Submitted by E. Sharpe, May 15, 2007 07:32

Dear Mr. Ibrahim,

Please re-read these two excerpts from your article:

1. "Her April 2 act of defiance placed Dr. Nouriya Al-Subeeh on the front line of the growing ranks of Muslim women leaders who are denouncing the veil as a symbol of female oppression."

2. After her precedent-setting episode, Dr. Subeeh explained her stand in an interview with the Egyptian weekly Rose El Yousuf: "A woman who wears the veil out of belief, which must be respected — just as the belief of a woman who does not want to wear a veil must be respected. The essence of democracy," she said, "is to respect and accept the opinions of others."

Note that your characterization of Dr. Al Subeeh as being "on the front line of the growing ranks of Muslim women leaders who are denouncing the veil as a symbol of female oppression" is in direct contradiction to the quotation you cited in which she explains that "to veil or not to veil" is a woman's choice, to be respected either way. Nowhere in her statement to the Rose El Yousuf publication did she denounce the veil as a symbol of female oppression.

I was in fact in attendance at the Parliamentary session during which Dr. Al Subeeh was sworn in, and even managed to take a video of the event: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNiiQvLgBFI. The women who were in the gallery to support Dr. Al Subeeh (numbering around 60) were a mix of veiled and unveiled women-- truly an illustration of how many women in the Muslim world will support equally their sisters who are veiled or unveiled. As an American woman living and working at an educational institution in Kuwait, I am able to observe on a daily basis the warm, friendly interactions among female students who are both veiled and unveiled. Furthermore, it is clear that women who are veiled are no more or less likely to speak out on various topics, including culture, politics, society, etc. than are unveiled women. Oppressed they are not.

The point is-- Dr. Al Subeeh's courage in proceeding with her oath despite heckling from two Islamist MPs was not so much a victory for "unveiled women" as it was for a woman's right to choose-- a political slogan with which American women can certainly empathize.

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