please enough mocking covered-face women…. I suggest show some respect and stop degrading those who’ve choosed “or not” covering their faces…..

May god not ma god.

Words are useless… The artwork talk by itself…

Very beautiful piece of art and I really don’t see the mockery!!!

Love it
Thanks Roba

“saying”, not “Asking”
sorry! :D

asalam 3alaykom,
hey guys..i think we should wait for roba’s saying in this…we can’t assume that she meant mockery..or leila…
thank u

Anyone who can isolate his feelings for a while could look closely and say the message that was to be passed on. Why closed eyes? Why not just simply veiled women with ice-creams? The cones are just a device in this piece of art symbolizing desires, ambitions, and needs. The women in the picture are not able to eat their ice-creams not because of the veil; it’s because of their closed eyes. A veil could never stop you from being what you wanna be, or your dreams, it’s the closed eyes. This isn’t a mockery of veiled women; it’s a mockery of the belief that veils are an obstacle in women’s life.

WOW amino i think you hit it spot on! and i agree with you…nothing can stop someone from doing something other than themselves. Some may say ‘no its not themselves its their culture or society’ but i stand in my belief that it is ‘themselves’ because it is ‘you’ that decides whether to be tied down to what society and culture restrict etc.

Bless your heart Roba.

An Arab girl, protesting against the “unethical” custom followed in her islamic country.

You should give your parents a big hug. They did good.

There is no greater education, than to question what we were taught.

Why dont you move to america for Graduate school? You OWE it to yourself to make something out of your life. Some of us need to be successful, innovative, bold and adventurous.

The rest of us can stick to kosher-meals and live by the sharia or the bible.

Looking closely,
It doesn’t have to be closed eyes Amino
I don’t know why would Roba’s caption illustrate that idea.
If you look again,
and I’m talking technically here, they could be looking down at their ice creams.

But I can’t disagree with your point that
“it’s a mockery of the belief that veils are an obstacle in women’s life”

Funny how an artwork is seen in different perpectives,
like Mr Jameed and the Corn on the Cob! hehehehe.

emm.. i got two words.. pun intended?

asalam 3alaykom,
Roba..i hope u r a sport..so take this as one!!
1- tab3an enty 7orra ..it is your beliefs..but a small advice from someone older..don’t say ” i don’t want anyone..yehdeeny.”..this is allah…who created u..his respect is a must.
so that may be someday you’ll grow up out of this..mm..state!!

2- when u permit a monkey to say those dirty words about your visitors..it is so disrespectful..to u not us…because such crap would never hurt us..

thank u for a short visit..cause it won’t be repeated.

I have to agree with “thecaller” he is right..

lol this was an enjoyable thread of comments. i’ve never seen so much discussion revolve around the niqab and ice cream. one hand are the very religious who feel roba has mocked islam, in the middle are those who say niqab is not an obligation but we should respect those who choose to wear it instead of mocking them, and on the left are those praising roba for being critical of an unethical practice. oh and then there’s those critically analyzing the symbolism of the art and searching for interpretive meaning and then doing what all great art critics do…tell everyone what they should be seeing.

im not going to dive into some complex analysis of what Roba’s intentions were. suffice to say art is interpretive, everyone is entitled to their opinion about what they see, feel and hear resonating from the piece. these comments are the best example of that very philosophy.

anyways, a word to the critics: the very notion that the hijab, or heck even the niqab, renders a women useless is as logical as saying the absence of it renders her useful. the assumption is based on a personal opinion on religion and ignores the capacity of human beings.

Aisha was covered, was a theologian, orator, a poet, helped establish the understanding of Islam, the source of over 2,000 hadiths, taught some of the most famed Islamic scholars and experts both men and women, led an army of thousands into battle, gave some of the most beautiful speeches in Islamic history, felt it was a good idea to teach women to read and write centuries before anyone thought it was worthwhile doing so and started social reforms that are studied in international universities today.

so beat that with a stick

Monkey.
2n lmtast7e f2 f3al mash2t,monkey.

