108 - Zara Kay and Nick Forbes - Faithless Hijabi

Two for Tea Podcast

Faithless Hijabi website: https://www.faithlesshijabi.org/ Faithless Hijabi on Twitter: https://twitter.com/FaithlessHijabi Support the work of Faithless Hijabi: https://www.faithlesshijabi.org/support-us/ Follow Zara on Twitter: https://twitter.com/zarakayk References: Zara’s offending Facebook post featuring a photoshop of two men kissing in front of the Kaaba in Mecca: https://www.facebook.com/zara.kayk/posts/3550692608358194 Zara and Nick’s Medium piece on their work and Mariam Oyiza, a Nigerian ex-Muslim who now fights for women’s rights, ‘On being a Faithless Hijabi’: https://medium.com/@nickforbes_74938/on-being-a-faithless-hijabi-fa73f8827901 Mariam’s website: https://letsaii.com/mariam-aliyu/ Iona’s Two for Tea conversation with Sadia Hameed: https://soundcloud.com/twoforteapodcast/94-sadia-hameed-separatist-communities-in-the-uk-public-limited-version Timestamps: 2:04 Zara’s ethnic background and her upbringing in Tanzania as part of the closed minority Khoja Shia community. 4:47 A tea-based interruption and interlude; Iona lays down the tea-law. 5:19 Zara continues discussing her upbringing. 6:36 The links between the Khoja community and Shiism in Iraq and Iran. 7:22 Zara’s languages and education. 8:19 Zara on the social life of the community growing up: religious and ethnic segregation and family networks. The Khoja community as a “parallel community.” 11:08 Zara discusses breaking away from the community and moving abroad; her desire to pursue higher education. Her feeling of liberation in Malaysia: a place where you could be a Muslim and not wear a hijab and meet people of other ethnicities and religions. 13:38 Zara on meeting a “flamboyant” gay man for the first time and Islamic homophobia. Her first argument with her brother was about his homophobia. 15:03 Zara on the “culture shocks” of coming out of the community bubble and her family’s relative liberalism. Moving to Australia. 17:58 Zara’s recent return to Tanzania on family business: weird experiences, harassment, and detention and questioning by police for 72 hours about her opinions and posts (including a photoshop of two men kissing in front of the Kaaba in Mecca) on social media. Nick’s role: he and others formed a group to make noise about Zara’s disappearance. 31:26 Zara’s difficulty getting out of Tanzania and back to Australia after her detention. The Australian government’s reluctance to help. 36:08 The bigger picture in Tanzania: police and political corruption, brutality, and repression of activists. 39:38 Nick talks about his conservative Christian background, leaving his faith, becoming woke, becoming un-woke after Charlie Hebdo, and becoming involved in ex-Muslim issues. and Faithless Hijabi: what it is and how he got involved. 41:39 How Nick got involved with Faithless Hijabi. What Faithless Hijabi is and what it does: supporting ex-Muslims with mental health issues. 43:38 Zara describes the origins, evolution, and work of Faithless Hijabi. The plight of ex-Muslims and the issues they face. 51:19 Nick tells the story of Mariam, a Nigerian woman who was helped by Faithless Hijabi after she left her conservative Sunni community. 52:08 Faithless Hijabi’s therapist vetting process. Risks and trust issues with seeking therapy as an ex-Muslim/apostate. 56:19 The left’s failure to support ex-Muslims and apostates. ABC’s cutting of an interview with Zara because she spoke about being an ex-Muslim activist. 57:18 Zara talks about what people can do to best support ex-Muslims: we need free and open and nuanced debate between people of all backgrounds about sensitive issues like the hijab rather than caving to claims of offence or prevaricating with cultural relativism.