KYLE MUNSON

Munson: Female Muslim athletes swap mountains and more for RAGBRAI

Kyle Munson
kmunson@dmreg.com
Raha Moharrak, a Saudi Muslim who now lives in Dubai, is a mountain climber who was the youngest Arab and the first Saudi woman to scale Mt. Everest. Now she's a novice biker who has joined Team Shirzanan, a first-of-its-kind team of Muslim female athletes riding RAGBRAI to promote religious tolerance and women in sport.

Raha Moharrak has scaled Mt. Everest, the tallest peak on earth 29,029 feet above sea level.

By comparison the hills on The Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI) are no more than a winding path of paltry bumps. They add up to a total of 16,000 feet of climb the entire week (July 19-25) as the bicyclists hug the rolling prairie and keep low among the cornstalks.

Yet Moharrak, a renowned mountain climber, might be the most nervous novice rider this year on RAGBRAI.

She has taken up with a fledgling RAGBRAI team of fellow female Muslim athletes from around the globe.

I first wrote about Team Shirzanan in January when co-founder Mara Gubuan of New York City and her colleagues unveiled their plans. Now the team has taken shape.

Shirzanan is the Persian word for "female heroes." The team's bold mission: Bring nine Muslim female athletes to Iowa. Lead them through RAGBRAI's gauntlet of grilled pork at the height of our politically charged Iowa caucus season when the prevailing narrative on Islam is hawkish rhetoric against the terrorists of ISIS.

Moharrak two years ago reportedly became the youngest Arab and the first Saudi woman to scale Everest.

Raha Moharrak, a Saudi Muslim who now lives in Dubai, is a mountain climber who was the youngest Arab and the first Saudi woman to scale Mt. Everest. Now she's a novice biker who has joined Team Shirzanan, a first-of-its-kind team of Muslim female athletes riding RAGBRAI to promote religious tolerance and women in sport.

But two wheels on a flat road still give the 29-year-old athlete the jitters. She didn't wobble her way along on a bicycle until a few months ago. She has practiced pedaling in parking lots in Dubai, UAE, where she now lives.

"I still freak out when cars come close to me," she said earlier this week. "When someone is right in front of me and I have to do a sharp turn, I still wiggle about."

"It's relevant, isn't it, what we find difficult in life?"

Must be. Because the tale of Moharrak's most recent and treacherous mountain climb makes me rethink RAGBRAI as a lark pie smorgasbord for the timid.

Moharrak nearly died last summer on the slopes of Mt. Denali (or Mt. McKinley) in Alaska. An avalanche trapped her and her team at 17,000 feet for a week without much food.

She developed a nasty rash and stomach ulcers. Lost all of her toenails.

Raha Moharrak, a Saudi Muslim who now lives in Dubai, is a mountain climber who was the youngest Arab and the first Saudi woman to scale Mt. Everest. Now she's a novice biker who has joined Team Shirzanan, a first-of-its-kind team of Muslim female athletes riding RAGBRAI to promote religious tolerance and women in sport.

She felt imperiled "a minimum of 20 times a day."

"My parents really freaked out after that one," Moharrak said earlier this week. "They've kind of got a phobia now. Every time I go quiet they think I'm going to go climb something, so they panic."

Fear not, mom and dad: Moharrak has retired from mountain climbing.

Now she will be among a fresh cast of faces on RAGBRAI — faces perhaps framed in the traditional hijab.

There's the Olympic swimmer from Pakistan, Kiran Khan.

Afghani soccer player Hajar Abulfazl.

Mona Seraji, an Iranian snowboarder and surfer.

As veteran bicyclists, both Rehab Shawky, from Egypt, and Amani Ammoura of Jordan should be able to weave their way through RAGBRAI with less culture shock. Last year the pair as part of the Global Biking Initiative pedaled a week-long route of more than 470 miles from Budapest, Hungary, to Munich, Germany.

Those six athletes from overseas will be joined by three Americans, including Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir, 24, a basketball player from Massachusetts. The 5-foot-4 African-American Muslim set a state high school scoring record with 3,070 career points in five seasons starting in eighth grade. She went on to play for the University of Memphis and Indiana State University.

