Fair and Lovely...

http://www.theguardian.com/world/shortcuts/2013/aug/14/indias-dark-obsession-fair-skin

This article is just a tip of the iceberg of the issue surrounding skin colour.  And it isn't just a subcontinent thing either.  I recently came across a Senegalese brother who confirmed that skin colour especially those that are of lighter tone are more favoured in their society.  I also understand there is a strata where there are different categories depending on which shade you were I.e if you were 50:50 where mother was white and father was anglo saxon white being the top of the pecking order and so on and so forth. 

With my family where all of our 6 siblings come from the same mother and father, we are all a different shade of brown, and even then their are prejudiced internally not to mention the external ones.

These prejudices stem from colonisation and the western kingdoms that brought this notion of white supremacy have a lot to answer for. Where the notion is you cannot be successful unless you are "fair".

This issues goes into all spheres of our lives from finding a suitable partner to finding employment.  Yes livelihood is at stake.  The obsession with whiteness even goes as far to the extent of putting filter colour categories on matrimonial sites ranging from "very fair", "wheatish"  to "dark".  This is not Dolly the Sheep cattle herding! 

We must individually get to the route of our individual prejudices in this respect before we can enable our children and their children to have an outlook that is colour blind.

Behind a great man is even a greater women

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/07/21/opinion/sunday/why-men-need-women.html?h=uAQFk3sN7&s=1&_r=1&

Home Alone?

Night Alone in House:

The Messenger of Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) said: “Beware, no one should spend a night alone in a house with a single (divorced or widowed) woman unless he is married to her, or happens to be her Mahram.” [Muslim]“In the above Hadith, it is prohibited for any man to spend a night alone in a house with a non-Mahram woman. This prohibition is based on foresight and wisdom. In principle, it is prohibited for a non-Mahram man and woman to be alone together under all circumstances, but the specific prohibition of spending a night alone under one roof has been separately mentioned, because in the darkness of night where others are not likely to witness anything, the opportunities for misconduct are greater. Again, all the non-Mahram relatives, such as cousins and brothers-in-law, are also included in this prohibition. Often, women do not take precaution with these men and go in front of them without Hijab. This prohibition is both for men and women. Men have been addressed in the Hadith, because they are stronger and may not be easily deterred by a woman. “Imam Nawawi writes in Sharah Muslim that the reason that divorced and widowed women were separately mentioned in this Hadith is that due to their being alone, these women become easy prey for men who are looking to marry or have bad intentions. They will not dare to visit single girls because they protect themselves and are also protected by their parents.” [Hijab by Dr. Mohammed Ismail Memon Madani]