![]() ![]() She has consciously and reverently made herself a Salafi. Above all, she wants to obey the will of Allah-even when her parents and/or her husband do not agree. She may not only want to cover her body, she may actually believe she ought to do so-that it would be against the will of Allah not to do so. She may have hidden her jilbab and/or hijab in her shoulder bag as she left her home and then, when the opportunity arose, slipped the allencompassing drapes over her jeans and T-shirt. In fact, Anabel Inge tells us, this is her chosen presentation of self. Perhaps she longs to be like the rest of us-to be recognizable as a normal human being, free to express her own identity through what a sociologist might call her "presentation of self." What has made her so different from the rest of us? Perhaps she has been forced to by her parents, or her husband. ![]() But what lies under those long dark drapes? Why would a woman want to dress like that-even in the unusually hot summer weather that Britain has experienced of late? Or perhaps she does not want to dress like that. Even twenty years ago, such a sight would have been unusual today, it is commonplace in many of Britain's cities. In the background are a couple of red London double-decker buses. ![]() The picture on the cover shows a woman completely covered in black clothing apart from a tiny slit through which two eyes stare out with a slightly quizzical expression. ![]()
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