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Russia - Muslim Woman Designer & Colleagues Redefine Image of Muslims, Break Stereotypes - Video
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/28/world/europe/muslims-in-moscow-work-to-break-a-stereotype.html
MOSCOW —
Dozens of women dressed in colorful hijabs and floral dresses gathered under
gray skies recently in the garden of a four-star hotel here for a charity
fashion bazaar. They tried on styles from local designers and sampled new
cosmetics, posing for selfies and dropping sunny filters on the images before
posting them to Instagram and Facebook.
“We’re making Muslims the trendsetters,” said Natalia Narmin Ichaeva, a
public relations specialist who organized the charity event in May. Ms.
Ichaeva, who converted to Islam two years ago, is among a small group of young
Moscovite Muslims who are trying to help redefine the image of Islam in Russia.
In recent decades, Islam here has been associated largely with terrorist
attacks, two wars against separatists in Chechnya and a continuing insurgency
in the North Caucasus. Muslim women in particular have been stigmatized because
of so-called black widows, women who become suicide bombers to avenge the deaths
of their fathers, brothers and husbands. Russian tabloids and television have
reinforced that stereotype.
But in the last year and a half, as turmoil in Ukraine
has dominated the news media’s attention, Ms. Ichaeva and others like her saw a
new window of opportunity to change perceptions.
The Russian government’s strained relations with the United States and
Europe have the Kremlin looking to strengthen ties with other parts of the
world, notably China and countries in the Middle East with large Muslim
populations. Muslims in Russia have also received a public relations boost from
President Vladimir V. Putin’s recent emphasis on conservative values, including
religion.
“I noticed Muslims moved out of the spotlight,” said Rezeda Suleyman, a
23-year-old fashion designer. Ms. Suleyman said it had become easier to go out
covered and sell her modest clothing to non-Muslim women.
This short documentary shows Muslim activists like Ms. Suleyman and Ms.
Ichaeva, as they try to improve the public perception of Islam and raise the
the social status of other Muslim women.
As Zulfiya Raupova, a composer who calls herself a secular Muslim, put it, “It’s always a good time to break stereotypes.”