"Choose for yourself," urges outspoken writer Naema Tahir to Muslim women who feel oppressed. The choice is difficult in her Radio Books story which sets the classic Romeo and Juliet tragedy in 16th-century Lahore.

Naema Tahir - The Simple Life

 
Born in Slough, England in 1970, writer and legal scholar Naema Tahir moved to the Netherlands with her Pakistani parents just before her tenth birthday. But four years later, her father decided his family should return to Pakistan.

 
"Actually we were doing well in the Netherlands," explains Tahir. "But my father realised he would always be considered an immigrant. It also pained him that Pakistan was no longer part of our lives and we were slowly but surely becoming Dutch."

 
Cruel migration
After two years in Pakistan, Tahir returned to the Netherlands. But three moves in six years took a toll on her. "I think all people who migrate feel a sense of loss," she says. "It puts you in a vulnerable position; you don't know the language and you don't have a home. Migration is cruel - forever belonging nowhere."

 
Tahir decided to study law at Leiden University and became editor of the Leiden Journal for International Law. After graduation she worked as a lawyer for the Dutch Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Justice and Economic Affairs. She served as legal advisor in the Nigeria office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and as a human rights lawyer for the Council of Europe in Strasbourg.

 
A Muslim unveils
In 2005 Tahir made her literary debut with a collection of essays entitled ‘Een muslima ontsluiert' (A Muslim Unveils). In direct autobiographical form, it dealt extensively with the effects of migration on the rights of Muslim women. She frequently appeared on Dutch and Flemish television and radio programs and also contributed columns to several Dutch newspapers.

 
Her outspoken views on subjects such as headscarves, arranged marriages and "self-defloration" earned her the label "critical Muslim." In 2006, Dirk Verhofstadt featured Tahir in his book ‘Third Feminist Wave'. He considers her part of the avant-garde of Muslim women freedom fighters.

 
Sex and fairy tales
Tahir's best-selling 2006 book 'Kostbaar bezit' (Prize Possession) is a collection of explicitly sexual stories about three Pakistani women. Two years later saw the publication of her first novel 'Eenzaam heden' (Lonelinesses) - again tackling migration issues. A new collection of fairy tales which Tahir retells from a Muslim point of view recently appeared in Dutch bookstores.

 
Her Radio Books story is also in the style of a fairy tale. It resets the classic tragedy of Romeo and Juliet in 16th-century Lahore:

"A son from the clan of the Hindus and a daughter from the clan of the Muslims fell - let us call the outrage by its outrageous name - in love. Oh horror! The rash infatuation of adolescent mortals, belonging what's more to rival clans who had nothing in common. The insane idea of spending a lifetime together. The impossibility of conciliation between the two religions, let alone two families. Utter insanity."

'The Simple Life' by Naema Tahir was translated by Michael Blass and is read by Jacky Spears.

The series Radio Books is an initiative of the Flemish-Dutch Huis de Buren in Brussels, in association with the Flemish radio broadcaster Klara and Radio Netherlands Worldwide.