A not entirely flattering to the garment (visible cat hairs and sky blue crew socks do not a fashion statement make) image of al-Mujalbaba's pocketed peachskin a-line skirt:



I have a love/hate relationship with this skirt. Or rather a love-with-caveats relationship with this skirt, since I wear it all the time. I bought it when I was pregnant, and it is to date the very best maternity clothes investment I've ever made, not the least of which being because it can continue to be worn postpartum. When the al-Mujalbaba proprietor says the waistband stretches she really, really means it s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-s. That does, however, create one of the caveats as well -- an all-around elastic waistband is not the most flattering (although it does make this skirt perfect for prayers).

The material is very nice. It is also very polyester. It carries a soft sheen that is quite attractive, particularly in somewhat lower light, has a tight enough weave to feel virtually indestructible, and is pleasantly silkly to the touch. But it does still feel like polyester and it rustles like polyester. The material, I think, is a matter of tastes. I prefer natural fibers, but as a mother of two babies the wash and wear aspect (or, if need be, the spot clean with a baby wipe aspect) trumps that preference sometimes.

My biggest complaint would be for length. At five-foot-six, a forty-two inch long skirt generally winds up hiked up to my ribcage. I'm a little lazy with hemming.



Above, the detail embroidery embellishing Shukr's flared corduroy skirt:



I love this skirt. And I love this skirt in this color -- "khaki" is not normally my favorite, but this is a small bit greener than average. Not so much as to no longer be passably neutral, but enough to border more on the side of olive than beige.

There are caveats here as well. Firstly, I would prefer it were a heavier weight corduroy. That, however, has more to do with my aforementioned preference for indestructible materials than any flaw in this material itself, and I will concede that this is much more comfortable in warmer weather than a heavier material might be. Secondly, a bit of elastic in just the back of the waist would be nice. For women such as myself with a significantly wider hip than waist, this one takes some tailoring to not be loose at the very top. And so long as it is at the tailor, thirdly, it is also a bit long for me to not gather dust from the floor.

Lastly, more a general issue than a garment-specific one, it is not always so obvious from the product depictions when Shukr's embroidery is utilizing metallic thread. I have no complaint on this skirt in this respect as the detailing is both minimal and quite pretty, but it would be nice if they would make note of it in their descriptions. I have an older tunic shirt from them which I had thought was tone-on-tone beige embroidery, but which turned out to be gold. I was not so disappointed as to make a return, and it is an often complimented part of my wardrobe, however it is still likely I'd have chosen something else had I known.

Still, all of those small things pale in comparison to the fact that this skirt is just pretty and makes me feel pretty, while also managing to be mature, elegant, and casual all in one. So to that effect I could not have asked for more.



And lastly, also from Shukr, their super wide-leg rayon trousers:



I am not a pants person, so for me this pair amounts to being the best pants ever for the simple fact that the legs are wide enough to, together, give a skirt-like impression. The material is very lightweight and flowing, wonderful in summer. (Although I tend to just wear long johns under my summer weight clothes in winter -- an arrangment for which these are also perfect. I'm not sure if that makes me cheap or just pragmatic.)

The advantage, in my opinion, that these have over Shukr's similar cosmopolitan trousers is the same as one of the possible disadvantages to the al-Mujalbaba skirt: namely the full elastic waistband. The sheer width of the elastic (as in the first image) and its more limited give, however, results in less fabric bunching than with the skirt, while still allowing enough give to be highly comfortable in most any setting.

This is quite probably my most understated yet also most satisfying Shukr purchase to date.

In fact, consider what the apologists for Obsession are really implying when they question the link between the movie and the attack. Is there really such a nationwide, systematic pogrom against mosques, such that the timing of the Dayton incident was truly coincidental, statistically speaking? ... The timing was too convenient to be coincidental, and only someone with deeply-entrenched prejudice could possibly suspend their common sense enough to argue otherwise. (Belienet)

Simply: no.

When the finger is pointed squarely towards the Clarion Fund, the point at which history begins is drawn forward to here, to today. The cultural climate which has allowed far too many of our men and women to be harassed, institutions to be defaced, and communities to be humilated and threatened is erased from the time before this day.

Yes, Obsession is a rather vile little piece of propaganda distributed with what is hard to believe can be anything but ill intent. I almost had to laugh at the point that its makers began to delve into Muslim/Nazi comparisons. I would have laughed at the far too obvious emotional manipulation in this, had I believed that everyone else watching would view it in the same light.

However -- and it is an important however -- do not imagine that when, for example, a Huffington Post writer posits that "this, apparently, is what the scare tactic political campaigning of John McCain's supporters has led to -- Americans perpetrating a terrorist attack against innocent children on American soil," they are not also using Muslims for partisan political gain.

Speak out against the film, as loudly as you choose. Speak out against the cultural climate to which it contributes.

And speak out against acts like those against the children in Dayton, Ohio, regardless of whether the mystery substance turns out to be roach spray, pepper spray, or hair spray.

But do not under any circumstances allow those who have an invested interest in seeing these acts connected by a straight and clear line pretend that this is something new and novel in America. Do not let them convince anyone that someone has not once already tried to scare mosque patrons with a fog release in Sacramento, that bullets have not been fired at mosques from Maryland to Texas to Florida states, that we have not seen a rash of everything from broken windows and graffiti to all out arson attempts and successes across the nation, and that there are not among our neighbors those who have found it appropriate to, for example, roll a decapitated pig's head in amongst prayers in Idaho, or to spatter blood upon a San Francisco mosque's outer walls. For starters.

It is not everywhere. And it is not everyone. Many of us never see it. And perhaps that accounts for some among us believing that "the timing was too convenient to be coincidental." But for the rest of us, when we nod in agreement, pleased that at last -- at last! -- one such incident has warranted mention outside of back-page local news and strictly Muslim sources, choosing to forget that the timing really isn't so convenient, all precedent considered, and choosing to hail the mention devoid though it may be of appropriate context and full recent history ... well, it becomes ourselves who are drawing history forward. And ourselves who become complicit in the ongoing national ignorance regarding the ever murky scale and source of things.

Ourselves who, once the letters to the editor are written, the election is passed, and no external sources, regardless of how sympathetic they might now appear, any longer have use for news blips like this ... it is ourselves who will be again forgotten. And our assaulted children, again, ignored.