Why Patronize Taliban Culture?
Last December , Kulsoom Abdullah qualified for the American Open Weightlifting Championships with her ability to lift about 154 pounds to her shoulders, and nearly 132 pounds over her head, with a technique known in weightlifting as, "clean-and-jerk." Regardless, the event's sponsor, USA Weightlifting barred her from the competition, because of her insistence that she must perform wearing hijab, that covers her hair and everything else but hands, feet, and face. She claimed that her religion does not allow her to perform with the dress code stipulated by the organizing body.
In denying her right to participate, the officials cited the guidelines of the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF), which mandates, elbows and knees of all performers must be uncovered so judges are able to determine if the athletes are complying with the federations' fully-locked rule when they lift. Abdullah petitioned the group, and the U.S. Olympic Committee supported her. This week, in a meeting held in Malaysia the IWF decided that a tight-fitting garb would be acceptable, since judges would still be able to make out whether the knees and elbows of the performer were locked.
Abdullah was born and raised in Georgia to parents who emigrated from Pakistan. Abdullah studied at the graduate school at Georgia Tech, to earn a PhD in computer networking, and also achieved a black belt in the Korean martial art, taekwondo. In her teens, she started wearing the Muslim dress code hijab in line with her family’s tradition.
My question to IWF is, why are you patronizing Taliban culture? Why bend the dress code, for a person who wrongly believes a practice as her religious right, which in effect is a mere Arab-dominated force of habit?
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