Actually, there are many possible interpretations of art – that’s one of the reasons it’s so wonderful.

What I see, is not balls of ice cream, but, ahem, testes (or testicles to some). It would be too obvious if there were just two per cone, so the artist takes some artistic license and disguises her true message by adding more. And notice what all those testicles are attached to? That’s right – round and… well I won’t go into the description more than that, but I do notice that all the women are clutching those cones in their hands real tight!

I think it’s a commentary on the sexual repression felt by muslim women, who need a symbolic substitute in the form of ice cream cones either because they don’t have the real thing, or they’re afraid of it, or maybe they prefer what they have in their hands to what muslim men have to offer.

I do see that the one in black has the two “balls” of ice cream (the artist is giving you a hint here), and she seems the saddest, perhaps because her cone is shorter than the rest. I think the artist herself might not have been aware of the unconscious message she was transmitting, but I’d bet Freud would have a lot to say about this!

And when the ice cream is gone, do muslim women typically eat the cones, too? Hmmm, lots to consider here.

Then again, sometimes a good ice cream cone is just a good ice cream cone.

I don’t see any mockery honestly, it’s all about how you look at it, and I think that’s the beauty of art, it unveils how one thinks, and how one looks at a painting; each person can look at a painting in his/her own perspective, it’s all relative.

I don’t Roba in real life, and I’m assuming not a lot do, so I don’t think anybody can really judge her, and anyway it’s her blog, she can do whatever she wants with it, so I think people need to respect that.

Honestly, I’m totally against the veil, from what I see in the painting, I interpret it that the veil is holding back women from enjoying the simplest form of happiness and joy in life; I think it would be so hard to live inside that cage forever, under strain. But again, that’s my opinion, and I’ve never tried it (the veil), but I can imagine what girls and women go through, and what I’ve seen, most veiled girls in Jordan weren’t happy with it, and most of them weren’t even religious, I think it’s more connected to a traditional social norm, and that’s what makes it even more wrong.

Well they say art is about your interpretation of it.

In that case, I say people should strive to interpret such pieces of art the way Amino did.

Excellent observations my friend.

We are making too much of this, I just think its ignorant, especially for somene native of Ghaza. She should know better, and same goes for you Roba.

Samer you are an idiot..
Nas i respect the way you think or the fact that you thnk before you speak
again samer you’re an idiot

Samer:

“But I digress, I already know the answer. I should have just read the red shoes blog ‘more often’.”

Actually i was going to say that if one is unsure of someone’s stance on Islam then it would be better for one to mind his or her own business, but that works too.

niqab or no niqab,…there still is something erotic about a bunch of women licking something in unison.

Firas, man please, don’t spread misinformation if you don’t know what you’re talking about with all due respect. ya3ni if you don’t know there’s no sense in saying “from what i heard”. first of all the burka is the afghani style of niqab that covers the absolute entire body, it is an even more extreme form of the niqab and the niqab is a more extreme form of the hijab. It is not documented that the Prophet pbuh’s wives wore such clothes. The Prophet pbuh taught as what was written in the quran, what is considered as the modern day hijab as part of the mandatory framework of moderate dressing. there is nothing in the authentic sunnah that states otherwise and had there been the Prophet pbuh would’ve stated so.

the majority of scholars of all 4 schools of Islamic thought since that time have agreed that it is not obligatory only a minority believes otherwise.

also don’t generalise and say that those who wear the niqab is because they come from extreme families. you have no way of knowing that.

i wonder y those who critisize women who chose to wear the veil or cover their faces..dont critisize women who chose to wear bikinis or wear very revealing clothes showing their assets and seaking attention…one should learn to respect ppl choices even if you dont understand or agree with them..

Roba..Allah yihdeena jamee3an, dont listen to those laughing to you and encouraging u..those arent the one who care…or know whats the best for u