Reem Al-Haddad is 23 years outdated, a knowledge scientist, photographer and a Muslim girl carrying a hijab in a wonderful deep shade of teal.
In the course of the World Cup, she and her brother stood in Souq Waqif, the favored market in Doha, with an indication that stated: “Ask us something about Qatar.”
The questions got here thick and quick — in particular person after which on social media. There have been so many who she bought her associates concerned, each on-line and in particular person, to reply them too.
Reem and her brother meet soccer followers in Doha
“The place do I purchase a costume, an abaya, for my spouse?”
“Is it true that each one Qataris have oil of their backyards?”
“Why do males carrying thobes (white robes) all the time look indignant? Are they unhappy due to their wives?”
“What’s with the polygamy?”
“What do you consider alcohol? Would you wish to strive it?”
“Why do some ladies put on face coverings and a few don’t?”
“Have been you paid to do that?”
Reem tried to reply all of them (and no, she wasn’t paid to do it). And if she didn’t know, she tried to direct folks to others who would possibly know extra. Her responses are explanations — many beginning “in Islam…” or “in Qatar…” — reasonably than providing opinion or judgment.
“I really feel so many individuals are inquisitive about many issues however they assume we received’t reply or it is going to be unusual to abruptly method us,” she says softly. “So having a banner actually helps folks to really feel this particular person is welcoming.
“We instructed them it’s a selection (to put on hijab). Lots of them assume we’re pressured to put on it and we’re oppressed. We instructed them that we put on it as a result of we really feel modest carrying it and it makes us really feel extra protected and extra female.
“I really feel prefer it’s so vital (to reply these sorts of questions) as a result of all folks hear is from events who haven’t lived right here. It’s vital to listen to from the native folks — not essentially Qataris however individuals who stay right here.”
Mehreen Fazal, a British Muslim girl from Wolverhampton who moved to Qatar along with her husband and kids two years in the past, agrees.
Mehreen has lived in Qatar for 2 years after relocating from Wolverhampton
“I believe it’s extremely vital (to listen to from individuals who stay right here),” she says. “Native voices have to be emphasised and we want a more true image of the truth on the bottom. I believe it’s a fantastic alternative that we have now for the world to see what Qatar is basically about.
“It’s essential to amplify ladies’s voices and to have ladies’s views on sport and different points to assist change the narrative or present that ladies play an important position.”
Reem was 11 when Qatar received the 2022 World Cup bid in 2010; sufficiently old to know “Qatar had received one thing massive” however not fairly positive what it meant. Over the following 12 years she grew to become more and more conscious that the nation had the “purpose of rising” in time to host the match.
“Earlier than the World Cup, we didn’t hear so many destructive issues,” she provides. “It was fantastic. However then, simply earlier than the World Cup began, we began listening to a lot of issues. It was a sudden factor, we by no means noticed it coming. It was unusual. We had conflicting emotions about it as a result of we actually felt like everybody was towards us. It’s a nasty feeling.
“So many individuals didn’t come. A few of them might not be capable of come however some might need heard a lot dangerous data from the media or they have been scared as a result of they felt that’s not the fitting place to go. I hope that perspective adjustments.”
Qatari ladies carrying conventional garments at Doha’s Mina District throughout the World Cup (Photograph: CHRISTINA ASSI/AFP by way of Getty Photos)
That is one thing I too wrestled with earlier than I went to Qatar to cowl the World Cup for The Athletic, having been instructed what I’d anticipate as a white girl working in a Muslim nation with male guardianship guidelines that imply ladies want permission to marry or journey, for instance. It didn’t sound like a barrel of snickers, to be trustworthy. “Cowl up, do as you’re instructed and also you’ll be fantastic” gave the impression to be the final message.
However how would I get a way of what it was like if I didn’t go? And the way may I attempt to hearken to different ladies’s views if I did?
We speak about how Japan’s equaliser towards Spain regarded prefer it had clearly gone out of play within the stadium however then VAR deemed it had not when seen from above.
“You see how totally different angles of view can have totally different meanings?” says Reem. “I simply by no means anticipated the angle to be so excessive.”
Attempting to talk to Qatari ladies was not straightforward. It’s a small place, with solely round 380,000 Qatari residents in a inhabitants approaching three million folks. Clearly not each girl is as open to dialog as Reem and Meereen, who’ve taken half in a year-long storytelling undertaking referred to as GOALS.