From 2009: President Barack Obama introduces Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir, a University of Memphis student, who, as a high school student in Massachusetts, broke the high school career points record in women's basketball for her state, as he makes remarks during a dinner celebrating Ramadan in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2009. Abdul-Qaadir now is a member of Team Shirzanan, a group of female Muslim athletes from around the globe that will ride the Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa.

She just finished her master's degree in coaching and has embarked on the motivational speaking circuit. But her bid to play basketball in Europe has been thwarted by an International Basketball Federation (FIBA) ban on headgear such as the hijab she wears. FIBA somewhat relaxed its rules last fall, but Abdul-Qaadir remains prevented from playing pro ball. She launched a "Muslim Girls Hoop Too" campaign to lobby FIBA.

Abdul-Qaadir cherishes the discipline and focus of her faith despite the tense backdrop of post-9/11 America.

"It's getting harder now just with the whole ISIS situation," she said last week from Fremont, Calif., where she was due to speak at a high school graduation. "You can't base Islam on an extreme group."

Team Shirzanan sprang from the collaboration of Gubuan, who grew up in Urbandale, with her co-founder Solmaz Sharif, from Tehran, Iran. The original Shirzanan was a women's sports magazine initially banned in Iran but later published from New York City.

Mara Gubuan, left, of New York and Susan Bunz of Des Moines, are part of a new Muslim RAGBRAI Team Shirzanan. They are inviting Muslim females from the Middle East and North Africa to join 25 Urbandale women (from the Class of 1983) who are celebrating milestone 50th birthdays by making the ride.

The tie-in with RAGBRAI began as Gubuan reunited with friends from her Urbandale High School class of 1983. They sought a collective challenge to celebrate their 50th birthdays.

Shirzanan at first intended to assemble a team of young amateur female bicyclists from the Middle East and North Africa — "Muslim nieces." But they couldn't secure visas. So Gubuan pivoted to a roster of established athletes from a variety of sports. They will be paired with the Urbandale alumni to roll through small-town Iowa.

Team Shirzanan will arrive July 16 in Des Moines just as Ramadan, a holy month of fasting for Muslims, winds down. The athletes will embark on a ride in the city and also participate in a panel on sports, media and gender July 17 at Drake University.

The goal of Shirzanan on RAGBRAI is to promote women in sports as a means to gender equity and greater independence for women worldwide.

"They're not anomalies," Gubuan said of her team. "That's what people need to know."

RAGBRAI pre-ride: Highlights from this year's route

Moharrak's native Saudi Arabia is known for its conservative culture that places many restrictions on women. It ranks 130 out of 142 nations on the World Economic Forum's most recent annual Gender Gap Index. From an outsider's view it's remarkable that Moharrak became a mountain climber, let alone reached one summit after another.

But Moharrak's own purpose with Shirzanan, she said, is focused on the personal, not political. She intends to alter "an individual's impression of themselves."

"It's an inner thing I'm trying to change," she said, or "something very small that will eventually lead someone to their own dreams, their own aspirations."

Despite having dyslexia, Moharrak, who's also a freelance art director, has also begun to write her memoir.

"I believe in the story," she said, "and I believe in the ability of one person's achievement. One person's perseverance is capable of mobilizing someone's own beliefs."

But first Moharrak must persevere on a bike. She did make a futile plea for alternative transportation.

"I requested a horse," she said, "and they said it's not possible."

Hear from Team Shirzanan

Team Shirzanan will present a panel on sports, media and gender from 7 to 9 p.m. July 17 at Drake University's Sheslow Auditorium. The event is free and open to the public. Email team.shirzanan@gmail.com to request tickets. Team Shirzanan also has a fund-raising campaign at crowdrise.com/RideForRights.

Kyle Munson can be reached at 515-284-8124 or kmunson@dmreg.com. See more of his columns and video at DesMoinesRegister.com/KyleMunson. Connect with him on Facebook (/KyleMunson) and Twitter (@KyleMunson).