Muhajababes

by Allegra Stratton

Two-thirds of the population in the Middle East are under 25 years old and, though many now have university degrees, thre aren't enough jobs to go round. They're having a collective quarter-life crisis. In the months before turning 25 herself, Allegra Stratton set out to meet them.
She visits Beirut, Amman, Cairo, Dubai, Kuwait City, and Damascus - moving with the Middle Eastern ripple of change: Iraq's first post-Saddam elections, Lebanon's Cedar Revolution, Mubarak's decision to hold multi-candidate elections and Kuwait giving women the vote. She looks for youth culture as we know it - hip-hop artists, pop musicians and film-makers - but soon discovers these are a minority pursuit. Instead, a massive video industry of airbrushed, heavily produced, scantily clad singers hold the affections of young Arabs. And there's a contradiction. Many of the fans of these semi-naked popstrels are also very devout. 'Muhajabah' means one who veils. These veiled but sexily dressed young women, then, are the Muhajababes.

Genres: Nonfiction, Islam, Middle East, Gender, Religion, Sociology

281 pages, Paperback

First published January 29, 2006

About the author

Allegra Elizabeth Jane Stratton is a British former political aide, journalist, and writer who served as Downing Street Press Secretary under Boris Johnson from November 2020 to April 2021.

Stratton worked for The Guardian as a political correspondent until joining the BBC in 2012, where she was political editor of BBC Two's Newsnight from 2012 to 2016. She worked for ITV as national editor of ITV News from 2016 to 2018 and co-presenter of Peston on Sunday from 2016 to 2018. After leaving journalism, she became a spokesperson for the British government. She was Chancellor Rishi Sunak's Director of Strategic Communications at the Treasury from April until October 2020, when she became the press secretary for 10 Downing Street.

In April 2021, Stratton was appointed as spokesperson for COP26 President Alok Sharma. She resigned from this post in December 2021. After a six-month hiatus, in June 2022, Stratton joined Bloomberg News as UK contributing editor, writing an afternoon newsletter called "Readout".

Reviews

[Diane in Australia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well, I read it ... every page. Not impressed. I read a lot of nonfiction regarding the Middle East, so, I'm not totally ignorant of its issues, culture, etc. Even so, I found it hard to follow Allegra's narrative. It seemed scattered. It was like someone on LSD visited the Middle East, and then wrote a book ... lots of words, but not much sensible content. It's a pity, too, 'cause it would be an interesting topic ... in the hands of a good author.

1 Star = Yuck. I wish I hadn't wasted my time reading it.

[Misamay · Rating 2 out of 5]

I know I am only in the process of reading this-but after reading a third of this quickly downwardly spiraling "investigation into the hip-icity of the up and coming arab street" it is enough for me to develop a studied conclusion about this orientalist landfill:

I love that the people of the country that fucked up that part of the world are wondering: "Hmmm, I wonder what went wrong over there? Is there any hope to counter the regression of the Arab/Muslim world in the youth?"

....And that this young British reporter's abbreviated stay in a couple of Arabic-speaking capitals and elucidation of terms like Hamas and Ba'th in three sentences will shed light on the mindset of ALL the youth in the Arab/Muslim world.

[Petra X · Rating 2 out of 5]

I started to read this book but gave up. The writing is tediously bad and full of cliches. This looks like a good idea badly executed.

I go to Bali fairly frequently and there are many babes in tight jeans with long-sleeved t-shirts and headscarves. They drink beer too. If you ask them how they could drink alcohol (or eat pork satay) they look at you with wide eyes and say they don't want to be extremist about their religion. But then Indonesia even had a female Muslim prime minister. I wouldn't have thought that the Middle-East was quite so broad-minded.

[Claire Binkley · Rating 1 out of 5]

The line that made me throw this book against a wall:
""I'll never be able to listen to Beethoven's Fifth again," he pronounced in affectedly dainty English. I leant forward to see better the title on his manuscript, 'A Linguistic Analysis of A Clockwork Orange', but Ludmilla had seen me..."

The end, конец, всё.

Beethoven's Ninth is Clockwork Orange: the second movement. (Psychologically speaking, Shostakovich is the one who drives me up the wall, but it's just parts of Shosty's fifth symphony which I associate with spoilt meat thanks to Battleship Potemkin)

Beforehand, I said of this book that it was useful to see how Persian women deal with the sexism of their culture.
In the end, I just did not like A. Stratton. Then again, I generally don't get along with newswriters, even if Dr Hanson is such an interesting African-American man. Besides, what kind of newswriter is she not to catch the erroneous Beethoven symphony?

