Episode 4 – “Swimming Upstream”
Synopsis: Rayyan and her mother Sarah have a disagreement over co-ed swimming at the local pool.
Coming Wednesday February 7th 2007 !
Clip 1 – Swimming Instructor: Rayyan and Fatima cannot come to terms with a male swimming instructor even though he is “a friend of Dorothy”.
Clip Courtesy of r0njam35
What are your thoughts on co-ed swimming? Are there swim times at local pools for women only?
Little Experiences ... 
I have a friend who is sometimes clueless like Fatimah when it comes to “western” sayings. She is so funny sometimes.
As a muslim girl, I think co-ed swimming is fine, as long as everyone is covered up properly. It’s pretty much impossible to find a swimming pool that has “girls only” time, so it’s more practical just to swim with everyone else. Now, the only problem is to find a bathing suit that covers everything. Perhaps a wet-suit. 🙂
muslims all have different understandings and what is cool for some is the unthinkable for others. im a guy and i will have my long shorts and tee shirt at the pool and i probobly would be distracted if i saw a known hijabi all wet and glistening lol
I thought the idea was for women was not to stick out like a sore thumb. Now if the women are covered from head to toe in a swimming pool, they will draw more attention then if they wore a two-piece and blended in. Of course no one will be able to see anything because they are covered up.
On the other hand, if they blended in with a two-piece, everyone will see, but they will think nothing of it. I guess like ummah1421 mentioned, if there are muslim brothers at the pool then they will give undivided attention to the known hijabi who is now wearing a two-piece.
So, if muslim brothers are present, cover yourself from head to toe; if no muslim brothers are present, wear a two-piece?
It’s an interesting point, but in a way beside the point. People probably CAN compromise something like that too much.
This is an all women’s swim class with only a male instructor who is a ‘friend of Dorothy’, not a mixed situation.
So the issue of being seen less covered by people from their mosque isn’t likely.
What is bad around here is if a woman wanted to swim at a public pool here, most of them are out door pools, or enclosed by glass. I suspect any local Muslim women who’d like to swim are doing so at private pools at friends houses.
My vote would be to keep the ladies covered at all times. This way it doesn’t matter who is at the pool and who isn’t. I suspect in Episode 4 Fatimah will be wearing a full-body suit and will attend the swim class with the male instructor.
A separate swim time for women and men to accomindate the Muslim community?
Here again is an example where a foreign element comes into a community and tries to take over. Gradually at first as they win small concessions, but as they become more influential and as more Muslims come to the town the demand for concessions will increase in number and size.
Look at what happened in Antelope, Oregon, USA during the 1980s.
Yeah, first it was all about tolerance and diversity and all of that. But pretty soon they took over, changed the name of the town and most of the original inhabitants were forced out.
Mercistan is a real possibility for the citizens of this town. As more and more concessions are made, more and more Muslims are going to find out about how accomidating this town is to their lifestyle and are going to move there. Pretty soon they will be the majority and the other residents are going to feel forced to leave.
Uh…why would Muslim sisters be at a co-ed swimming class? Its a bit ridiculous to say that the Muslim swim suit attracts attention if they’re going to be swimming with other women.
Regardless of what the swim suit looks like. In a public area in co-ed special suit or not, swimming like that isn’t exactly allowed in Islam. If you’re going to go about it that way…than you might as well wear a swim suit and swim, as its about the same.
You know what I find hilarious though is that men hardly ever remember the importance of covering their own satr in front of other women…how come they go on in co-ed wearing small trunks, but if a non-practicing muslimah goes out and dons a swim suit its suddenly serious.
Dudes and dudesses, you gotta cover your satr regardless of who you are. So yeah dudes…you can’t go around swimming in a half thigh swim suit in front of that hot lifeguard at the pool.
Ugh…I missed this episode am waiting for youtuber to post it up. The show’s awesome, its doing a lot to bring about a show of tolerance from both muslims and non muslims. Here’s hoping CBC picks up more episodes of the series.
Heh… interesting predicament… as a Muslim girl, I’d only go swimming if it was all women (including the instructor, ‘friend of Dorothy’ or not!)… and I, for one, would be wearing something long and loose – no two pieces for me!
Sean, relax. There are a lot of women of EVERY faith (or lack thereof) who would welcome the option of separate swim times for women or men. As long as co-ed swimming is still available, what is the community giving up? Nothing. Why oppose a concession solely on principle, if that concession does not harm you or yours in any way, shape or form?
Other people might want times to swim naked like many swimming pools have in Europe.
So where is the line drawn?
ha ha ha… the pool could have times that are restricted for women only (clothed) and then another time for people who want to swim nude. LOL I would like to see that pool schedule.
What I find funny is that no one remembers that Muslim men should not be using public pools either. Islam believes in modesty and lowering your gaze. I don’t understand how a Muslim man can be in a place where other women are not dressed as he expects his wife and daughter to dress; isn’t that called double standards? How come there’s no rush to provide men only swimming times?
For a Muslim, given the choice between covering up and drawing attention to one’s self, covering up will win. Modesty is the more important issue in Islam.
The ladies looked a lil tolerant with their impromptu scarf. I must admit I have get used to seeing them covered and uncovered. Sometimes I still feel the need to lower my gaze or look away, lol.
Its funny because at the end of the skit, the fatima was in the conga line into the pool yet didn’t want to be touched wearing that modified gordans fisherman raincoat. haha
Fatima is the most tolerant salafi i have ever seen.
“I don’t understand how a Muslim man can be in a place where other women are not dressed as he expects his wife and daughter to dress; isn’t that called double standards? How come there’s no rush to provide men only swimming times?”
That way I should not be in any western society, I thought a male is expected to lower his gaze when he sees something he is not allowed to see……
The majority of mothers who want to swim, non-Muslim women I am talking about would rather have women only classes for swimming.
Some conservative Christians do not allow mixed swimming and many pools owned by a Christian group will have walls so no man can see inside when the women swim.
I think we have lost the plot.Islam is easy and it gets complicated when we say IT DEPENDS OF WHAT MUSLIM GROUP YOU BELONG TO>>>>thats does not really matter. I agree with Hhm where he says about covering the Satr which is for both the sexes.Why differaite between them. For woem on the other hand its for their modesty you are covering up your body in or out of the swimming pool for Allah (swt) bear that in mind for you out there who are talking bout nudist beaches.the women only swimming pool times is not the problem but covering up MODESTLY is.let you decide.