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Formula One
Fatwas Page 17 The traffic in Tehran may veer between anarchy and gridlock, but in oil-rich Iran the car is king and now motoring enthusiasts have a new national idol: a young woman who people like to call “Little Schumacher”. Laleh Seddigh, now 29, began driving at 13, by snatching her father’s keys and sneaking out to drive in fear of the police. With a former Iranian national champion as her coach, Laleh is making quite an impression, winning national events and garnering both accolades particularly from a small, hardcore group of female racing aficionados. Nazanin, who watched Laleh race recently lamented, “In Iran, whenever there is a traffic jam and there is a woman in it, the male drivers ridicule her and blame only her. It’s a relief to see there is someone like Laleh.” Laleh’s the captain of her Proton racing team, wears the hijab and state television covers her races, but all is not well in Racingland. Despite being crowned Iran’s national motor rally champion, the racing federation – with its insular male hierarchy – recently barred her from competing at a race at Tehran’s Azadi stadium on some dubious religious grounds. Laleh is defiant: “Some jealous people are saying it is the law and that I cannot participate, but they are making the law up by themselves. In our sport we have to wear loose overalls, a helmet and gloves. We are totally covered. There is no question of breaking Islamic laws.” Laleh is fighting back the old-fashioned way: with a fatwa. Her father has obtained a ruling from a leading cleric on her behalf that states there is no barrier to women racing against men provided Islamic dress code is observed. It’s her ace card in her struggle to get back on the track and she’s not afraid to use it. In other “sisters are doin’ it for themselves news”: Ingrid Mattson, academic at the noted Hartford Seminary, has been elected President of the Islamic Society of North America, the first woman to lead a national Muslim organisation in the United States. More on her vision for the Islam in America in a coming edition of Q-News. |