I am strongly emotionally tied to Beethoven's Fifth symphony (my first), in c minor. [And the 2nd, and the 6th, for all of which I was the principal oboist, but I am most connected with the fifth]
Clockwork Orange was Beethoven's Ninth.

Is that petty? Well, maybe, but the title muhajababes can also be a petty bunch.
I really didn't mind the short pieces she's split her prose into, but they also made me feel a little unfulfilled as a Tolstoyan. It made her more tolerable.

Except for this. It is Beethoven's Ninth. D MINOR, not c.

[Sam Berner · Rating 3 out of 5]

OK, she is not a very smart media person, but then in the politically correct UK no one smart is left at BBC. But if half of what she says about the young in Beirut is true, then I feel sorry for the country - rap, drugs, and a feeling of loss. Call in Uncle Sam to solve the problems (by wiping up half of the population)? Ms Stratton, unfortunately, is not good at providing answers, only lousy interviews. How can one be devout and a drug user is beyond even a dork like me. Or maybe I have been away too long.

[Kate Walton · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was excited to read this book initially - the topic of the cultural clash between Western and Eastern is something that very much interests me. Unfortunately, the writing is terrible - not only is it full of cliches and inaccuracies, but Ms Stratton's description is poor, her attempts at making situations amusing fall completely flat, and her 'research' of the issue at hand seems extremely scant.

Give ths one a wide berth.

[Unwisely · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is basically a younger British journalist who spends some time around the Middle East, talking to people from those countries. She doesn't have a very clear goal, so it's not like some travelogues, but it was interesting nonetheless. She was there during some interesting times, and it was really interesting to hear about what it looks like on the ground in various places. Sounds like fashion meets religion is huge, which was an interesting combination I hadn't thought about.

Warning: She's very, very British, and I had to look up some words. (Blagging!) But a fascinating (and small, not intimidating) volume.

[Ashley Dunlop · Rating 2 out of 5]

Enjoyed the book for a few interesting anecdotes, but I think it overpromised. Allegra introduces us to some interesting people that she meets while travelling and writing in the Middle East, but the links between stories are weak and the comparative analysis between perspectives is there but lacks depth. I did enjoy what felt like a true portrayal of young people, challenging a lot of stereotypes we may have of the Arab world. An interesting read at this time, as we can see some foreshadowing of the recent "Arab Spring".

[Monique · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting subject matter (how could it not be?), in chasing down Hibollah supporters, learning about Hiriri and his tv empire, etc. but I don't know why she decided to publish this book even when her editor was apparently on vacation. The writing is sub-par ("...It was as wide as a wide screen TV" is not a uniquely cringe-worthy sentence) but the topics and subject matter help to make up for this.

[Kali Daniel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well it took me 8 months to get through this book, but by God I did it. Poorly written with heavy bias, the text itself is hardly reflective of the summary. Stratton seems to scoff at anything her interviewers say, and she brushes over topics without actually elaborating, dictating why the conversations matter. There are valuable pieces of interesting information, but they're overshadowed by the lack of a thesis.

[Jodi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting concept and conceit which was not terribly well executed. Insider view of 20-something lifestyle often leads to "met this guy, went to this party" kind of narrative that doesn't really go into the deeper issues. Worth a fast read, I suppose.

[Melville House Publishing · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Fascinating. . . . Muhajababes is direct, energetic, and unpretentious.” -- Guardian

[Cillian Flood · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author prides herself on the fact that she took down what the people she was interviewing said verbatim. I have no doubt that's true, because it's exactly how the book reads; a disparate string of words and sentiments launched almost at random with little to no successful overarching narrative. The author comes from a journalistic background and seems to have approached creating this book as if it were a magazine or newspaper article, but it's not. There needs to be a better weaving of ideas, too often, not only did I not know where the author was or what she was currently trying to investigate, I didn't really care. There were also more than a few moments of erroneous and inconsistent punctuation (one chapter, out of the whole book, specifies both the city and country while all the others specify just the city, I don't really care which standard you go for, but pick one).

This is a great premise for a book. I've worked in the middle east and I've seen how the internet and international trends have influenced youth culture, it's a fascinating subject, but I don't think this book accomplishes its task and I would not recommend it.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfortunately I really had to force myself to finish this book. It was nearly impossible for me to follow her writing. Allegra Stratton went to the Middle East with what seems like no clear goal in mind and this is also the way this book is written. She seemed quite unprepared and just collects certain situations when meeting people but fails to create a bigger picture. Seems like she did not even understand why it might eventually be problematic for a Palastinian to run towards an Israeli soldier. She even admitted herself that she didn't get it when somebody told her the story. Also I didn't really appreciate her quite judgemental tone when it came to people's looks or behaviour in general.

