Promoting true nature of Islam

At first glance it might seem silly to be happy that a Brazilian Muslim woman won the first edition of the reality cooking show “Bake Off Brasil” broadcast on the SBT TV network, but with the alarming amounts of Islamophobia and lack of knowledge of the basics of Islam in Brazil today, pleasure over her win begins to make a lot of sense.
Samira Ghannoum, 42, and of Lebanese descent, won “Bake Off Brasil” on the night of Oct. 17 with her wedding cake that she had to finish in two and half hours. A housewife who lives in São Paulo with her husband and five children, Samira already baked cakes and sweets on the side to make some extra money and sold her goods mostly to the local large Arab community. She also won the most of the weekly challenges in this 13-week competition, and won the praise of the judges, Carolina Fiorentina and Fabrizio Fasano Jr., for being the most consistent baker.
And did I mention that Samira wears the hijab? This certainly gained her much attention here in Brazil where most women try to get away with wearing as little clothing as possible. Her observance of Islamic dietary restrictions won her a spat on one of the episodes with one of the judges, Fabrizio, when she refused to use an alcoholic drink traditionally used in the preparation of the Italian dessert tiramisu, even though she had forewarned the judges that she would refuse to cook with any alcoholic or pork products. He later apologized to her, and said he hoped Samira would accept his apology.
The amount of harassment and discrimination that Muslim hijabi women face in Brazil is great according to a Brazilian convert who spoke to me. Since Brazil is a Catholic-majority country, Islam is still viewed as a strange and exotic religion imported from faraway. Just last week when O Globo newspaper posted a story on their Facebook feed about the stampede at Mina during this year’s Haj, several commentators left ignorant remarks saying that the Haj was an old-fashioned and superstitious event. Luckily a few more enlightened Brazilians jumped in and told them that it had nothing to do with superstition and that it was a duty of all adult Muslims to perform Haj at least once in their lifetimes. To me this just showed how misinformed some Brazilians are about the most basic aspects of Islam.
I sincerely hope that the winning of a popular baking contest on television by a hijab-wearing Muslim Brazilian woman will inspire those more ignorant Brazilians who have crazy and distorted ideas about Islam and Muslims to look for correct answers.
“Winning is just the beginning. I don’t want to be remembered as just another winner of a reality show,” said Samira after winning the show. “I feel very happy to be the first Muslim woman of Arab descent to be on a reality show in Brazil, but this does not make me more special than the others, this gives me more responsibility. I believe that I will achieve my dream of having my own cake shop. I thank all of you who did not judge me and who respected my culture.”
The Federation of Islamic Associations in Brazil proudly posted an article about Samira’s victory on their site along with a picture of her holding a mock-up of a cooking book with her photo on the cover. As her prize for winning the competition, the producers of the show will publish a cookbook of Samira’s recipes and sell it in bookstores across Brazil.
As my Brazilian convert friend told me, “Samira winning ‘Bake Off Brasil’ did more to promote Islam in Brazil than several sheikhs did over the past few years.” It’s sad but true. The power of mass media is truly enormous and we should use it to promote a fairer, more just and balanced vision of Islam than the one that is out there and feeding the Islamophobia of so many.

— The writer is a Saudi journalist based in Brazil.