Every day after school, Aya and Sumaya came and banged on the gate, wanting to train. If I didn't let them in fast enough, they climbed over the wall. They were so tough, so brave, so determined.
In Luxor, Egypt, girls have a small window of freedom before the veil falls upon them. I fought so hard for this little band of Luxor Boxing Girls to have a taste of what it was like to be as loud and as free as any boy.
For in Islam:
"It is prohibited for women to raise their voices in conversation with men to hear them, because a woman's voice brings them closer to fitnah (falling into sin and hypocrisy)." Fatwa 84462.
“And let them not stamp their feet to make known what they conceal of their adornment” (An-Nur: 31)
The Egyptian feminist writer Mona Eltahawy said:
“What would the world look like if girls were taught they were volcanoes, whose eruptions were a thing of beauty, a power to behold, a force not to be trifled with?”
These girls were volcanos, and I couldn’t bear the thought that they would be extinguished. I prayed when things got tough for them, they would remember this training and it would give them that extra edge of confidence that most girls didn’t have--anywhere, in any country—because most girls don’t learn to fight.
I think self-defense and the fighting arts should be mandatory in school, from kindergarten. The world would be a very different place if this was the case. I know it would have made a big difference in my life.
#thetruthaboutluxoregypt
How I loved training these fierce Egyptian girls!