So, I am afraid, I cannot recommend this book. For people who already know a thing or two about the Middle East, this is just unstructured and shallow. And for people who just started to inform themselves about the topic it completely fails to give any deep insight.

[Samuel Gordon · Rating 2 out of 5]

This really was all over the place. The author clearly had no idea what she was getting herself into and eventually was in way over her head. Very orientalist at times, while right out factually off at others. At best, it serves as a snapshot of a region in flux solely due to the fact that doors were opened for Allegra where she could have asked some insightful questions, but too bad she failed to recognize that, and instead the few rare glimpses that actually offered any kind of insight were the ones Allegra stumbled on due to sheer dumb luck.

[Sofie S · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok. Definitely some interesting anecdotes, but I found the overall execution weak. She attempts to relate all of her separate stories and characters but it was poorly done and I often lost track of who she was talking about. I also struggle to understand how she was able to create this narrative without a proper understanding of Arabic and, occasionally, she seemed quite uneducated about the Middle East.

[Shawn · Rating 2 out of 5]

interesting lil' book despite how meandering it is.

also it's impossible to read this bbc ass' brit's writing without doing bbc voice in your own damn head. For example: " A man who now thought sugar was piquant and salt was saccharine."

read that internally without sounding like philomena cunk, I dare ya.

[Ernesto Aguilar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although this book is very much promoted as an examination of Muslim youth, in many respects it is far more about the social pressure, religious and political winds and cultural tensions to which young people are more subjects than those who define their lives on their own terms. As a result, a good chunk of Muhajababes is dedicated to the adults whose visions are influencing the young. Stratton does a spectacular job of digging into these adults' mindsets, be they conservative jihadis, feel-good moderates or well-heeled liberals.

Stratton also does a good job of bringing to a larger audience the alternate religious universe created for youth by these adults. Whether it is the video games aimed at glorifying nationalist fantasies and counteracting Western entertainment or Muslim leaders exhorting followers to gain wealth as a demonstration of Allah's greatness, starkly different versions of Islam are pitched to appeal to youth in ways the casual reader probably would never otherwise know about.

The author will most certainly be criticized in this telling of Muslim youth life over what seems to be a lot of focus on largely middle- and upper-class Muslims, many of whom who have access to education, media and power that the poor do not. Indeed, it is difficult to ascertain how representative the Muslim youth culture Stratton presents is to the global Muslim experience. Let there be no question, however, that she has actively sought major cultural players for this book, and, in sharing a behind-the-scenes look at this generational shift, her work succeeds on many levels.

[WORN Fashion Journal]

This is not, strictly speaking, a fashion book. Stratton sets out to find the counterculture of young Arabs, who make up two thirds of the region’s population. Instead, she finds an uneasy coexistence between trendy, mass-marketed faith and a cultural obsession with sexy music videos, two seemingly opposing impulses that coalesce in the figure of the “muhajababe.” Muhajaba is Arabic for a modest woman, and the muhajababe wears hijab, but pairs it with tight rhinestone spangled jeans, stilettos, and a made-up face. They keep, in short, the modest principles of Islam while wholeheartedly adopting trashy pop culture and the sexy materialism so roundly critiqued by liberal progressives in the west. Stratton’s voice is fresh and young- occasionally bracingly so – but her real strength lies in the salience of the figure of the muhajababe herself. The muhajababe highlights how a young girl’s body can be the space where the tensions between a hip (if earnest) Islam and branded cosmopolitan sexiness are plated out. A useful reminder that we cannot expect others’ revolutions to mimic our own, Stratton’s chatty travelogue suggests that Arabic social change will not come from a secular protest culture, but from shifting mediations of Islam and popular culture. (reviewed by Emily Raine)

[Opinionated Hijabi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book by accident thinking it said "Muhajabies" as in women who wear hijab. However it says "muhajababes" which is a made-up, slang word to describe chics who wear hip, fashionable and attractive clothes and don the hijab. While I'm ok with the term, there have been more derogatory versions involving a word I despise (hoe-unless one means a garden trowel with a long handle).
The book was insightful and interesting, when I came to live in the middle east, I realized how very true and characteristic this book really is.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh. I would give it a 2.5 if it weren't so readable, since I found the content lacking. But it was readable.

[fahad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great topic, poorly written