Lifting the veil on religious stereotypes

By Kim Navarra

ROME, Feb. 27 - At first sight, she looks as if she just jumped out of the pages of Vogue.

Blonde, attractive and stylish, 21-year-old Panuar Omarova is more than just a pretty face. This Kazakstan-born Muslim is walking proof that looks can be deceiving, and that ethnic stereotypes are plain ignorant. Today, she studies in Rome at the European School of Economics. She is one of the growing number of Muslims who call the capital of the Catholic Church home.

Last year when Danish newspaper “Jyllands- Posten” published satirical cartoons of the prophet Muhammad, Muslims across the world were outraged, some calling it an insult to all Muslims while others took to the street in violent protest.

To Muslims like Omarova, the prophet Muhammad and Allah are sacred. Their visual representations are prohibited. At the same time, having formed her education in Western Europe and living in Rome, Omarova criticizes the fundamentalist Muslims' reactions to the cartoons as wrong-headed.

Unfortunately, Omarova says she experiences her fair share of negative religious stereotyping, and she still hears people classifying her fellow Muslims as "suicide bombers", as her professor once did. The comment is one of the most bitter examples of how her life has changed since Sept 11, 2001 -- people connecting Muslims to Osama Bin Laden, veiled women and  terrorists. "It would be like judging all Germans as Nazis," she reasons.

Omarova herself doesn’t wear a veil; on the contrary, she is a strong supporter of haute couture. She has adopted almost all western traditions, while keeping a very strong tie to her religion. That's who she is.

Comments

[Emanuele]

This Article is remarkable very interesting

[Celeste and Eliana]

i'd love to meet this strong woman

[choosing a topic for dissertation]

Blogs are good for every one where we get lots of information for any topics nice job keep it up !!!

[Paulo]

bullshit, i know this girl and she is about as muslim as a cow. she drinks, smokes, sleeps around and actually quite a nasty person in life. daughter of very rich parents who are mafia connected. get your facts right.

[Dissertation Help]

Very well written write-up. I literally enjoyed the concept described in the post. Once again nice work indeed.

[cristoph]

heh, i met this girl once. she is actually quite nice and sweet. nice article!