when selfishness is called a virtue and goes to your head, this stuff happens. And that goes for everyone - including myself.
 
Okay, this is my hometown, and I remember when the brother was going around asking people for donations for the pool, and trying to recruit sisters to take that swimming class.

And the negative remarks in this thread about it are totally uncalled for. Seriously.

There just aren’t a lot of places to swim here. An inflatable pool certainly would not accommodate 40+ adult women learning to swim, that’s ridiculous. The Aquatic Center is a new facility and since the women wanted to take swimming classes in private, all they had to do was take care of the expense of the blinds.

And that doesn’t make the room exclusive for Muslim women either. Anybody can swim there. The point is that now a space can be rented by any group of women who aren’t interested in men watching them as they swim.

A friend of mine, who is non-Muslim, recently took a class at this place and when I told her about the blinds she said it made her feel a lot better about swimming there. She didn’t like that people would watch.

Muslims are actually told by the Prophet Muhammad to learn how to swim (it’s one of three sports parents are supposed to teach their children.) Personally, I can swim though I learned before I became Muslim, and I’ve been swimming in a full jilbab–it doesn’t weigh you down or keep you from moving or swimming.
 
It’s economic. The place is rented out for $150. The blind costs $3000. If I am the owner of the pool, I won’t place one in there either. It will take me forever trying to recoup my investment.
 
MugenOne said:
It’s economic. The place is rented out for $150. The blind costs $3000. If I am the owner of the pool, I won’t place one in there either. It will take me forever trying to recoup my investment.
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The Muslims paid for the blinds, as a donation to the aquatic center.

Or did you miss that part?

I notice that it is conveniently missing from the OP. But if you go read the article you’ll see it.
 
Sister_Amy said:
I notice that it is conveniently missing from the OP. But if you go read the article you’ll see it.
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ummm… I think I was pushing the limits of copyright by quoting as much as I did. But perhaps you are right that I should have explained that the community raised the cost of paying for the blinds.

Really, I am surprised that anyone had bad things to say about the article or the actions taken. I thought both were heartwarming.
 
survive said:
It needn’t be religion-specific. Many women who aren’t Muslim like to swim without men looking at them.
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I can see that! I paid a lot of money for a membership to a fitness club. It was terrible, the men would not quit staring at me or hitting on me. And I did not even dress skimpy like the other women. I was in baggy clothes.

I went to a little used area, less crowded than the machines, and I tried going at an odd hour. An old men with dyed jet black hair sat next to me on a bench and asked me what my sign was like a bad movie! I said “No Parking”.

Eh, it was not worth the hassle. I felt very uncomfortable.

I would love to find a women only fitness center. I can see where there may be a market for this regardless of religion.

BTW, I sink like a rock because I swear I have lead in my trunk! LOL
 
I personally do not see any problem in this. There are a lot of women who prefer private swimming pools for different reasons.
 
What are the other Sports that Muhammed encouraged parents to teach their kids?
 
ralphinal said:
What are the other Sports that Muhammed encouraged parents to teach their kids?
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Actually there is no authentic hadith which says Muhammed told us to learn swimming, the hadith some members referring to is not authentic and is a weak one.

However, the truth that Muhammed told us to learn archery like Ishmael, per this authentic hadith:

Sahih Bukhari, Volume 4, Book 52, Number 148:
“Narrated Salama bin Al-Akwa:
The Prophet passed by some people of the tribe of Bani Aslam who were practicing archery. The Prophet said, “O Bani Ismail ! Practice archery as your father Isma’il was a great archer. Keep on throwing arrows and I am with Bani so-and-so.” So one of the parties ceased throwing. Allah’s Apostle said, “Why do you not throw?” They replied, “How should we throw while you are with them (i.e. on their side)?” On that the Prophet said, "Throw, and I am with all of you.”
صحيح البخاري
مر النبي ‏ ‏صلى الله عليه وسلم ‏ ‏على نفر من ‏ ‏أسلم ‏ ‏ينتضلون ‏ ‏فقال النبي ‏ ‏صلى الله عليه وسلم ‏ ‏ارموا ‏ ‏بني إسماعيل ‏ ‏فإن أباكم كان راميا ارموا وأنا مع ‏ ‏بني فلان ‏ ‏قال فأمسك أحد الفريقين بأيديهم فقال رسول الله ‏ ‏صلى الله عليه وسلم ‏ ‏ما لكم لا ترمون قالوا كيف نرمي وأنت معهم قال النبي ‏ ‏صلى الله عليه وسلم ‏ ‏ارموا فأنا معكم كلكم ‏
​
(E) (A)
 
inJESUS said:
Sam, what is the context of this hadith? war?
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Yes:
صحيح البخاري—>الجهاد والسير—>التحريض على الرمي
​

To fulfil the prophecy in Genesis 16:12:
“He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.”
 
Sam_777 said:
Yes:
**صحيح البخاري—>**الجهاد والسير—>التحريض على الرمي
​

To fulfil the prophecy in Genesis 16:12:
“He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.”
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interesting “sport” .
 
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