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Dee Terret gives advice on knife defense. |
Once the warm-ups are over, the instructor, Dee Terret, puts the trainees through a series of movements that they have mastered over the last five weeks. Every movement is laced with a loud assertive order, "Get back, get back!"
"After a front kick, side kick, and strike, the person should leave you alone," says Terret. Well, I should hope so!
A new initiative has hit East London, and it's called Ninjabi. Let's just say that if you think of messin' with these Muslim women, you'll be in for some serious bruisin'! Ninjabi is an introductory six-week self-defense course created especially for Muslim women and is based in the heart of a large East End Muslim community in Manor Park, London.
Enter the Ninjabi
To find out more about the project, I went down to one class to speak to Terret, and I also got to see how the trainees were getting on.
Layla says the reason she joined the course was due to no women-only classes in any martial arts in the neighboring area where she lives in Tower Hamlets, despite the fact that it has one of the biggest Muslim communities in Britain. She argues that classes should be available locally for all women from all backgrounds.
"London feels unsafe and people don't intervene; it's about time people stood up," says Layla. I found that this sentiment resounded throughout the group; these women just want to feel more safe and confident in public.
I ask Saimah how she feels about kicking a guy in the groin. "If you have to, you've got to do it," she says.
Halima is another trainee and really enjoys the course and says the group gels well. She found it surprising how quickly the movements became second nature.
How It Began
Mizan Raja, the director of Islamic Circles, plans and delivers Islamic events at the Froud Centre at Manor Park in East London. Consequently, the center is well-known by local and neighboring Muslim communities, as well as others across London.
Due to popular demand from Muslim women, Raja, along with colleagues in Islamic Circles, devised the Ninjabi project around the concept that Muslim women who wear hijab (headscarf) and niqab (face veil) should be positive about their self-image and their ability to physically defend themselves. He wanted to turn the old stereotype of the submissive and timid Muslim women on its head. Subsequently, Raja chose the name Ninjabi, a kind of hybrid of ninja and hijabi (a woman who wears the hijab, i.e., headscarf). Islamic Circles then located a freelance female instructor, Dee Terret, via the Internet to deliver the course at the Froud Centre.
The Sensei
From the outset, Terret was passionate about the Ninjabi project, especially as it was set up to serve Muslim women who find it extremely difficult to access women-only martial arts courses. Although not Muslim herself, Terret nevertheless empathizes with the fact that Muslim women desperately need a service like hers, and wants to do something to fill the massive gap in supplying suitable training.
Terret started martial arts at the age of 6 in her native South Africa and mastered them so well that she represented her country at the international level in her teens. For the last six and a half years, Terret has been teaching kickboxing and self-defense in the UK, and she is also an expert in boxing, judo, and knife-defense. If the project is a hit, Raja and Terret intend to replicate the Ninjabi model across London and the UK.
"Tailor-Made" Classes
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| Fatimah and Khadija demonstrate how to avoid a neck hold. |
Terret asks those wearing abayas (floor-length wide dresses) to aim lower when attempting the high-kick, ballet-like, pointed toe move, and then chop the neck of their invisible aggressor. Based on their participation, the women are relishing the challenges put before them.
"It's great having something local and in Newham where so many Muslims live," says Zabeen, a student who cannot attend the weekday courses normally offered for housewives. "Saturdays from 5 - 7 p.m. is great and I'm in East Ham, so it's very accessible."
Zabeen finds classes also fit her dress and not just her schedule. "Doing it today in jilbab (abaya) is more realistic; even though I can't do the full high kick, I have to adapt it to my dress."
Amera and Shamsun are from Tower Hamlets. Amera admits that she didn't expect much, and it was just something to do. Now, she's a fan, "It's really good and fun, not just 'exercise.'"
Shamsun agrees. "It has exceeded my expectations; the instructor's very good and the course is relevant in the light of Islamophobia in London."
Fighting Islamophobia
Mahmuda joined the group for that very reason. She was out with her younger brother one day, when they were threatened by a gang of youths. "I felt helpless and so angry afterwards."
For Mahmuda, becoming a Ninjabi means that she can confidently defend herself and others in the future, and perhaps stop threatening situations from escalating.
The Ninjabi project has four levels: Enter the Ninjabi; Return of the Ninjabi; Way of the Ninjabi; and Fist of the Ninjabi. As you can see, the names are a tongue-in-cheek homage to Bruce Lee classics, and a clever and humorous marketing tactic. Level one is introductory self-defense, level two is intermediate self-defense and kickboxing, level three is advanced, and once a trainee completes level four, she should qualify as security personnel. Each trainee receives a certificate of completion after each course, regardless of whether they move up or not.
Nevertheless, all the ladies in the introductory group that I met are very eager to start the next stage of the project, Return of the Ninjabi, starting in October later this year at the Froud Centre. In the same month, Enter the Ninjabi will also be available. According to Raja, demand is currently far outstripping supply, so those interested in the courses will have to be quick.
For more information on the project and courses, contact women@islamiccircles.org.
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