Teams of girls dressed all in black, both promenading down the Corniche, on the metro or in a restaurant, have been unfailingly well mannered however didn’t wish to converse, nor did I wish to intrude.
A lot of quick chats, nevertheless, happened in women-only areas, comparable to a nail salon and when washing arms in women’ bogs.
The phrase “the World Cup is superb” was used continuously whereas ladies with costly footwear and purses took selfies within the mirrors. Many had attended video games with their youngsters and loved the expertise.
They needed to know extra about what I had considered the match, and if I had loved my time in Qatar. These questions have been tinged with an anxiousness about how Qatar was being perceived world wide, and a frustration when instructed some folks have been nonetheless, at greatest, conflicted about the entire thing.
The ladies who clear these bogs didn’t wish to converse past saying the place they have been from — Bangladesh, Pakistan or the Philippines, normally — and sometimes regarded scared if requested “How are you?”
If male migrant employees have been silenced throughout the match, these ladies are invisible.
What does a Qatari assume, then, of the followers who dressed up in conventional Arab garments, some within the colors of the international locations they help?
Is that embracing a distinct tradition, or mocking it?
“It’s so enjoyable seeing them,” says Reem. “My brother goes to them and helps them repair their type. Seeing folks curious to find out about our tradition… they actually wish to to study it and that’s a great factor.”
How does it really feel to observe a soccer match in a hijab?
“I’ve felt so snug, so welcomed, so a part of all of it,” says Mehreen, who by no means felt capable of attend a match when she lived in Wolverhampton. “It’s been eye-opening. It’s higher than I believed it will be.
“Within the UK, I’d solely see matches on the tv or what my associates would say about it — this magical place the place everybody goes! However I didn’t get that chance. However right here, I’ve understood what that magic actually means.”
I realise I take that without any consideration. I had the identical feeling when speaking to Iranian women early in the tournament; these taking immense dangers to observe a soccer match and do one thing they can not do at dwelling.
And there’s me whinging about having to enter media areas utilizing a separate line so a feminine safety guard may physique scan me, or being ushered about consistently and instructed the right way to cross the street, or regarded previous or ignored from time to time.
I used to be not significantly involved about my bodily security — this can be a nation with a really low crime charge and other people depart their houses and automobiles unlocked on a regular basis — and I did really feel very protected, even strolling about late at night time. Actually quite a bit safer than in London, anyway.
Reem shot some pictures of Ian Wright, who was in Qatar working as a pundit, on the seaside final week. She set every little thing up, went to take some pictures in a distinct location after which returned to search out every little thing the place she had left it.
“Ian’s agent was like, ‘These are your issues? You simply left them right here, for a couple of hour?’,” she says. “Sure! That’s the most effective factor right here.”
The crowds have been very totally different to Euro 2020, for instance, too. No booze inside stadiums was a contributory issue, in fact, however the make-up of followers was way more various too, with a lot of ladies and babes in arms and fewer youthful males.
The identical can’t be stated for the press field, nevertheless. Tv screens and radio stations are stuffed with feminine expertise however the written aspect appears to be getting worse, if something. FIFA didn’t reply to repeated requests for the proportion of accredited written journalists who’re feminine or non-binary, however the eye check tells me it will have been in single figures.
For the ladies who did come, we have been largely requested:
“The place are you from?”
“Are you having fun with the World Cup?”
“Are you married?”
(If the reply to the final query was “sure”, the dialog tended to finish very swiftly and politely.)
I solely felt uncomfortable as soon as, once I supplied my hand to a Qatari man to whom I used to be launched. He took a step again, stated “no, no” after which defined in his faith it was not thought applicable to shake a lady’s hand if we weren’t married.
I stated I used to be sorry if I had offended him and requested what greeting he would have most popular. A bit of bow of the pinnacle and putting my hand alone chest can be higher, he stated.
He didn’t ask what I’d have most popular.
(Prime picture: Reem Al-Haddad)
Reem: https://www.goal-click.com/football-photography-stories/finding-a-new-community
Mehreen: https://www.goal-click.com/football-photography-stories/my-football-journey-as-a-british-asian-woman
