Friday Links — August 15, 2006

• The Third International Conference on Islamic Feminism will take place in Barcelona, Spain, in October. Anyone going? Anyone want to generously donate enough money to send me? I am thisclose to selling a kidney to be able to go! Via Samaha.

• Taleban militants have burned down more girls’ schools in northwest Pakistan. Via TalkIslam.

• Al-Ahram speaks with Nadeen Shams about her new film Have We Met Before?

• There is still little support for child victims of sexual violence in Afghanistan. CNN has more. Via Raquel Evita Saraswati. May Allah give them justice.

• epiphanies covers the idea of honor killing through Shakespeare.

• Part Two of the “Muslim Marriage” post on Hijabman.

• Shahrzad covers Iranian women in the Olympics. KABOBfest and Improvisations look at Arab women in the Olympics. The New York Times discusses “veiled” athletes.

• The Urban Muslim Women profile Fatima Al-Fihri, the founder of “the oldest university in the world.”

• Another woman is detained for driving in Saudi Arabia.

• Nuseiba critiques our piece on The Western Muslim’s piece on modesty.

• Last week, we reported that a book about the prophet’s wife Aisha was shot down for publication. Here is the response of the book’s author and one of the people who voiced a criticism of the book. G. Willow Wilson gives her take, Via TalkIslam.

• The New Yorker looks at trafficking. Via Natalia Antonova.

• Al-Ahram recounts different clothing trends through the ages.

• Four women die in a bombing in Iraq’s Diyala province. In a town Iskanderiya, two female suicide bombers killed 19 and wounded 75. May Allah grant these victims peace.In response to female suicide bombers, Iraqi police are pre-emptively detaining women who they suspect might be at risk for carrying out suicide attacks.

• The BBC examines Ghada Abdelaal’s book and the Egyptian “marriage crisis.”

• Andrea Useem shares her journey of putting on and taking off the headscarf. Via TalkIslam.

• Women’s eNews details the difficulty that female Iraqi refugees have in Syria.

• A mother in Saudi Arabia is trying to stop her eight-year-old daughter’s marriage, which her husband arranged.

• A few weeks ago we reported the murder of Lebanese singer Suzanne Tamim in Dubai. Al Arabiya reports that details about the murder (including the implication of a high-profile person), which were published in an Egyptian newspaper, resulted in the seizure and complete disappearance of this paper. More about arrests and accusations at the Los Angeles Times and the BBC.

• More news coverage on Zoe Ferraris’ novel.

• Dr. Aafia Siddiqi is granted medical treatment and had had her bail hearing postponed. More from the BBC and the Arab News. Pakistan has asked the U.S. to return her to Pakistan so she can stand trial there.

• Voices from the Georgian conflict.

• The Guardian looks at Iraqi weddings held across the border for safety.

• Samia Rahman’s take on Britain’s new Muslim marriage contracts.

• A woman reflects on her journey to educate herself. Via Ijtema.

• Progressive Muslima news looks at Afghanistan women raising their children in prison.

• Islam in Europe provides news on forced marriages in Denmark and polygamous marriages in the Netherlands.

• IslamOnline‘s Hwaa Irfan gives her opinion about sexuality and Islam.

• Jackie Salloum’s film Slingshot Hip-Hop opens in Beirut.

• An art project in California celebrates women’s struggles in Iran.

• The Western Muslim looks at an unconventional love story.

Lebanese First Lady Wafaa Sleiman (left) and Syrian First Lady Assma al-Assad in Damascus. Via BBC.

• A Times Online review of Jennifer Heath’s book The Veil.
  

• An outsider’s viewpoint on how Iranian women look and how they are.
  

• Ahmadiyya Muslim women hold a conference in Ghana. More here.

• Zainab Al-Arabi posts on Muslim women and internet.

• Muslim women in Utah have a special weekly swimming session.

• IslamOnline profiles Shaista Gohir, the director Muslim Voice and Muslim Women’s Network in the U.K. She’s recently been named with the Order of the Empire; barikallah!

• The BBC talks to Yemeni women and girls on Yemen’s newest morality police.

• Dr. Shahnaz Begum talks about Shariah’s position on divorce.

• India’s female qazis begin to perform marriages. More here. And at Sindh Today.

• A bomb in Somalia kills 21 female street cleaners. May Allah give them peace. Via Progressive Muslima News.

• Zubia Malik shares her experience of taking off the headscarf.

• Raquel Evita Saraswati profiles Yazmin, who finds no contradiction between the words “progressive Muslim.”

• Global Voices discusses Arab women working away from home. Via Jezebel. GV also looks at Arab women’s “lack of good candidates” among Arab-American men and divorce in Saudi Arabia.

• Aaminah Hernández is hosting a Ramadan-themed blogging carnival for Muslim women is accepting submissions until Sunday, August 17! So speak up, ladies!

• Iraqis look for love online because of security tensions.

• Arab News looks at women’s positive experiences with polygamy.

• I-MAG looks at Muslim women and magazines. Via Islamify.

• Women are securing more rights in North Africa.

• India decides to give unmarried girls equal property inheritance rights.

• Mona El Tahawy examines the lack of women on certain Gulf countries’ Olympic teams.

• An Uzbeki documentary looks at women and terrorism.

• Hijab Style looks at Sofia Baig, designer Heba Idris, and an abaya fashion show.

• Sudanese women who brew and sell alcohol to feed their families face problems under Sharia law. Via Progressive Muslima News.

• An airport in Islamabad, Pakistan, was officially renamed after Benazir Bhutto.

• Working women in Saudi Arabia share their concerns and difficulties with relying on taxi services to get to and from work.

• The BBC profiles Ruqayya Jafry, a woman who survived “two geographical partitions in her lifetime.”

• IslamOnline looks at newlyweds.

• Time reflect on Oum Kulthoum’s legacies.

• Malaysia’s state censors banned two books, which led to outcries by Muslim women activists. More here.

• 700 women gave prayer at a mosque where they are not regularly allowed after its renovation.

• Raquel Evita Saraswati calls for action in an honor killing incident in Baluchestan: five women are buried alive. May Allah grant the justice.

And, after all those links, here’s a little comic relief that I saw on Izzy Mo’s Blog. It’s a video of a man protesting the oppression of men in Islam: