Friday Links — July 18, 2008

• Women’s eNews looks at female Muslim comedians and a New York photography exhibit that showcases photographs taken by Muslim women.

• Al Arabiya reports on the movie Towelhead, in which Saudi-born Summer Bishil stars.

• Sepia Mutiny reveals honor killing to be “bride killing.”

• altmuslim’s Wajahat Ali speaks with Shirin Ebadi about her new book and the future of Iran.

• Bosnia commemorates the thirteenth anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre.

• An Indian Muslim couple gets married via mobile phone.

• An online form for a woman’s mahram (“guardian”) will enable women in Saudi Arabia to travel alone.

• A man who murdered 42 women and girls has been executed.

• Two women were murdered by Taleban militants in Afghanistan. Photos of their bodies were released on the internet. May Allah bring them peace.

• The only female Afghan Olympian is no longer missing: she is appealing for asylum in Europe. Via Islam in Europe. Update: she has since dropped out of the Olympics.

• Muslim Matters looks at virginity in Islam.

• Nesrine Malik thinks about the answers to “Do Muslim women need liberating?” from several different Muslim women.

• Muslim women congregate in New Delhi for Bhartiya Janta political party .

• The Muslim Women’s Welfare Association in London has been given a large grant to study the western influence on Pakistani fashion over the past century.

• The Madarsa Board in Uttar Pradesh, India, is working on making Muslim women self-employed by training them in tailoring.

• A story about how Muslim girls find comfort in their faith.

• Deeyah sets up a project for Muslim women to express themselves through music.

• The Houston Chronicle profiles Ingrid Mattson.

• The Guardian‘s Ziauddin Sardar critiques Channel 4’s documentary about Muslims.

• The Philadelphia Inquirer profiles Annette John-Hall.

• Arabisto’s Sabria Jawhar discusses the rejection of a Muslim women’s French citizenship.

• Kalimaat discusses sexual harassment in Yemen.

• GlobalComment discusses how honor killings contort religion.

• The New York Times profiles another girl forced into marriage in Yemen. Via Improvisations.

• Jamerican Muslimah reviews the movie Arranged.
  

• When Muslim women attack! Via TalkIslam.

• On the strong tradition of female Muslim scholars in China. Via Islamify.

• The Los Angeles Times investigates polygyny in Italy. Via Islam in Europe.

• Activist Zaitun “Toni” Kassim has died. May Allah grant her peace.

• Mariam Abdul Latif will become the first Muslim woman to speak at a halal conference in South Africa. Barikallah!

• A woman is sentenced to be put to death after eighteen years in jail for allegedly killing a young boy.

• Fadela Amara, France’s Urban Affairs Minister, says that the burqa is a prison.

• People hate on a beauty pageant winner because she’s not from a closer town. Pfff. Whatever. It’s because she’s brown!

• Achelois discusses the issues of identity and culture that face foreign women who marry Gulf men. Via Ijtema.

• Islam in Europe examines virginity in Sweden, how women fleeing forced marriages are betrayed by doctors and police, an update on the death of Pakistani-Danish woman, a story of a forced marriage for a Pakistani-Norwegian woman, and Belgium’s ruling on children of polygynous marriages.

• IslamOnline examines the headscarf as a western fashion trend.

• Menassat seeks to find out why women are underrepresented in Lebanese government.

• Ali A. Rizvi ponders headscarves and strippers.

• AKI just barely figures out that the One Million Signatures Campaign has gone international.

• The United Nations welcomes efforts to include women on Iraq’s election lists.

• Saudi Aramco rejects candidates who are deemed overweight. I guess their company motto is “No fat chicks.”

• Almost half of Egyptian women are harassed on a daily basis. And the men polled admitted to lewd behavior; they know that what they’re doing is wrong! And we still get PSAs for veiling? (banging head on wall)

• Two conjoined twins are doing well after their separation surgery. Alhamdulillah!

• Muslim women in Sri Lanka win first and second places at the Jessup International Law Moot Competition. Barikallah!

• The New Statesman looks at attitudes toward women in Southeast Asia.

• The Times Online looks at the women who are caught between the headscarf and the Turkish government.

• At the interfaith conference in Spain, theologians call for equality between the sexes in religion.

• Muslimnista shares the stories of a woman and her husband work to save abandoned children in Karachi, Pakistan. Also, Saudi Arabia get its first female pilot.

Here’s a clip from MSNBC about an Iranian matchmaking service: