#certainly a convo starter ill say that

[thefluxqueen]

i think the point of goin out w/ friends is for two people ta start slapping their hands together and a third person joining until eventually all 7 of you in full cosplay in the middle of a hallway at the mall giggling in a weird arm stack

[i-am-very-very-tired]

AKKU April 4, 2017 at 9:46 am If someone were to be very cynical they could argue that this adds a certain cachet in an overcrowded field of work. She’s no longer just another daddy’s-little-rich-girl heiress modelling to pass the time, but a Muslim model breaking new ground by not appearing “stereotypically Muslim”. ALEXANDRIA April 4, 2017 at 10:04 am Exactly Akku, she is young and trying to get to the top, so that is plausible. If this is the reason, she shouldn’t really take this PR angle. Unless…negative publicity is still publicity for her and her team. TEACAKES April 4, 2017 at 10:07 am What benefit does being publicly Muslim bring anyone in the US? You guys had a President whose credentials and even his citizenship were publicly questioned because he had a Muslim middle name – claiming that a model can use Muslim identification as an advantage in this climate, is borderline ridiculous. I mean, if she needed to set herself apart from the crowd it’s already well known that she is of Palestinian descent. AKKU April 4, 2017 at 11:29 am @teacakes I’m not American, so your “you guys” is void. Myself and Alexandria have both mentioned we’re Muslims on this page, just as you’ve mentioned you’re culturally Christian. Still, thank you for explaining Islamophobia to us. If there’s a Christian version of mansplaining, I think you just did it. Anyway, I didn’t say I believed that was her motivation – I just said, to a cynic, that it could be seen as that. Rightly or wrongly the world’s a business and everything’s marketable, even genuine and seemingly obvious things. Even apparently negative things. There’s nothing borderline ridiculous about our brief comments regarding Bella Hadid: in fact we’ve both mentioned on this page that we’ve dealt with similar issues of how we express our faith sincerely, in public and privately. However, what is borderline ridiculous is that you tried to police a throwaway convo between two Muslims (be we cultural, devout, agnostic or other) that you misread the tone of, which is, in your defense, quite easy to do online. WHICHWITCH April 4, 2017 at 11:51 am To add to the cynical point of view – Vogue Arabia just came out and Gigi is on the cover wearing a hijab. There was a bit of backlash about that because she may not be Muslim, and “why is an American half-Palestinian girl on the first Vogue Arabia cover?”… so Bella could be hedging for these types of covers, plus the Gulf is a huge market for fashion… so yeah. I had no idea she considered herself Muslim, but that’s cool, good for her for not keeping it a secret. TEACAKES April 4, 2017 at 11:55 am @Akku – apologies for the error, I was wrong to assume you were Americans and I certainly didn’t mean to come across as mansplaining Islamophobia – just questioning the idea that identifying as Muslim in the current US political climate (since Bella is American and largely seems to work there) and in her field of work (the fashion industry not exactly being super enlightened, and advertisers even less so), would be seen as a professional advantage. On reading again, I realise I did misread the tone of your initial comments, and I’m sorry for that. SAM April 4, 2017 at 9:40 am I actually know exactly what she’s talking about. I am Palestinian as well, grew up in the USA and I also call myself a Muslim. I don’t drink and I fast during Ramadan. I pray. I however don’t abide by all the rules written in a book over 1500 years ago. But that doesn’t change the fact that I call myself a Muslim. There are varying degrees of believing in a religion. Some are extremely religious, some are in the middle and some aren’t religious at all. Bella is probably in the middle like me and millions of other people. FORESTLASS April 4, 2017 at 10:05 am Exactly, i live in a Muslim country with a religious family and i was free to do anything i want… But somehow post 911 we are all lumped together as this violent backward culture! AKKU April 4, 2017 at 11:33 am True. There are so many different ways of practising and adherence. It’s not an aspect that’s exclusive to Christianity. DAISY April 4, 2017 at 12:24 pm Bosnians for an example are Muslim and I’ve never met one that does not drink. Ever. TEACAKES April 4, 2017 at 9:59 am What’s up with all the policing of her religious identity? I consider myself culturally Christian even if my beliefs don’t match with the dogma of my church (I believe in gender equality, birth control and LGBT rights, for starters – that doesn’t make me not a Christian) because in a lot of cultures, religion is part of them – it influences everything from your name to the food you eat or the language you speak. And that goes double for a person with a religious minority background, like me – and like Bella. ALEXANDRIA April 4, 2017 at 10:14 am Teacakes, I only saw one semi policing post. The rest of the posters seem to be ok, just confused with what she’s trying to put forth and some Muslims posters have offered an interpretation. If she’s honest in this interview, there’s nothing wrong with identifying as one, even if some people outside of this forum feel she doesn’t fit the mould. TEACAKES April 4, 2017 at 11:15 am @Alexandria – Some of those ‘confused’ comments come across as rather ignorant and policing, and I won’t get into the one claiming she’s probably identifying as Muslim for professional benefit – I think I made my views on that known in my response (I understand it wasn’t ill-meant, but it did leave a bad taste in my mouth). I’ve seen this happen with her sister’s boyfriend Zayn too – people right here have claimed that he can’t be genuinely Muslim given his lifestyle/alcohol consumption. Like a commenter below says, being Muslim can run the gamut of observance just as being Jewish does, and I’m glad some people understand that. She apologises for mansplaning then continues to do so. JANEFR April 4, 2017 at 3:37 pm I’m Muslim and she fits my mould. Non- extremist–culturally-adapted-to-my-time and-country Muslim.